English
The student project competition “The Port for the City”, organized by the Freeport of Riga Authority, has come to an end and the winners have been announced. The competition jury highly evaluated the project, presented by a joint tem of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences and the University of Latvia, providing efficient solutions to foster the Freeport’s internal and international communication. “We are running the student competition for the third time and every Latvian student can submit a creative idea and an innovative project aimed at promoting the Freeport development and further growth. We are glad that submitted student projects become more and more interesting every year, and we have no doubt that our young generation is intelligent and innovative. I would like to note that we all benefit from this competition - the participants by creating new ideas and the jury members by being able to witness the most inspirational project presentations,” says Mr. Eriks Shkapars, the Freeport of Riga Board Deputy Chairman, the competition “The Port for the City” jury Chairman.
Mr.Janis Berzins, Latvian Maritime Academy Rector expressed particular pleasure at the fact that, for the first time the team of Latvian Academy of Art was among the winners, presenting a creative project related to the icebreaker “Varma “ - proposing to make it a popular tourist attraction object in summer. Mr.Berzins also mentioned that it has been a particularly difficult decision to award the main prize, due to the fact that all the projects met the highest standards.
Mr. Maris Purgailis, professor of Latvian University Economics and Management Faculty, the jury member, has admitted that the submitted projects covered not only communication issues but also involved technical aspects of port operation. Mr. Modris Ozolins, Riga Technical University Deputy Rector for Business Relations and Development highly evaluated the fact that the number of Latvian high educational institutions, involved into competition, is constantly growing.
The winners of the student project competition “The Port for the City” are Elīna Miķelsone (Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences) and Kārlis Sils (The University of Latvia). The winning team provided creative ideas related to integrated marketing solutions to develop the Freeport communication strategy. The second prize went to Kaspars Kroičs (RTU) and Uģis Sirmelis (RTU). The team has worked out methods to enhance lifting equipment efficiency thus providing the companies, operating at the Freeport, with a unique opportunity to make their energy consumption more efficient. The third prize was won by Alise Brante and Guna Poga, representing Latvian Academy of Art, the authors of the most creative and colorful competition project based on the idea how to make the icebreaker “Varma” an attractive tourism object for the residents of Riga and its guests.
The competition was held in two stages. 168 students from various Latvian universities and high schools took part in the competition, and 56 participants submitted their creative projects in the framework of the first competition phase. The competition jury members: Mr. Eriks Shkapars, the Freeport of Riga Board Deputy Chairman, the competition “The Port for the City” jury Chairman, Mr. Maris Purgailis, professor of Latvian University Economics and Management Faculty, Mr. Modris Ozolins, Riga Technical University Deputy Rector for Business Relations and Development and Mr.Janis Berzins, Latvian Maritime Academy Rector.
