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News Coverage of Conference on nrz.lv Website, View Newspaper Article (Image)

The Baltic Dynamics conference is an initiative of the Baltic Association of Science/Technology Parks and Innovation Centres – BASTIC - and has been held annually since its inception in 1996. The conference venue is rotated between the Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In 2013, there was a turn for Latvia and the conference was held in the country’s capital Riga, the largest city in the Baltic States on September 11-13.

The previous experience shows that participants of the Baltic Dynamics Conferences are professionals, experts and persons directly involved or just interested in the dynamic innovation and entrepreneurship development. Usually they are leaders of innovative companies, managers of science/technology parks and business incubators, public authorities responsible for innovation in the region, venture capital organisations, etc.

The topic of the Baltic Dynamics 2013 Conference was “Competence Building for Smart Growth: Challenges and Opportunities” and was in line with the new European Union approved strategic documents “Europe 2020” and “Innovation Union”. The Conference organizers had chosen such topic since in Latvia and other Baltic countries as well there was no clear understanding between “to know the subject” (scientists, researchers, professors) and “to understand the subject ,i.e., be competent” (technology developers, product managers, technology transfer intermediaries). The first group has substantial knowledge on the certain subject but the second - competence in how to implement this knowledge into practice. That is why the following topics were chosen for discussions:

• Knowledge and research, competence and innovation – are they the elements of the same chain? 
• Role of Universities in competence building. 
• Role of Science / Technology Parks in competence building.
• How to translate knowledge into competence?
• Knowledge creation, technology transfer, experience sharing, national and international cooperation, partnerships – key factors for the successful business development.
• Innovation management – how to manage the knowledge flow in the right direction, how to strengthen links between universities and industry, what financial instruments we can offer and what we needed? Experience and recommendations. 
• Overall competence – the indicator of the efficiency of National Innovation System.

Conference Baltic Dynamics 2013 in Riga, Latvia was very good attended and had a great success. There were 271 registered delegates from 24 countries and 70 presentations were delivered.

Traditional approach for conferences in Latvia is to invite speakers from USA who have different way of thinking in terms of innovation in comparison with European ones. This year the key-note speakers from USA were Richard Bendis (President Innovation America). Debra Amidon (President Entovation International), Isak Bukhman (Director TRIZ Solutions LLC) and Barbara Harley (Director of Harley Consulting, Silicon Valley).

There were also outstanding presentations from European and outside Europe countries – Denise Heiligers and Jose Puigpelat (European Commission), Takis Damaskopoulos (France), Piero Formica (Italy), Mehmet Barca (Turkey), Heinz Fiedler and Jonathan Loeffler (Germany), Yoshihisa Konishi (Japan), Siemon Smid (the Netherlands) and others. On the Final Plenary session in the concluding part “Country reports” substantial analysis of the innovation system in Latvia and how to improve it gave the President of the Innovators Union of Latvia prof. Ivars Kalvins.

The Blue Ocean in RED from Howard Hall on Vimeo.

During the past decade, Howard Hall has directed four IMAX films that take you deep under the sea, right into the homes of amazing marine life. Now, Hall has brought his act to Vimeo where he has posted a montage of his favorite underwater shots from the past year. Filmed with a RED One camera, this footage was taken in the waters of the Maldives, Alaska, California, Costa Rica, and Mexico. And it’s all fairly stunning. I would highly recommend watching the video on Vimeo itself and sizing it to full screen. H/T to @eugenephoto.

IF YOU WANT A BREAK FROM YOUR EVERYDAY GRIND, TAKE 4 MINUTES AND WATCH  ONE OF THE BEST UNDERSEA VIDEOS OF SEA LIFE  I HAVE SEEN. THIS IS DEFINITELY WORTHY OF A BOOKMARK FOR THOSE TIMES YOUR BRAIN NEEDS A BREAK.............RICH BENDIS