This presentation shows the hard work being done by the Latvian LiKTA agency in terms of providing citizens with the latest e-skills. Very good basis and inspiration for a local coalition for digital jobs! It also states some interesting data about Latvia. Did you know they have the fastest internet in Europe? And that the Infogr.am - the world’s simplest application for making infographics- is a Latvian company?

1. Local coalition for
e-skills and jobs in
Latvia
Mara Jakobsone, Dr. Oec.
Vice-President
Latvian Information and Communications
Technology Association
Media literacy for the 21st century
CROATIA, SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

2. My country – LATVIA
Inhabitants – 2 070 371
Territory – 64.569 sq. km
498 km of wonderful sea border- sand beaches
Age structure of population :
<14 – 14.2%
15-61 – 64.1%
>62 – 21.7%
No.1 fastest Internet in Europe, Nr. 4 – in the
world
Leader in the use of social networks – 75 %
citizens have used social media in last month (28
% above EU average )
The country which has it FB page with 37 125
followers and 49 999 759 likes 

3. About LIKTA
LIKTA – Latvian Information and Communications
Technology Association (established in 1998)
NGO which holds charity status and licence of
education institution
A professional association representing the ICT
industry and ICT professionals
LIKTA unites more than 220 members:
Over 100 organizations of ICT industry, research and
educational institutions
Individual members (ICT professionals) and other
associations
LIKTA is an active member of Pan-European
associations:
Telecentre Europe association
CEPIS – Council of European Professional
Informatics Societies
ECDL – European Computer Driving License
Foundation

4. LIKTA working groups
Education ( ICT Professional, ECDL,
Digital literacy)
Electronic identification
E-commerce
IPR, copyright levies
Telecommunications, regulation
IT project management best practice,
public procurement
Cyber security
Development of Information society
guidelines 2014-2020
Public relations and marketing

5. LIKTA Charter – ICT for better living
The aim of the Charter is to define clear
and measurable objectives for smart ICT
integration and development of
information society in Latvia that
translate into 6 priority areas to be
implemented over a 5-year period
Well-equipped e-citizen
Smart e-citizen
Most advanced e-government in
Europe
Competitive business environment
Active ageing
Easy accessible culture heritage

7. PARTNERSHIP IS A KEY!
Local coalition for e-skills and jobs
established at the opening of Get
Online Week 2013 in Latvia
By signing the memorandum,
government, non-governmental
organizations and entrepreneurs
agreed to cooperate in four main
areas:
ICT training for the labour market needs;
Youth involvement in ICT;
Modern and interactive learning
process;
Awareness raising about the
importance of digital and media
literacy.

8. LOCAL COALITION FOR E-SKILLS AND JOBS IN LATVIA
Memorandum of cooperation on “E-skills partnership” have been signed by LIKTA,
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Ministry of
Economics, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Welfare, Latvian Chamber
of Commerce, Latvian Open Technology Association and Latvian Internet
Association

9. Some examples of local coalition projects
ICT training for micro and small enterprises
Partnering : LIKTA, Ministry of Economy, State
development agency, State register of Enterprises,
Swedbank Latvia, Microsoft Latvia, several IT and e-
commerce companies , Regional municipalities
Finances : ESF , ICT industry in-kind support
Youth project – My future work with IT
Partnering : LIKTA, Library network, State employment
agency network, regional schools and regional ITC
trauning centres. Supported by Microsoft, Infogr.am
and other ICT companies.
Finances: Microsoft
Annual IT award : “ Platinum Mouse “
Partnering : LIKTA, Ministry of Education, regional
municipalities, Ministry of regional development and
government , ICT and business mass media

10. SME SECTOR IN LATVIA
Source: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia 2013

11. ICT USE IN SME SECTOR
13.7% of Latvia’s SMEs are using
computer network for on-line
purchases (EU – 18.6%)
8.8% of Latvia’s SMEs are using
computer networks for sales on-
line (EU – 12.4%)
11.3% of Latvia’s enterprises are
using CRM software (EU – 17%)
More than 33% of workers in
Latvia judge their current ICT
skills insufficient for changing
job within a year (EU – 20.6%)
Source: EU Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2012

12. ICT TRAINING FOR MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES
Project is carried out by LIKTA in
cooperation with Latvian State Investment
and Development agency
Total value of the project is over 1.95 MLN
EUR
Co-financing from European Social fund –
80%
In 3 years more than 6000 managers and
employees of micro and small enterprises
will receive ICT training, 16 different training
programmes available
Training takes place around Latvia in 10
regional cities, classroom training combined
with advanced e-learning courses
Until now there are 600 SMEs registered, in
average every day we receive applications
from 3 new SMEs! 1000 trainings completed

13. SME TRAINING PROGRAMMES
3 level training programs are
offered for SMEs within the project:
1st level training – Digital Skills and
ICT Solutions for the Facilitation of
Competitiveness;
2nd level training – The Usage of ICT
Tools for Developing SME
Competitiveness and Development;
3rd level training – The Usage of ICT
Solutions for Raising Business
Effectiveness and the Development
of Export.

14. MY FUTURE JOB WITH IT
LIKTA in cooperation with Microsoft Latvia
in the framework of Microsoft YouthSpark
initiative is organising ICT training of 1200
young people of age 16-24 in Latvia’s 3
remote regions :
Latgale region: Preili and Daugavpils;
Zemgale region: Jekabpils, Aizkraukle and
Jelgava;
Kurzeme region: Ventspils and Liepaja.
Project has been launched during Get online
week 2013 opening event in Riga, March 18
Training is modular:
Microsoft Office 365,
WEB site and banner development,
digital presentation tools – data visualisation
using Infogr.am

15. Where Latvia is global leader in ICT?
Young people learn how to use the
tool to create visualisation for their
•Education process
•Interest groups
•Small business
Some examples :
http://infogr.am/XV-Deju-svtki-un-lieluzv
http://infogr.am/world-of-beer-214

16. SUPPORTING YOUTH AND NEW TALENTS
ICT Career days in the framework of Get Online week
2013:
More than 300 students took part,
13 ICT organizations hosted ICT Career day in Latvia,
Programmers, software testers, customer support
specialists, high level managers and other specialities
LIKTA and ICT industry companies have supported
Latvian programmer team participation in the Baltic
Olympiad in Informatics 2013 in Rostock, Germany:
All 6 participants from Latvia received medals including
the gold,
Next step – the International Olympiad in Informatics
in Brisbane, Australia, 6-13 July 2013:
Latvian team received one silver and 2 bronze medals
demonstrating the best results from the Baltic states!
The team was welcomed by Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis,
the Minister of Education and Science of Latvija

17. E-Facilitators
During the annual LIKTA
conference 2012 Latvian Annual
ICT Prize Platinum Mouse has
been presented:
For the first time the best E-teachers
have been welcomed,
Out of 29 applicants 5 finalists were
selected
Awards announced in 2 categories
Best teacher of ICT ( formal
education system )
Best e-facilitator ( adult audience )

18. National partnership of e-skills in Latvia : next steps
Activity plan for 2014-2020
Linked with next EU financial planning
period
Mapping activities to financial sources
available form : EU funds, State budget ,
Industry support and other donors
Detailed projects and incentives for
2013-2014:
Youth guarantee fund
ICT carrier days
E-skills week 2014
And much more …