The International Project “Development of the Innovation Center in Liepaja City” Reaches a Three-year Reference Point

This year on July 26, three years have passed since the implementation of the European Economic Area and Norway (EEA/N) financial instrument program project “Development of the Innovation Center in Liepāja city” (hereafter – the Project) implemented by the Science and Education Innovation Center of the Liepaja Municipal Education Department. The total budget of the project is 986 049,00 euros, and as part of it, the Science and Education Innovation Center has developed new directions of activity, strengthened the capacity of human resources and significantly improved the material and technical base.

 In 2020, the Project was launched with the aim of promoting the development of knowledge in the fields of STEM* and environmental sciences, which in the future has the potential to be realized in the students’ career choices in one of the aforementioned fields. The timing of the start of the project “Development of the Innovation Center in Liepaja city” coincides with the end of the project “Creation of a Nature House on Zirgu Island”, which was implemented by the municipality of Liepaja and whose goal was to provide the necessary infrastructure for the further development of the Science and Education Innovation Center.

“The interaction of the two projects vividly demonstrates the municipality’s approach in foresight and succession,” emphasizes Kitija Kuduma, Acting Manager of the Science and Education Innovation Center.

The most important achievements of the project:    

·  7 (seven) lessons have been developed and implemented in the “Environmental Management” program:

o   Bird Researcher

o   Young Geographer

o   Young Botanist

o   Protected Natural Areas

o   Quality of Water 

o   Young Eco-technologist

o   Ant Researcher

·  4 (four) lessons have been developed and implemented in the “Environmental Management II” program:

o   Human Internal Organs

o   Biotechnology

o    Exploration of Earth`s Crust

o   Zoology Under the Magnifying Glass

The implementation of the programs was started in 2021, and public application opportunities were announced every academic semester, which were used by students from such places in Latvia as Riga, Aizpute, Kabile, Mārupe parish and other places. 377 Latvian students decided to learn 11 lessons, of which 249 students in the age group from 5 to 18 years learned at least 80% of the programs content.

· 14 interactive installations have been developed and learning materials have been purchased for the amount of 18% of the entire Project budget.

The developed installations are not only an important teaching tool and material for the developed programs, but are also publicly available.

“The initial version of the project envisaged the creation of a space equipped with work tools and similar to the concept that is more widely known in the world as a Makerspace and which in Latvian would be called a co-creation space. However, since July 2021, 6 (six) months after I had studied in the “Fab Academy” program of the digital manufacturing laboratory Aalto FabLab under Aalto University, Finland, coordinated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bit and Atom center (MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms), we changed the vision of how to specifically develop the direction of the Science and Education Innovation Center. We are now a digital manufacturing laboratory and aspire to become a full partner of the international foundation (The Fab Foundation).” informs Kitija Kuduma.

What has been done in the Digital Production Laboratory (formerly the Technology Co-creation Room) during the Project implementation:

·        Developed and implemented 5 (five) lessons in the “Digital Production” program:

o   Practical Project Management

o   2D computer-aided design

o   3D computer-aided design

o   Assembly of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

o   Equipment Demonstrations

206 Latvian students from such Latvian places as Ogre, Cīrava parish, Jelgava and other places decided to learn the program. At least 80% of the program content was learned by 164 students in the age group from 11 to 18 years.

·        Multi-functional material and technical base of digital and traditional production was purchased for the amount of 12% of the entire Project budget:

o   Vinyl Cutter Workstation

o   Laser Cutter Workstation

o   Electronics Workstation

o   Small Size 3-axis CNC Milling Workstation

o   Metal Processing Station

o   PLA (polylactic acid) and SLA (stereolithography) Technology 3D printer station

o   Vacuum Forming Workstation

o   Woodworking Workstation

o   Electrical Workstation

o   Microscope Workstation

o   Assembly Workstation

o   Combined Technology Workstation

o   Composite Workstation

o   Large-format CNC Milling Work Station

·        Programs have been developed and implemented not only for students, but also for educators in eco-technologies and digital production. 55 Latvian educators have acquired them.

In general, all the results achieved by the Project are interwoven with cooperation with program partners (Research Council of Norway, Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Improvement in Higher Education and Liechtenstein National Agency for International Education), project partners of the donor country (Tronheim Science Center and Jærmuseet Regional Museum Nærbø Traveling Science Center ” Science circus”) and the Latvian partners of the Project (University of Liepāja). The project partner of the donor country has played an important role in the selection of the content of the lessons – 3 (three) experience exchange trips to the Jaermuseet ( Siftinga Jærmuseet) regional museum in Norway gave confidence in the need to develop a specific, even nasty, but real process demonstrating lesson content, named “Human Internal Organs” and during which students dissect the organs of the digestive system. Of course, not of a human, but of an animal – a pig. The pig was chosen because its internal organs are similar to the human internal organs system in many ways. Specialists of the regional museum of the donor country’s project partner – Jaermuseet ( Stiftinga Jærmuseet) have shared their knowledge and skills not only with the employees of the Science and Education Innovation Center, but also conducted 3 (three) master classes for Latvian educators. The second partner of the donor country project – the Trondheim Science Center, which is also located in Norway, has been useful in developing the content of interactive installations and engineering solutions, as well as in providing information on the role of design thinking in the operation of science centers. On the other hand, the teaching staff of the Latvian partner – the University of Liepāja has played an important role in the content of the programs created for Latvian educators, especially regarding the possibilities of seaweed processing. However, the most important contribution of the Faculty of Humanities and Arts of the University of Liepāja and the Art Research Laboratory under its authority is the original digital content integrated into most of the interactive installations in the  Nature House.

At the start of the project, a contract was concluded for the duration of its implementation for 3 (three) years and for its end date – July 26, 2023, but the program administrator, the Ministry of Education and Science and the program agency, the State Education Development Agency, have recognized the Project as an objectively justified need to be extended until April 30, 2024, in order to fully achieve the set tasks:

1. Creation of a “Natural Cognition Research Vessel” – 15th Nature house interactive installation.

2. ” Natural Cognition Research Vessel”  opening event.

3. Provision of free access to “Natural Cognition Research Vessel”.

4. Technology co-creation spaces – Fab Lab opening event.

*Abbreviation STEM – S (science), T (technology), E (education), M (mathematics)

The project "Development of the innovation center in Liepaja city" is funded by the European Economic Area and the Norwegian grant program "Research and Education". Its total cost is EUR 986 049,00, of which EUR 754 327,40 is co-financing from Norwegian grants, EUR 133 116,60 is co-financing from the Latvian state budget, and EUR 98 605,00 is co-financing from the municipality of Liepaja.