The Vidzeme Planning Region has taken the first step in preparing an investment attraction campaign. A strategy has been developed for attracting both local and foreign investments in the region’s priority smart specialization fields for the 2022–2027 period. Its purpose is to lay the groundwork for reaching out to foreign investors in an effective and targeted manner.
The smart specialization fields are identified in the region’s Smart Specialization Strategy for 2022–2030 and include: wood processing (including furniture manufacturing); food and beverage production; forestry; agriculture (including livestock); and blue bioeconomy (including fisheries)—all characterized by technology-intensive, export-oriented, and sustainable industries.
Potential origin countries for targeting foreign direct investment have also been defined: Estonia, Germany, Finland, China, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the USA, the Netherlands, Austria, the UK, Lithuania, and South Korea—with different priority countries assigned to each specialization field.
The investment attraction strategy envisions promoting 14 investment areas, each corresponding to one of the priority smart specialization fields and ensuring fair representation of all Vidzeme counties. This strategy will serve as the basis for a marketing campaign, which will include creating a recognizable brand for Vidzeme’s business environment, producing an investment promotion video, and developing digital informational materials. Using various communication tools, Vidzeme will be promoted as an attractive region for investors.
The strategy was developed by the Vidzeme Business Centre of the Vidzeme Planning Region, under the “Entrepreneurship support measures in Vidzeme Planning Region” project, co-financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA grants.
