2011 Cluster – Strategy as a challenge Rinalds Celmiņš Deputy Executive Director Latvian IT Cluster The presentation is being organised under a Polish Agency for Enterprise Development undertaking entitled: “Polish clusters and cluster policy”. The undertaking is being implemented under system project: “Human resources development through promotion of knowledge, transfer and dissemination of innovation” financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund, from the resources of the Human Resources Operational Programme, sub-measure The undertaking of Polish Agency for Enterprise Development ‘Polish clusters and cluster policy’ activity is being implemented under the honorary auspices of the Minister of Economy Opole, 23 st March 2012

Cluster – Strategy as a challenge Rinalds Celmiņš Deputy Executive Director Latvian IT Cluster Opole, Poland March 23, 2012

Latvia Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania Capital: RIGA Area: 64,589 sq km (slightly larger than West Virginia) Natural resouces: peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, timber, arable land Population: 2,2 mil. GDP per capita: $14, nd – EU Top 5 countries by renewables 8th – World’s greenest country (after New Zealand) 10th in the world-broadband distribution speed 3

A Business Cluster A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular fieldbusinesses Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and globally ( 4 Arjeplog – Winter Car Testing

Top-down vs. bottom-up approach OPERATIONS – bottom-up SET-UP – top-down Resource: Clusterland UpperAustria 5

Building successful cross-sectoral partnerships require Time Long-term commitment Equal partnership from each sector at the table Jointly developing and setting goals Appropriately aligning interests 6

LITC STRATEGY (1) General Part  Justificiation/reason 4 cluster establishment  Vision of Cluster  Short term impact  Long term impact  Results – indicators  Partnership/consortium  SWOT 7

LITC STRATEGY (2) Action Part  Cluster development tendencies  Cluster impact on economy  Analyse cluster specialisation / niche products  Implementation roadmap of cluster specialisation / niche products  Competence map  Ways/tools to achieve competitiveness 8

LITC STRATEGY (3) Action Part  Indicators Activity plan  Define Priorities  Define actions  Define tools 9

Case Study LATVIAN IT CLUSTER...IT helps to save and to reduce costs

IT applications can help to manage our natural resources better monitor and prevent natural disasters spread environmental awareness...and much more... IT should be regarded more as a solution, rather than a problem! 11

Just a few points were we are... RIGA 12

We are also proud of systems developed for... NATO 13

History Top IT companies, universities, R&D institutions in Latvia Operates , legal – 2007 Agreement (co-operation, collaboration, co- opetition) Code of Ethics Monthly Fee, Administrative staff 14

15 WE GO FOR… R & D Collaboration Quality and Reliability Competencies Innovation VALUES ! Main are the

Latvian IT Cluster companies Turnover ~ 118 mlj.Euro 38% - export ~ 2100 employees 16

Co-operation Partners LATVIJAS LAUKSAIMNIECĪBAS UNIVERSITĀTE Belarusian High Technologies Park 17

Finance Payments (card, micro-, online) Anti-fraud Automated decision making Insurance Introduction of online policies IT development Custom-made or adaptation of international products Competence in servicing public institutions (state, municipal, specialised) DB management systems Linguistic systems IT consultations ERP (SAP), CRM, accounting Business process outsourcing IT infrastructure Data centresSupport to users of PCs and peripherals in different languages E-governanceE-health Key industry segments with IT expertise 18

Common International Projects. 19

IT Demo Center « 20 LV-EE project «ICT DCNet»

During 6 years Strategic aims reached by: Common understanding Widely recognised image 5 local (ESF, ERDF, government) projects implemented 6 projects are under implementation (international + local) Attracted funds – more than 2 M EUR Now implementation projects 2 M Eur 21

Collaboration models (1) Custom-made software (separate projects) – Medium-to-large Latvian IT companies ready to provide price estimates and discuss technical capacities Continuous service (outsourcing, regular batch-work) – Integration of Latvian partner possible and not resource- consuming – Detailed cooperation agreement still suggested Joint applications – E.g.,technologically challenging international or state-level projects - a big challange for IT companies 22

Collaboration models (2) Consumer market is open for new products Localization is not an issue, in case partnering with a local company B2B market very diverse, companies with modern management & IT systems ERP and CRM already offered widely 23

We can develop things together! Latvian IT Cluster ( 24

Thank you! IT Cluster ready to facilitate and support, maximizing your gain from working with Latvian IT companies Ph: