Cross-border Entrepreneurial Education, Development and Knowledge and Technology Transfer: Experiences with the Cambridge–Riga Venture Camp Programme—A Reflective Report

Abstract

Over a 6-year period, a collaboration has been developed between a group in Cambridge, UK, and two Latvian Universities, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and other organisations, including Riga City Council, supported by the British Embassy Riga and the Latvian Embassy in London, enabling structured processes to be developed to identify aspiring entrepreneurs based in Latvia and Estonia and provide education, coaching, mentoring and encouragement first in the home territory, leading to an intense whole-week development venture camp in Cambridge for selected candidates. The programme was extended to provide ongoing business development support for a number of entrepreneurial companies with global potential, and the developing venture camp activities attracted, supported and helped accelerate the evolution in Riga of an innovative ecosystem providing leadership in the Baltics. Practical examples of cross-border knowledge and technology transfers have been recorded as part of the Cambridge–Riga Venture Camp process. This report presents the development, content and outcomes of this innovative project aimed at supporting the emergence of entrepreneurial and innovative capabilities of Latvian delegates to the project. Detailed appendices including data and narrative based survey of outcomes and assessments containing structured feedback from delegates participating in the 2020 Cambridge-Riga Venture Camp are available as the Supplementary material online. This is an interim report, since the activity is ongoing and continuously developing.