Invited to learn about the achievements of Latvian scientists in nationally important fields

Author
Latvijas Zinātnes padome

October 3, 2024

The Latvian Science Council (LSC) has launched the informative campaign "Science and Your Life. The beginning of everything is to understand.", which will take place from October to December this year. During it, Latvian citizens are invited to take a look and understand the role of science in everyone's life, as well as learn about the achievements of Latvian scientists in such important areas of life as our land, language, safety and quality of life.

In 2024, a number of State research programs will conclude, the task of which is to find solutions or create innovations for specific needs in Latvian society, economy, development, sustainability, security and other nationally important areas. During these studies, Latvian scientists from various industries have collaborated and created important new knowledge, methods, skills and innovations for our country and society, new products or their prototypes, processes and services for solving specific industry problems and achieving strategic development goals.

During the campaign, we will highlight the contribution of scientists to the study of Latvia's land and landscape and how to use them carefully, sustainably, and achieving the most effective results, on behalf of the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development. We will also emphasize modern Latvian language technologies and methods that allow to effectively improve the learning process in schools, in accordance with the requirements of the digital society, as well as create and improve language technologies and platforms that help many industries work more efficiently using the modern Latvian language. These are two of the 10 projects carried out by Latvian researchers on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Science to ensure the viability and development of our language. The campaign will also highlight innovations in biomedicine and smart materials made in Latvia, which create new solutions, technologies and products for improving the quality of our life and the export capacity of our country. Innovations were created on behalf of the Ministry of Economy. We will also emphasize the materials developed on behalf of the Ministry of Defense in the field of security, which are intended for the military field, but can potentially be used to solve public security issues as well.

"We want to interest every citizen of Latvia in this conversation, even if their everyday life is not related to research and they have not been involved in scientific processes. We want to invite you to look at some of the most important areas of our lives and see in them the incalculable contribution and results of science and research. To realize that a number of areas of our life are not possible or not possible with high quality without the research and innovations of Latvian scientists. We have also involved the researchers themselves in the campaign, who are the best to tell about the importance of their discoveries," says Lauma Muižniece, director of LSC.

Science, research and the creation of new knowledge play a special role in achieving national goals - creating an economy of added value and increasing competitiveness, strengthening national security and creating a strong, cohesive society. At the same time, science and research are incomprehensible to most of the public because they sometimes seem complicated. In 2021, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences conducted a study "Study of target groups of science communication" on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Science, showing that the majority of the public believes that science is too complicated for most people to understand (71.7%) and that there is a lot of conflicting information about scientific research, so it is difficult to understand what to believe (75.0%).

The task of the campaign is to change this view and emphasize the connection of science with everyone's life. Scientists study and search for solutions to the challenges of the life of the country and society, which are priorities. We might not fully understand these studies, consider them too complex or focused, but we must be aware that they are being done for us. At the same time, the campaign wants to show how knowledgeable, professional and talented our country's scientists are, who are solving really pressing societal challenges. Thanks to the research and innovation work of Latvian scientists, as well as cooperation with other industries, Latvia already has several successful exporting industries that contribute to the economy of our country and the well-being of each of us. Research by Latvian scientists is vitally necessary and useful for effective, modern and safe development of the nation and the land.

About the "Science and Your Life" campaign. The beginning of everything is to understand,"

This campaign reflects a small part of the knowledge, methods and product prototypes created in the State research programs. These examples are part of the results of four State Research Program projects, which ended at the end of 2023 and 2024. Anyone interested will be able to find the experience stories and research results created within the framework of the informative campaign together on the website: viegliparzinatni.lv and they will be gradually published from October to December.

About the State Research Program

The national research program is a program financed and developed by the Latvian state, which is based on the "need - solution" principle. The state, on its part, defines specific tasks for society, economy, development, sustainability, security and other nationally important areas that need to be solved. If this solution can be found with the help of scientists and researchers, focused work on specific problems and cooperation between researchers of different fields, then the state, as a result of an open competition and an international evaluation of project applications, places this task at the disposal of the most appropriate Latvian scientists through the State Research Program in order to create data, solutions based on tests, research and innovation. In this way, with the help of research, our country and society acquire new knowledge, skills and innovations, new products, processes and services for solving the problems of specific sectors and achieving strategic development goals. The national research program is coordinated by the Latvian Science Council, but tasks are given or ordered by the ministry of each branch.

About science policy

Science policy is formed by the Ministry of Education and Science in accordance with national development priorities, while the Latvian Council of Science is responsible for the implementation, management, development and coordination of science policy, which coordinates the development of State research programs and the achievement of their goals. Since 2015, the science policy in Latvia has been formed in accordance with the Latvian Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) in order to purposefully focus research and promote the transfer of knowledge and technology in accordance with the growth priorities of industries and to stimulate social and economic transformation towards more efficient use of resources and new, higher value-added products and service creation. More up-to-date information about science, research and discoveries in Latvia can be found on researchLatvia, a science communication platform created by the Ministry of Education and Science.

More about the campaign in Latvian: viegliparzinatni.lv