Riga Venture Summit 2020 will focus on talent attraction challenges in Baltics
Riga Venture Summit 2020, which aims to promote cooperation between representatives of the Baltic startup ecosystems and to exchange of experience in the field of startup policy with a view to promoting the necessary changes at the national level, will be held in Riga in the middle of February. This year, the event focuses on attracting and retaining talent and a highly skilled workforce in the Baltic technology and startup industry, as well as in economics.
The event will be held for the fifth time and is organized by the Latvian Startup association with the support of the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia. The summit will be attended by representatives of the startup industry, state representatives, business executives and experienced investors, as well as policymakers in the Baltic region. The focus will be on the challenges of attracting, educating, integrating and retaining employees in the Baltics, faced by almost all emerging businesses. Riga Venture Summit will offer discussion on building an international team in companies in the Baltics; the importance of the state and employer brand; building a company culture and retaining employees in the long term; integration of foreign talent; state aid for education, immigration, emigration, and employee stock options.
“Acknowledging the fast-growing startup’s ecosystem in Latvia and the Baltics as a whole, we need more skilful employees, and together with industry experts from across the Baltics, we will focus on this topic at the Riga Venture Summit. We will talk about attracting talent, educational challenges, integration and retention that almost all growing companies face, and other important topics. Lack of talent is one of the factors hindering our economic development and competitiveness in the global market. We would very much like to see Latvia as a destination not only for foreign talents but also for expatriate Latvians, who at the moment have gained immeasurable international experience. Both employers and countries need to think about creating a company, city and state culture in order to attract and retain employees in the long term,” says Janis Rozenblats, Chairman of the Latvian Startup association.
Riga Venture Summit 2020 is an international event aimed at promoting cooperation among the Baltic states and supporting local start-up initiatives. The aim of the discussions is to identify effective ways to turn visions and innovative ideas into action, involving governments and ecosystem players. Riga Venture Summit will be held on February 19, the day before the international tech startup conference TechChill, which will bring together hundreds of industry representatives from all over Europe.
The ecosystem of startups in Latvia and neighbouring countries is growing rapidly, and the need for workforce and talent is greater than the supply of the local market. In order to promote the development of local talents, it is necessary to improve the quality of higher education in Latvia’s higher education institutions, to pay attention to the environment that promotes talent growth and offers long-term challenges, and to see the economic and social benefits of life in Latvia. It should be noted that the above-mentioned factors would not only attract international talents but would also allow Latvian expatriates to return to Latvia.
The organizer of the Riga Venture Summit 2020 emphasizes that the challenges are serious and therefore it is necessary to talk about how to strengthen the Baltic talent community both at the state and various startup ecosystem organizations. By attracting experts, not only startups and representatives will be the long-term beneficiaries, but it would also significantly improve Latvia’s economic development.
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