At the end of May, 2019, Valga Municipality Government together with Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (Eesti Töötukassa) Valga department organized an informative event for entrepreneurs from Valga County. It was a good opportunity to introduce Trans-S3 and TIBS to more than 25 participants. Vaido Mikheim from Tartu Science Park was invited to talk about wider concept of the smart specialisation and success stories in Estonia. Tartu Science Park has broad experience with smart specialisation – they have been supporting business innovation and networking activities in the region for more than 25 years by cooperating with universities, companies and public sector. One of their tasks is to help foreign companies to expand their businesses to Estonia. Vaido Mikheim also talked about funding possibilities and projects supported by EU in smart specialisation’s field in Estonia. Besides financial issues, he described future trends and possibilities for internationalisation. He encouraged companies to innovate and think outside the box while implementing their ideas to develop the business.
GoSmart BSR coordinator from Valga Municipality Government Triin Roo introduced the idea of TIBS and the opportunities for local enterprises to develop their business across the borders. Some of the business owners admitted that current support tools for companies are not flexible enough. Innovation Broker Laura Gredzens explained the idea of her role and encouraged companies to register for an appointment to discuss their needs and thoughts regarding to innovation driven internationalisation. Organised rokerage system in partner countries was seen as much needed two-way tool in the process on internationalisation.
One of the focus areas of Estonian Unemployement Insurance Fund’s is supporting companies to recruit and develop their personnel. Companies are willing to develop their business more than ever but current situation in labour market shows that there is lack of specialist in Estonia. Finding solutions to this problem was one of the topics discussed during the meeting. Getting specialists from abroad is not a new way for companies, but getting the best contacts and experiences related the process, is the point where TIBS can be seen as a solution. The cooperation between Estonian Unemployement Insurance Fund and Valga Municipality Goverment will continue to support companies on their way to development.
