The hackathon “Ripple effect: access innovations in water tourism” will be held in Valmiera on February 27 and 28. Several teams from Latvia and Estonia will participate in this event. The teams will consist of students, people in business, tourism specialists, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and experts from various industries. During this exciting co-creation event, the teams will search for and develop innovative solutions for improving access to rivers, lakes, and other water bodies to use them for active recreation. They will also think about creating and adapting routes and new services for everyone interested, especially seniors, people with functional disabilities, and families with children (hereinafter referred to as the market segment).
While searching for and developing new innovative ideas, hackathon participants will apply design thinking methodology. It is a modern and universally applicable tool for individual involvement and participation in various industries, stimulating new ideas for achieving goals. The event is organized as a competition, where the team that offers the best solution will win the main prize – the opportunity to participate in an experience exchange trip to Finland.
Hackathon participants will work on creating innovative solutions for the development of water tourism services in four directions:
- raising the awareness of service providers about the market segment, promoting access to a new market;
- the importance of safety on/near the water for people with functional disabilities;
- digital solutions as an aid to the market segment to expand opportunities in the use of water tourism services;
- adapting the existing water tourism products and creating new ones while considering the market segment’s needs.
The event aims to arrive at valuable ideas and solutions that can be put into practice, developed, and, over time, made into examples of good practices widely implemented in Latvia, Estonia, and elsewhere.
The Vidzeme Planning Region organizes this innovation hackathon in cooperation with the Kurzeme Planning Region and Pärnu College of the University of Tartu within the framework of the project “Facilitating access to watertourism activities” (Riverways II) of the Interreg Estonia-Latvia program 2021-2027. The event will take place within the Vidzeme Innovation Week. Learn more about the Vidzeme Innovation Week here.
For additional information: Zelma Mičule, manager of the project “Facilitating access to watertourism activities” (Riverways II) in the Vidzeme planning region, zelma.micule@vidzeme.lv, +371 28327962.
