Ventspils Digital Center: A Beacon of Progress in 2024
In a year marked by significant projects, events, and jubilees, Ventspils Digital Center has been steadfast in its mission to foster digital literacy, maintain and develop the city’s ICT infrastructure, and drive innovation. The center’s commitment has been particularly notable in 2024, culminating in several achievements that have enhanced Ventspils’ digital landscape.
Empowering through Education
Throughout the year, the Digital Center focused on empowering 4,500 adults, including 1,300 teachers, through digital literacy programs. Participants actively engaged in learning diverse programming languages, internet resources, and attended informative seminars, along with in-person and remote tech workshops.
Popular themes this year included video creation, AI integration in teaching, cybersecurity, media literacy, digital well-being, social media management, and coding fundamentals. The center also expanded its initiatives to include activities like "Safer Internet Day," "Digital Week," "Science Night," and "Adult Education Days in Kurzeme."
Collaborating with the Latvian Language Agency, the center organized courses for Latvian diaspora teachers in countries like the UK, Australia, the US, Ireland, Germany, and Italy.
Technology Clubs: A Decade of Impact
The center’s decade-long commitment to free technology clubs for Ventspils students continues to bear fruit. In the 2024-2025 academic year, 650 students, including 130 remote learners, participated in clubs covering programming, digital art, electronics, robotics, audio-visual creation, 3D game development, and other STEM themes. Even Ventspils’ youngest residents, around 400 primary school students, engaged with technologies like robots to learn about nature, Latvia, letters, and numbers.
Strengthening ICT Infrastructure
The center’s focus on digital security has led to robust measures, such as data backup outside Latvia and operating critical systems from secondary locations. This ensures high availability and robust protection against potential disruptions or threats. Additionally, the center organized IT security training for all city institution employees and introduced a new information system offering SOS features in all Ventspils educational institutions.
Streamlining Services throughdigitization
The center continues to support the official electronic address service, ‘parvaldiba.lv,’ processing nearly 2 million documents. Through the unified client service system for state and local government (VKI), over 1.3 million applications have been registered, with 47 new VKI centers opened in 2024. The center’s user support team resolved over 5,000 issues and requests, demonstrating exceptional service.
Pivotal Projects in 2024
Several notable projects marked the year:
- Sesame – We Live through Game Design: This project equipped arts and computer science teachers with game design fundamentals, enabling them to integrate game elements into their lessons.
- Science for All: This project resulted in a science experiment catalog, serving as a foundation for educational science shows at VIZIUM, Ventspils’ Science Center.
- Technology Unites: This project organized various engaging and inclusive activities for Ukrainian children and youth living in Latvia.
- Innovation Center Establishment: The most significant project in the past three years, this initiative has resulted in the creation of an educational exhibit and creative workshops at VIZIUM.
Additionally, the center commenced projects like "Society’s Digital Competence Development" and "Support for Service Reform," while submitting a grant application for "The Digital Twin Platform for Innovative Municipal Services."
Venturing Beyond: VIZIUM Science Center
VIZIUM, too, has been vibrant. In 2024, it welcomed nearly 34,000 visitors from around the world, predominantly from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and many other countries. The center hosted 500 school groups for excursions, educational workshops, and science shows, and provided seasonal camps and IT schools for children.
Little ones, around 900 primary school-aged children, explored "Mini Researcher’s Corner" and enjoyed "Family Days," outdoor cinema, VIZIUM’s birthday celebrations, летние диоды, Science Nights, HaloVIZIUM, Easter, and Christmas-themed events.
The Ventspils Digital Center team extends heartfelt thanks to all partners and stakeholders for their collaboration in 2024 and wishes everyone a successful and achievement-filled 2025!
