Intensive Study Programme Estonia 2018

Social Entrepreneurship for Local Change

Participants of the 2018 SELC workshop in Estonia

Social Innovation for the Lahemaa National Park

The third and last Intensive Study Programme of the Social Entrepreneurship for Local Change ERASMUS project took place from May 9 – 19, 2018, hosted by the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu (EMU) and the Estonian Social Enterprise Network (SEV) in close cooperation with the Kolgaküla Village Association. The workshop was attended by 30 students from the five partner universities and supported by 20 staff members and local experts. Focus area was the Lahemaa National Park, more precisely the Lahemaa pensinsula, situated at the northern Baltic Sea in Estonia in about one hour driving distance east of Tallinn. Workshop venues were on site in the national park and at EMU in Tartu. Previous ISPs have been held in Bucharest, RO (2016) and Arnhem, NL (2017)

Lahemaa Challenges and Focus Areas

Download >>>Documentation Lahema Challenges and Focus Areas

Focus Areas of the Intensive Study Programme

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Workshop Process

Similar to previous SELC workshops the process started with excursions into the territory. Participants could get first-hand impressions of the focus areas and also meet various local stakeholders. An additional stakeholder exchange session was organized by the Kolgaküla Village Association in their Community House. The field trip was followed by a two-days design thinking workshop which led to the prototyping of first business ideas. Further field trips were then arranged in order to gather additional knowledge for the business plan development. This first phase was organized in the Lahemaa National Park. The Viinistu Art Hotel served as a great location for hosting the participants, providing an inspiring working environment during this first phase.

The group then moved to Tartu and continued their business plan development process at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. This was accompanied by additional lectures on financing and marketing the social enterprise. The business ideas were presented to the local community on Friday, May 18, during an interactive session, again at the Kolgaküla Community House. Many groups used role plays and other creative techniques for pitching their ideas to the audience. The presentations were followed by a lively and interactive poster session during which the local community showed great interest for the ideas generated by the students.

Ideas Generated

The concepts worked a lot with enhancing the potentials of the sites that had been explored at the beginning of the workshop. For example, the Merekalda Bed & Breakfast suggests reusing a former military building situated directly at the seashore. Lahemaa Elixir stands for a new event management initiative that organises unique activities in the built heritage which is currently largely abandoned. The Kolga Estate Enterprise goes into a similar direction with a focus on the manor house. Lahemaa Seiklus is an initiative that would organize more integrated nature tourism experiences and thus enhance and diversify tourism in the region. Hara Mission developed a new concept for the former submarine base, mixing adventure tourism and skills development in an innovative way. Smart Lahemaa followed the idea of creating a digital local community platform for better connecting people and resources. The Loksa Enterprise Development Centre tries to combat outmigration and unemployment by fostering entrepreneurship and local development. This idea was highly valued by the local community and awarded with an audience prize.

For further details please have a look at the poster gallery below.

Posters of the Business Ideas

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  Merekalda Bed & Breakfast by Cornelia Moarcas, Tabea Klein, Katharina Görke, Catalina Gomez Putzer, Leonard Vellend; Original file:https://bit.ly/2HdPrD2

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  Lahemaa Elixir by Ina Fischer, Aneta Girlovan, Manuel Singh, Rashad Gasimov; Original file:https://bit.ly/2HdPPBu

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  Kolga Estate Enterprise by Stefan Scheer, Jorge Lehmkuhl, Oana Miruna Craciunescu, Teodor Mihai; Original file:https://bit.ly/2LRptJ2

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  The Lahemaa Experience by Martijn Nettenbreijers, Peter Lanting, Tosca Haselberger, Carsten Kaiser, Waithira Gichiri; Original file:https://bit.ly/2ssw8RS

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  HARA Mission by Jort Dijkstra, Elena Duicu, Simon Leberl, Luuk van der Meulen; Original file:https://bit.ly/2HaGme9

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  Enterprise Development Center by Adrian Ciobanu, Freek Wiltvank, Gloria Nalule, Claudia Bostan; Original file:https://bit.ly/2HcT7VD

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  Enterprise Development Center Version 2; Original file:https://bit.ly/2kGNPJd

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  Smart Lahemaa by Daniela-Veronica Racoviță, Septimiu Simion, Adrian Gunter, Olivia Pawlak; Original file:https://bit.ly/2sAdl6z

Impressions

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  Our local team: Andry Padar (SEV), Tarmo Pilving and Roger Evans (both EMU)

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  Exploring abandonned buildings from the Soviet period: the Pärispea military base

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  The Lahemaa coastline was largely inaccessible during the Soviet period which is one of the reasons for its low use intensity

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  The former Soviet research centre as one potential area of intervnetion

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  Local coordinator Kaisa Linno explains about problems and potentials in the town of Loksa

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  Workshop participants listen to local stakeholders

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  At the former Soviet Hara submarine base, a spot with high potential for alternative futures

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  The Kolga Manor is currently abandonned. A splendid house surrounded by a large landscape garden.

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  Welcome and lunch at the Kolgaküla Village Association.

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  Kaisa explains the system context of the Lahemaa National Park

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  Roundtable discussions with local stakeholders from different sectors

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  Explanations about the challenges for nature tourism

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  Staff meeting with design thinking briefing at the Viinistu Art Hotel

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  First business plan 'warm-up' exercise with role plays

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  Group formation around related topics

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  Linda explains the project monitoring process

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  Design Thinking Day 1: Finding 'What if' questions

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  Analysing the system context of ideas

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  Review session with supervisors

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  Estonian evening with local folk dancing and singing

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  Design Thinking Day 2: Prototyping

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  Pitching the prototypes (1)

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  Pitching the prototypes (2)

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  Reviewing feedback

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  Moving to the second workshop location in Tartu

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  Additional theory lectures at EMU: Shahrazad Hadad on marketing

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  Staff review session

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  Working with the business model canvas

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  Specifying the product

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  Final presentation: rehearsing role plays

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  Final presentation: group presentations

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  Final presentation: audience with local stakeholders

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  Final presentation: group presentations

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  Final presentation: poster session with local stakeholders (1)

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  Final presentation: poster session with local stakeholders (2)

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  Finished!

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  Local major announces the most suitable project as selected by the local stakeholders

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  The local line dance group performs for the workshop participants

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  Our stakeholders are thankful for the ideas generated

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  Great finish with the SELC cake: Thank you!

Funding Programme ERASMUS+

The strategic partnership ' Social entrepreneurship for local change' has been (partially) funded by the ERASMUS+ grant program of the European Union under grant no.2015-1-DE01-KA203-002161. Neither the European Commission nor the project's national funding agency are responsible for the content or liable for any losses or damage resulting of the use of these resources.