Latvian Food Cluster

👩🍳 Latvia’s Young Food Specialists Demonstrate Excellence – “New Baker 2025” Laureates Announced On December 4, the Latvian Food Cluster and the Latvian Baker Association concluded the professional skills competition “New Baker 2025”, bringing together 11 aspiring bakers from vocational education institutions across Latvia. 🍞 Participants competed in two tasks: • baking "Kompromisa maize" – a traditional Latvian mixed rye bread, and • creating an innovative “Sustainability” – themed product, highlighting natural ingredients, zero-waste thinking, and the ability to turn bread leftovers into new product categories. 📢 Award Winners 1st place: Agnese Volmane, Restaurant Service School (mentor: Iveta Penele) 2nd place: Aleksandra Fomina VSIA "Rīgas Tūrisma un radošās industrijas tehnikums", Preiļi Branch (mentor: Anita Baškatova) 3rd place: Fidan Ilyasova, VSIA "Rīgas Tūrisma un radošās industrijas tehnikums" (mentor: Līga Rugāja) Jury’s Special Recognition: Darīna Jansone, Rēzekne Technical School (mentor: Dana Kuzņecova) The laureates received cash prizes and special awards from supporters including AS Dobeles Dzirnavnieks, Gemoss, and bakeries SIA LĀČI, Maiznīca LIELEZERS, Flora, Ķelmēni and Puratos Latvia. 🧑🍳 Jury Insights Normunds Skauģis, master baker and owner of SIA LĀČI: “This competition proves the strength of Latvia’s vocational schools, the dedication of our teachers, and the talent of our youth. Every year we witness new discoveries – in recipes, in presentation, and in craftsmanship.” Valters Kanopa, Maiznīca LIELEZERS Production Manager and Master Baker: “It is inspiring to see young bakers who think not only about precise execution, but also about the product’s purpose, story, and place in the market.” Daiga Kunkulberga, Technologist at Balthelin:“Every product was like a story – well thought out, carefully executed, and marked by professional skill.” The competition was open to students age 17–25 and was organized within the EU-co-funded project "Latvian Food Cluster” (No. 5.1.1.2.i.0/3/24/A/CFLA/006).

🍏 Visit of Food Buyers to Latvia – A Step Towards Export Growth! We are pleased to share that on October 21-23, the Federation of Food Companies of Latvia (LPUF), with the support of Latvijas Investīciju un attīstības aģentūra - LIAA, organized an international food buyers’ visit as part of the Latvian Food Forum. The event brought together 19 foreign buyers and 14 Latvian food producers. Over the course of three days, more than 130 meetings, tastings, and factory visits took place, giving international business representatives the opportunity to discover high-quality Latvian food products and explore future export opportunities. This initiative marks an important step in strengthening Latvia’s economy, carefully planned and executed by LPUF and Latvijas Investīciju un attīstības aģentūra - LIAA. Local producers did not have to travel abroad individually to meet each buyer – instead, all key partners were gathered in one place, making it possible to build connections and discuss future cooperation directly. Participants unanimously agreed that the event was professionally organized and expressed hope that it will become a regular tradition.

🚀 Regional Deeptech Collaboration in Action! Latvian Food Cluster together with Business Riga last week hosted a regional workshop of INNOVATE-EU, bringing together 13 key players from the startup and deeptech ecosystem. Participants had the opportunity to review and validate Latvia startup ecosystem report created by Latvian Food Cluster via INNOVATE-EU project, presented by Anna Rozenfelde, Expert of Latvian Food Cluster. Then other regional startup ecosystems were reviewed to identify potential collaboration synergies between the regions. 💡 The workshop served as a space to exchange ideas, align visions, and shape the future of our innovation ecosystem – paving the way for the international follow-up session on November 11th, where stakeholders from Latvia, Germany, Spain, Romania, and Lithuania will identify concrete cooperation opportunities under the INNOVATE-EU initiative. 👏 A big thank you to all participants for your inspiring contributions! Anna Andersone, Guna Tauriņa, Kristians Jenciuss, Marija Plotniece, Alise Gurenko, Alina Dolmate, Kristians Kreinbergs, Alise Barvika, Roberts Alhimionoks, Emīlija Anna Klišāne, Ieva Felman, Linda Helmane ❤️ We’re excited to continue this work with the same energy and commitment – building bridges across Europe’s deeptech communities. #INNOVATEEU #Deeptech #Startups #Ecosystem #Collaboration #Latvia #Innovation #Research #LatvianFoodCluster

📣 The INNOVATE-EU project, funded by Horizon Europe, officially launched with a successful kick-off meeting held on February 4-5, 2025, in Stuttgart, Germany. The event gathered eight project partners from five European countries—Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Latvia, and Romania—along with Project Officer Oliver Kozak. 📌 The European Union faces several societal challenges, including the need for a sustainable green and digital transition. To overcome these challenges and maintain the EU's competitiveness and strategic autonomy, innovative and disruptive solutions are crucial. Start-ups and Scale-ups, particularly in the deep tech sector, are key drivers for these solutions. However, the EU lags behind innovation leaders like the US in terms of start-up ecosystems and deep tech investments. As a result, improving the EU's innovation performance has become a top priority, leading to the creation of the "New European Innovation Agenda." 📌 To address these challenges, the INNOVATE-EU project will strengthen and connect five local innovation ecosystems: the innovation leader region of Baden-Württemberg (BW) in Germany, the moderate innovator regions of Lithuania and Aragon in Spain, and the emerging innovation regions of Latvia and Northeast Romania. The goal is to reduce the innovation gap between these regions, link them to a broader EU network of innovation ecosystems, and support deep tech start-ups and scale-ups by focusing on three key pillars: 📐 A comprehensive analysis of the target groups and needs within the local innovation ecosystems, followed by knowledge exchange and the development of an action plan to address disparities. 📐 The establishment of the INNOVATE-EU innovation support community, which will foster interconnectedness and inclusivity, linking local ecosystems with broader European communities. 📐 Direct support and training for promising deep tech start-ups and scale-ups, providing them with the essential knowledge, tools, and contacts. 📌 The two-day meetings included interactive workshops, speeches, and networking sessions, setting the stage for impactful collaboration over the project’s 24-month duration. Moving forward, the consortium will implement targeted actions to enhance regional innovation capabilities and create a lasting impact on Europe’s innovation landscape. 📎 About INNOVATE-EU: ➡️ Project title: Strengthening European Start Ups through interconnected and inclusive Innovation Ecosystems (INNOVATE-EU), Project ID: 101193439 ➡️ Funding: European Commission, Horizon Europe – European Innovation Ecosystems ➡️ Project funding for all partners: 1.46 Mio € ➡️ Participating countries: Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain ➡️ Project duration: 01/2025 – 12/2027 Latvian Food Cluster, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, Grünhof, Cluster IDiA, CLUSTERO - Romanian Cluster Association, AgriFood Lithuania, Cluster Imago•Mol, IMAGO-MOL Cluster, Fundación Zaragoza Ciudad del Conocimiento

Great interest in the competition “Young Baker 2024” organised by Latvian Food Cluster 🍞 The annual competition “Young Baker 2024” organised by Latvian Food Cluster brought together the most enterprising young food industry specialists from all over Latvia. The competition was attended by students of vocational education institutions aged 17 to 23, a total of 11 future food production technicians, confectioners and cooks from the Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Vocational School, Valmieras tehnikums, as well as Ogres tehnikums, Smiltene Vocational School, Restaurant Service School, ventspils tehnikums, and Kuldiga Vocational School of Technology and Tourism. 🥐 The winners of the professional skills competition “Young Baker 2023/2024” were students of the Kuldiga Vocational School of Technology and Tourism. The winner and the title of the best young baker was Dana Zēģelniece, who was trained by teacher Dace Šēna. 2nd place won student of the Kuldiga Technology and Tourism Vocational School, Dženija Brūvele, whose teacher was Dace Šimkeviča. 3rd place won Andrija Marija Reinfelde, a student of the Restaurant Service School, who's teacher was Iveta Penele. 🧇 The winners of the competition received cash prizes, and their teachers received special prizes. In turn, the special prize of the Minister of Agriculture was received by Paula Marta Alksne, a student of the Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Vocational School, whose teacher was Līga Rugāja. 🥯 The competition was organized by LFFC (Latvian Federation of Food Companies) Latvian Food Cluster in cooperation with the Latvian Bakers' Association and the Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Vocational School. The competition with ingredients was supported by Dobeles dzirnavnieks and Latvian Bakers' Association.