Within the new EU funding period, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (MEPRD) will implement Smart Municipalities, a new activity, which will provide an opportunity for municipalities to become customers and users of innovations, streamlining and modernizing their services in new and innovative ways. Regional and global development challenges such as declining population, a low share of innovative companies in the regions, the “ageing” of the existing municipal services, high costs of municipal services and the challenges caused by climate change call for new ways for municipalities to become more efficient, modern and responsive to the various needs of the population. On 23 February, during Vidzeme Innovation Week 2021, the MEPRD invites those interested to participate in the online informative event Smart Municipalities: Opportunities and Challenges. The event aims at familiarising the municipalities, entrepreneurs, scientists and other interested parties about Smart Municipalities, an activity of the new European Union funds programming period, as well as at inspiring potential project applicants for new and innovative ideas. In order to inspire the municipalities to come up with new project ideas, the event will see the participation of the implementers of smart and innovative projects in the field of social care (the Welfare Department of the Riga City Council, which implements the project ‘Provision of a Smart Surveillance System at the Homes of Clients Being Cared for’) and in the field of utilities (researcher Dr. sc. ing. Kaspars Grīnbergs whose solution ‘Use of Internal Power of Wastewater in Power Supply’ has been implemented in the Ogre Municipality Library). The event will also be attended by scientists offering new solutions for public health and safety (Dr. phys. Andris Jakovičs, Dr. phys. Jānis Virbulis and Jevgēņijs Teļečko, scientists of the University of Latvia, who will inform the audience about the new project idea ‘A Safe Room System to Reduce the Risk of the Covid-19 Infection’). The MEPRD event will also see the participation of Prof. Jurģis Poriņš and Dr. sc. ing. Katrina Boločko, representatives of RTU research platform Information and Communication, who will inform the audience about the research and cooperation, who will inform the audience about the research and cooperation opportunities offered by the research platform for the development of new project ideas.
