BalticlaB

One of the drives behind the CBSS and the SI for launching Balticlab was a recognition of the relative lack of networks for young creative people, who are not politicians or civil servants, but rather entrepreneurs, artists and opinion makers, with an interest in providing new perspectives for driving integration and innovation in the Baltic Sea Region.

The aim of what started off as the Balticlab Project Development Programme in 2013 and what is now renamed as Balticlab Ideation, is to support the personal development of talented individuals through providing them mentorship and a platform for working together on joint projects in regional groups in the space of three regional meetups.

Read more about our Balticlab 3.0 Ideation and the resulting project prototypes here: Balticlab 3.0

Balticlab 2.0: Project Development Programme in spring 2014

Similarly to its pilot in 2012, Balticlab 2.0 brought young creative minds from the Baltic Sea region together into once space to explore new perspectives and sources of inspiration in the region. By providing opportunities for interdiciplinary talented individuals to network and come up with joint collaborations in the region, we aim to support their personal development as well as see their increased engagement in improving the region: making it more prosperous and more creative.

Balticlab 2.0 kicked off with a Networking Weekend in Stockholm 13-15 December, 2013. The goal of the event was to encourage contact-building and expertise exchange among interdiciplinary talented creatives and entrepreneurs from the Baltic Sea region. Through facilitated sessions and creativity simulation exercises the participants were invited to critically reflect on their relationship to the region, to its culture, identity and how their own work can link to these dimensions. The weekend also included workshops on communication, future forcasting, project development, pitching and social entrepreneurship, in which the participants were invited to expand their personal field of interests.

Out of these 77 talented individuals the Balticlab organisers invitied 35 to continue with Balticlab this spring in the form of Balticlab 2.0: Project Development Programme, which consited of three modules taking place in Riga in February, Tallinn in March and Warsaw in May 2014.

See introductios to Balticlab 2.0: Project Development Programme participants below:

Anastasia V. Sluzhenko
Anastasia V. Sluzhenko has a BA in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic and MRPII from the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (Maine, Arizona, USA). She has worked at a media school, concert halls, TV station, Centre for Contemporary Arts and an online store. She wants to travel, listen, observe and exchange.

Andrius Lekavicius
Andrius Lekavicius is an all-around media storyteller having recently lived in both Europe and Asia: Vilnius and Kuala Lumpur. He has built a profile of projects on various media platforms: from creating brand image to second screen applications, from directing high-end commercials to his first feature documentary ‘Game of the Nation’. Andrius is currently a Creative Director at ‘Prime Field’ during working hours and a non-stop genius idea espresso machine 24/7.

Anna Woźniak
Anna is a entrepreneurial professional, dedicated to forging a career track in intercultural communication and innovative ventures. A person who finds herself at ease in both non-profit and business setups: responsible for the program of TEDx Poznan; coordinating Training processes in a fast growing HR Service Line of a reputable consulting firm and last, but not least a traveler who has been lost and found many times, and is still amazed how many inspiring people one can meet on the way.

Diana Zamurajeva
Diana Zamurajeva is a branding project manager at brands nest MATKA, co-owner of city initiatives portal ManaRiga.com, co-manager of coworking space DalamDarbaVietu.lv and a motion design amateur. Evangelist of Riga, traveller, social entrepreneur.

Egle Songailiene
Egle Songailiene is a lecturer at LCC International University and a director of LCC Innvation Lab. Egle is passionate about innovation, creativity and service design. She looks to meet new people, making real connections and starting real projects.

Ekaterina Klink
Ekaterina Klink is a young entrepreneur from Moscow, taking an active role in the Moscow startup community. She has worked as an Associate at a VC fund and is now passionate about building her own project.

Elizaveta Kiseleva
Elisaveta Kiseleva works with social and creative entrepreneurship educational programmes in Russia and Europe. Elisaveta is a co-author of “Creative industries. Russian profile” analytical report for Creative Industries Agency, Moscow
and Institute for Russia and Eastern Europe, Helsinki. She is also an expert for Wisemount Lab, Barcelona, the agency aimed at smart urban development.

Eva Saukane
Eva Saukane is an adviser for young creative entrepreneurs and startups at the Latvian Investment and Development Agency. Eva is also working as a freelance writer and photographer.

Gabija Jankauskaite
Gabija Januskaite is a 1/4 service, 1/4 graphic designer, 1/4 design strategist and 1/4 design thinker. She is learning to live with complexity and enjoys making confusing things understandable. Loves beautiful design, dogs and baking pies.

Giedre Sileikyte
Giedre Sileikyte respects text, lives for words and says that she works in the boredom-killing business. She leads a creative PR boutique agency AUTORIAI, which is on a mission to prove that words do wonders. With ten years of experience in the communications market and work as a strategic consultant, Giedre’s creative PR campaigns have been awarded by the International Public Relations Association, Baltic PR Awards and have been shortlisted for the Cannes Lions.

Henri Veidenbaum
Henri Veidenbaum is with Yep – a digital consultancy building up digital products and services. When Henri is not coding/prototyping he enjoys spending time together with his beloved ones. He also plays the fiddle at gigs and jam sessions.

Inna Semionova
Inna Semionova is a front end developer and designer based in Kaunas, Lithuania. Not that long ago she decided to ditch all the activities she was involved in at the time and taught herself programming. It worked and now she spends her days immersed in all things of web-based design and loves every minute of it.

Jakub Ignaczak
Jakub Ignaczak is a friendly and open minded creative with a multifarious approach. Running a small business and seeking differences and unique features. He is a keen graphic designer, photographer and sculpturer.

Janis Vitols
„Create! Support! Inspire! Riga! Youth!”

Justyna Turek
Justyna Turek is an artist, designer and freelancer specialized in glass design and art. She gets her inspiration from nature, travels and her research on materials. She prefers minimalistic design with strong impact on the product value. Her main interest in art is the creation process. She believes in destiny and luck. Feels good with a camera in her hands and tries to catch each moment of life.

Kadri Sikk
Kadri has an academic background in Scandinavian and Gender Studies. She lived in Denmark and Iceland before returning home to Estonia. Equipped with knowledge of all three languages, she is an intermediary between Nordic and Estonian cultures in her spare time. Professionally, she is an idea juggler with skills from film producing to public speaking to dumpster diving. Go for the gusto!

Kaisa Kahu
Kaisa Kahu is an Estonian entrepreneur residing in Riga. Her passion is art and fashion management, her company offers a personalized support service for creatives, painters and designers, from website management to export.

Kasia Jezowksa
Kasia Jezowska curates, writes and lectures about design and exhibitions. Polish- born and London-based, she works on commissions around Europe both independently and as a part of the Creative Project Foundation. She blends her
creative practice with academic interests via her PhD-to-be research into the history of Polish design exhibitions.

Laima Ruduša
Laima Ruduša has a passion for objects, ideas (their ideas, other ideas) and stories (back stories, front page stories, the portrayal of stories, stories told, and stories kept secret), particularly interested in art’s “ah-hah” moments. Laima combines these in her current place of work. She is the Project Manager and one of three staff members at kim? Contemporary Art Centre, in Riga, where she works with the exhibitions and the education programme, and anything else they come up with.

Laura Adamoviča
Laura Adamoviča has been lucky to experience some amazing things – by working as a program director at the Kanepes Culture Centre, a multidisciplinary art space, freshly returned from the Venice Art Biennale with the Latvian Pavilion project, working with artists, performers, philosophical festivals and the list continues. These are her passions – they are all revealed by her actions: to inspire, create, socialize, share and naturally have fun.

Liudmila Voronova
Liudmila Voronova is a PhD-student at Södertörn University (department of Media and Communication Studies, Baltic and East European Graduate School) and University of Örebro. In her doctoral project she analyzes meanings and roles of gender in political journalism cultures in Russia and Sweden. Her research interests lie within the intersection of gender media studies, political communication research, and comparative studies of journalism cultures.

Lucas Brodowicz
Lucas Brodowicz is a cultural animator, visual artist, photographer and filmmaker, professionally known under the moniker BRATstudio. Currently a student of Gdynia Film School and Gdansk University.

Madis Ligema & Tõnis Hiiesalu
"Events, film & trouble."

Mantas Pelakauskas
Mantas Pelakauskas is a lecturer at the Vilnius College of Design. As a master of Communication Science (at Vilnius University) he is interested in all kinds of human communication. He´s created several projects analyzing and experimenting with common sense, shared memory and nostalgia. Currently he is working with a photography book project based on shared memory of the Baltic region.

Mikhail Mironov
Misha Mironov is an aspiring entrepreneur. Misha is passionate about redesigning education for a better future and deeply interested in the topics of conscious leadership and social entrepreneurship.

Ömer Yasar
Ömer Yasar appreciates challenging tasks where he can use and develop his innovative as well as analytical skills. Recently, Ömer joined IBM’s two-year Graduate Program where he works as a consultant along with the trainee program.

Rafał Mączyński
Rafał Mączyński is a TV series screenwriter willing to create European shows that could measure up to – or even surpass – such US productions as “Breaking Bad” or “Mad Men”. A firm believer in the adage: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now”.

Reinis Spaile
Reinis Spaileis a graduating film director with a BA in International Business. Reinis is rather more interested in creating stories than innovating new products, but believes that these two may be inseparably connected.

Salla Johanna Kirjalainen
Finnish graphic designer mostly working with branding and editorial design. Simple things like fast bikes and friendly dogs make her happy!

Sandra Vokk
Sandra Vokk is an entrepreneurial creative spirit with a tendency for activism, a passion for humour and a weakness for philosophy. Schooled in Near Eastern Studies and Social Anthropology she is currently balancing between running several “change-the-world-into-a-better-place” projects, managing organizational as well as personal communications and finding ways to realize the insane ideas that pop up in the meantime.

Semra Sahin
Semra Sahin is a product designer and curious about how to design with regional resources. Semra aims to create new, sustainable areas in the market.

Therese Alston
Therese is an architect from Stockholm who likes to re-imagine the city to make life more curious, equal and sustainable. She is inspired, among many things, by art, maps, film, literature and history.

Veera Pakala
Veera Pakala believes that multidisciplinarity is the key to successful innovations and a shift in mindsets. Veera is currently studying in a multidisciplinary master’s program, Business & Design, in Gothenburg and believes that there is creativity in each of us, but the challenge is to find a way to combine and harness this creativity successfully.

Zane Datava
Zane Datava curates and produces contemporary art exhibitions and interdisciplinary projects and is interested in working on collaborative projects that bridge disciplines.

Balticlab Project Development Programme Pilot 2013

Balticlab Project Development Programme pilot was launched in April 2013, when a group of 19 individuals from the Balticlab Network were invited to form working groups to develop four project prototypes that link their personal interests with the need to foster integration in the region. The programme participants met and worked during the interlinked programme modules in Malmö, 12-16 April, in Nida, 3-7 May and in Kaliningrad 4-8 June. The modules were designed in a way that aided the participants in developing their projects, namely by providing them with management tools, contextual knowledge and coaching. At the end of the programme the four working groups presented their respective projects during the last module at the SEBA Conference on Creativity and Human Potential in Kaliningrad. This last module in Kaliningrad was the grand finale of the Balticlab Project Development Programme, but also the grand beginning of what will hopefully be four successful long-term projects: Mind Mill, Baltic Design Ship, Project Little Brother and Social Innovation Baltic. See more about the projects here.

Meet the 19 participants of the pilot programme of 2013 below.

Questions:

1. What pushes you personally to develop new and creative projects?
2. How do you develop your entrepreneurial skills?
3. Can you tell us about a lesson you have learned and how might this shape your ideas?

Aiuna is a student of linguistics who is interested in working in the IT field. She aims to launch ProfyEqualizer, an information source about interdisciplinary professions. Such an information source would help people find suitable pathways into interdisciplinary careers within the professional domain.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/aiuna

A1. The thought that people will be happier when they use it.

A2. 1. Talk with entrepreneurs. They have experiences that I may need. 2. Through studying my specific field the more I know, the more responsibility I can take.

A3. I hope to discover it in Balticlab.

Brian is the founder of Welcome, a studio specializing in design, photography, writing and strategy. A serial creator, he loves ideas that force people to reconsider their understanding of the world. He’s designed a book meant to be planted – not read, opened a pie shop to heal a community and driven across the USA with a shipping container converted into an art studio, but the truck blew up along the way. Brian has several project ideas currently being considered for the future. http://www.alwaysfeelwelcome.com

A1. The desire to create and move the world forward. Not accepting the world as it is according to tradition or standard practice. To challenge my own curiosities and continually trying to answer the question, “what if…”

A2. I’m currently studying a Master’s in Business Design to strengthen my basic knowledge. I am also a part of a global network of entrepreneurs called Sandbox that surrounds me with many other inspiring people who are always willing to answer questions and help each other whenever it is needed.

A3. Be comfortable with failure, embrace it even (as cliché as it sounds).

Ali is a founder at Innospired, an agency that helps companies strengthen and increase innovation efficiency, and has a background in brand and communication consulting. Ali aims to develop a platform for open innovation where any individual from a company can launch a web-service that integrates customer feedback into the development and improvement process.

A1. Inspiration from others

A2. Reading books, talking to others, observing leaders. Then act, learn and build.

A3. Entrepreneurship is harder than I imagined.

Dominykas is a foreign markets’ representative for Bionovus, a bioenergy company. He is interested in economic activity, sustainable growth, and politics. He is also interested in IT and web project development.

http://alturl.com/4p8js

A1 To do something that is completely interesting for you and it is 200% yours, when you know that you are the only one that can push this further.

A2. I try to implement my ideas with friends and see what happens.

A3. A good team is very important. Two heads are much better than one.

Jarek has a background in finance and is a co-founder and business developer for CityRace.me. He is also a co-organizer of Warsaw Startup Weekend and HackWAW. Entrepreneurship is his passion. He finds communication and bringing people together are keys for success in entrepreneurship.

A1. Living to the fullest and showing people that you can do whatever you put your mind to.

A2. Doing things and failing.

A3. Have a clear understanding of what failure is.

Indre has a masters in law and is a partner and co-founder at Robert Kalinkin Fashion House. Her vision for the brand is to develop problem-solving fashion. Upcoming innovations aim to transform old clothes into fresh, inexpensive fashion. She hopes to expand the brand and its innovations worldwide.

www.robertkalinkin.com

A1. New ideas that are not explored yet. A wish to develop something which can make a significant changes within a selected field.

A2.Learning by doing. And closely watching those who succeed. Success is very rarely accidental.

A3. No matter how good your idea is, it has to fit in the numbers. There has to be a certain and specific point when you have to start making profit,

otherwise, you’re doing something wrong. This, of course, applies only

to for-profit projects.

Kristina studies social and cultural sciences with an emphasis on politics. She has worked alongside the representatives of the integration of the city of Frankfurt (Oder)/Germany and led an international project under the authority of the special representative for international cooperation of the mayor of Frankfurt (Oder) to develop a student network among its twinned cities. In recognizing how each country has different systems for producing and using resources, she hopes to organize a forum for teenagers to share new ways of ecological thinking.

A1. Communication and developing new ideas with different people; to make something out of nothing, or to start finding other things to get involved with; to discover myself, my own organizational skills.

A2. I am an optimist and when I have an idea or a vision, I try to inspire other people. I plan and organize my every day. I never have a boring “daily routine”. Regularly I set my own goals and try to achieve them.

A3. Teamwork – understanding and respect of other people; to see how you can get value from your team and good contribution out of every person on the team.

Magdalena is a founding partner at Designlab and an assistant tutor at the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology. Research and experimentation are key parts of her work when designing large spaces, furniture and objects. She is currently preparing a research project examining creativity through hardship – the solutions that arise from innovation and a lack of resources. www.designlab.com.pl

A1. Poland is a country which is developing and therefore there are many opportunities and chances for new projects to come alive. Young entrepreneurs here have a real influence over how the design scene looks like, they are helping to shape it. Apart from this, running entrepreneurial projects satisfies my personal ambitions.

A2. I take part in many competitions, conferences and constantly extend my network of partners which means that I also learn through the experience of others.

A3. It would have to be the lesson that hard work contributes to entrepreneurship. A good idea is extremely valuable, however you have to be consistent and determined to make it come through. New ideas usually are difficult to execute, therefore it’s vital to not have doubts along the way.

Mattias studies technical nanoscience and is the CEA and founder of Cook‘n Smile Food Communication, a company that communicates sustainable food consumption. He has also worked with KliMAT-Guiden, a smartphone app that allows users to create their own green grocery bag. He is passionate about creativity and social development, and is curious about how to create solutions that will enable us to live a good, happy life in the future.

www.linkedin.com/pub/mattias-kroon/32/7b1/b38

A1. I want to see things happen. Life is more fun when moving

forward!

A2. Meet people!

Agniete is a freelance designer. She is particularly interested in how interdisciplinary collaboration can promote social and ecological responsibility, as well as improving contextual awareness. She plans to use her masters thesis to develop a current jewelry project.

http://cargocollective.com/agnietepreidyte

A1. The ability to choose my way of working and responsibility for the products I sell in different levels: both socially and sustainably.

A2. Updating my skills and inspirations through different media and trying out innovative ideas.

A3. I am a designer and always reach the point where people do not understand the value of the product, which leads me to the conclusion that they need to be more educated about the difference between mass production and unique design products.

Alexander is a PR manager for the Baltic branch of the National Center for Contemporary Arts and the art director and co-founder of Baltic Magazines publishing house. Together with Kristina Cheremushkina he hopes to create a new independent media outlet for the city that captures positive changes in the urban landscape and actively supports them. This would include building a communication platform between different groups and individuals who claim their ‘right to the city.’ http://www.facebook.com/alex.v.firsov

A1. Freedom of action and expression that can be obtained only as an entrepreneur.

A2. University education and work experience as an employee. Reading the business media and communication with business communities.

A3. The team, the idea and the external environment are equally important.

Algirdas is a marketing consultant who is a creative agent for Creative Part¬nerships Lithuania. In his hometown of Klaipeda he founded the first creative residency, Neloftas, and organized the Rafta festival, a floating stage in the middle of the Prussian Sea. He aims to create an outsourcing network of reliable graphic designers, video and audio experts, and IT specialists.

https://www.facebook.com/algirdo

A1. Competition (hearing about successful projects initiated either in my country or abroad) and self-esteem (the feeling that I can do what’s still not in the market)

A2. Little tryouts in high school boosted my self-esteem and inspired me to open my eyes for possibilities.

A3. Sometimes having high expectations and falling in love with your idea isolates you from the reality and eliminates connections with reality. I’ve learnt that even though you love an idea, you have to be careful, research the market and keep doubting it until you launch something.

Barbara trained as an architect and is interested in working with it in a non-traditional way, such as with temporary and social installations. She is currently collaborating with the Centre for Contemporary Architecture in Budapest to activate suburbia. She is also a co-founder of an artistic collective which deals with social problems. Her aim is to launch a socially-aware design service.

A1. Well, first of all I don’t think that my fields of interests like art and cultural animation have so much in common with entrepreneurship in general.

Or maybe they don’t have enough. So this is the main reason to join such programs. I don’t wish to sound banal, but expanding networks and finding people in similar situations really gives you a lot of inspiration and confidence. That is a great start.

A2. I find taking the risk and aiming high the best way to learn and develop.

A3. Every new project has to be challenging to be worthy of the effort.

The best lesson is always the challenge you’re trying to face right now.

Brian is the founder of Welcome, a studio specializing in design, photography, writing and strategy. A serial creator, he loves ideas that force people to reconsider their understanding of the world. He’s designed a book meant to be planted – not read, opened a pie shop to heal a community and driven across the USA with a shipping container converted into an art studio, but the truck blew up along the way. Brian has several project ideas currently being considered for the future. http://www.alwaysfeelwelcome.com

A1. The desire to create and move the world forward. Not accepting the world as it is according to tradition or standard practice. To challenge my own curiosities and continually trying to answer the question, “what if…”

A2. I’m currently studying a Master’s in Business Design to strengthen my basic knowledge. I am also a part of a global network of entrepreneurs called Sandbox that surrounds me with many other inspiring people who are always willing to answer questions and help each other whenever it is needed.

A3. Be comfortable with failure, embrace it even (as cliché as it sounds).

Ali is a founder at Innospired, an agency that helps companies strengthen and increase innovation efficiency, and has a background in brand and communication consulting. Ali aims to develop a platform for open innovation where any individual from a company can launch a web-service that integrates customer feedback into the development and improvement process.

A1. Inspiration from others

A2. Reading books, talking to others, observing leaders. Then act, learn and build.

A3. Entrepreneurship is harder than I imagined.

Denis is trained in computer science, applied mathematics, photojournalism and photoart in general. Together with Jenya Lapteva he hopes to help the Baltic Spit region overcome its cultural isolation. As a team they aim to investigate the common language of contemporary art in the Baltic region, develop cooperation in the field of contemporary culture in the region, and study human existence in a natural environment. https://www.facebook.com/denis.zapolskiy

A1. My desire to present the magic of Baltic Spit (Vistula) to people from other regions pushes me.

A2. I try to connect with many people with different views on reality and life in general.

Vytautas is an investor and start-up mentor. He is working to launch nuhjalpen.se, a charity project that will raise money not from donation but from contributed goods. The benefits are both environmental and social, as the profits will be used to grant higher-education scholarships to students from low-income families.

A1. Realization of individualism.

A2. Always experimenting

A3. People can always fail.

Edit is an artist based in Visby, Sweden where she has been involved in projects concerning art, exchanges, exhibitions, and more. As a future curator at Lidköpings Art Hall, she’ll have a platform to jumpstart exchange projects.

She has numerous project ideas she is working on, including a youth exhibition

in traditional and non-traditional artistic techniques, a world art-day classroom collaboration, and an exhibition about the art of gaming.

http://editmag.wix.com/at-home

A1. It’s never the money, haven’t made any money yet. It’s seeing when something is amiss and knowing that there is a small thing I CAN do about it, then DOING it!

A2. Learning by doing, making mistakes and discussing it with others.

A3. It’s OK to make mistakes. And it’s OK if it takes time.

Ekaterina is a foreign trade manager in seeds production and a specialist in agronomy, crop protection and quarantine. As agrotourism has started to develop in Russia, she sees the potential for investments in agrotourism to provide people-to-people exchanges, to help farmers to improve profits and get help from clients, and to educate travelers on the importance of nature conservation. http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=115101314&trk=tab_pro

A1. To be honest I’m not in the business yet, but I know it will be these things – freedom, interest, creativity, getting new experience and knowledge, to create something new.

A2. Through my own experience and education by now, for the future

I would like to create my own business and learn from it – think it’s the best way to understand my weaknesses and work on them.

A3. For the seed supply businesses there is a constant flow of seeds in the world – just incredible!

Katarzyna has an engineering degree in biotechnology and is now is doing a masters in sustainable biotechnology. She believes scientists represent a different type of creativity. She is interested in joining designers and scientists together to develop a production process for new biomaterials, and believes compressive solutions to complex problems is only possible through such collaborations.

Ieva is an independent architect and semi-professional photographer.

As a blogger at archwanders.com she hopes to expand the blog to include more writers who are design loving people from the Baltic Sea Region and who would write and photograph what is happening in their countries from their personal perspective. The motto: fast, fresh, personal, and preferably elsewhere unpublished. www.archwanders.com

A1. Promoting high quality design. A need for opposition, possibility to make changes. Standing out doing things the way other people don’t.

A2. Attend business/business related courses and seminars (recently took and accounting course and business motivation seminar). Read books, read on-line, engaging in endless discussions about entrepreneurship with friends.

A3. My biggest lesson was that most businesses are very local, unless you are very big or very unique.

Ivan’s bachelor thesis compared the impact of social networks on entrepreneurial activity in 56 countries. He has researched and prepared articles for international conferences and journals, and he continues his research in this field. He is currently the CEO of Game Changers LLC and head coordinator at Game Changers, a program of 20 students devoted to exploring the IT industry in Russia and the world. ru.linkedin.com/in/ivanbut

A1. I have my own ideas I want to develop in my own way and I don’t like to work in companies.

A2. By learning from others and, unfortunately, my own mistakes.

A3. It’s not about money or venture capital to start; it’s all about the idea and your faith in it.

Indre has a masters in law and is a partner and co-founder at Robert Kalinkin Fashion House. Her vision for the brand is to develop problem-solving fashion. Upcoming innovations aim to transform old clothes into fresh, inexpensive fashion. She hopes to expand the brand and its innovations worldwide.

www.robertkalinkin.com

A1. New ideas that are not explored yet. A wish to develop something which can make a significant changes within a selected field.

A2.Learning by doing. And closely watching those who succeed. Success is very rarely accidental.

A3. No matter how good your idea is, it has to fit in the numbers. There has to be a certain and specific point when you have to start making profit,

otherwise, you’re doing something wrong. This, of course, applies only

to for-profit projects.

John is the co-owner and CEO at Bloow, a company that creates awareness of drinking habits by offering breathalyzer tests at parties, bars, and events. He is also the co-owner & founder of Returntool Sweden, a phone app designed to increase customer loyalty by awarding points for repeat business. An interest in social entrepreneurship and creative problem-solving drive his interests in expanding his businesses.

www.returntool.se

A1. The unlimited amount of pain and suffering from constant failure. You have the opportunity to fail or succeed. I’d trade that for a steady income and security any time!

A2. I surround myself with people who want to do things. I have my office in the Entrepreneurial Church, I’m a part of the Balticlab. I learn from people who have done or are in the process of doing what I want to get done.

A3. Share your idea. Let people shoot it down, destroy it and test it. Don’t let it just be an idea.

Juste is studying curating contemporary art. She writes for Spana and arterritory.com. She is also part of the cultural management collective BCC which curates informal collaborations. Together with Maija Rudovska, their three-day project Museum in the Market invited market people to create their own museum. The project acted as a catalyst for discussing the role of museums within the modern marketplace and economy. They aim to expand their idea to include additional social systems.

http://blindcarboncopy.org/index.html

A1. Curiosity.

A2. I am trying to reduce them, not to develop. In fact, the contemporary situation is changing so quickly that one has to adapt to the new circumstances. Therefore my goal is to be flexible, rather than to become “an entrepreneur”.

A3. There is no way out, unless you live in Walden Forests.

Giedr has more than 9 years of branding experience and is a co-owner and brand developer at BLACK SWAN BRANDS, a branding bureau. She aims to launch a magazine promoting new ideas, entrepreneurship, creativity and culture, and social responsibility in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Such a magazine will personalize the identity building work within the region as promoted through the strategic plans of governmental organizations.

http://vimeo.com/blackswanbrands

A1. Curiosity. Realisation. Profit.

A2. Stepping outside comfort zone.

A3. A team is important. Growth oriented structure.

Artem is a designer and photographer who has had his work featured in numerous exhibitions and publications. He and Alexander Chijov envision improving how people use public spaces in Kaliningrad, including encouraging respect for pedestrian spaces, developing bicycle routes, and revitalizing the forgotten spaces under bridges. www.rrrtem.ru

Maciej is a PhD candidate in Art History. He hopes to launch a database collecting, analyzing and presenting information and photographs of late antique textiles in Baltic Sea countries. Such a project would bring students and scholars from the region together and remove current location and language barriers for study. www.deca.edu.pl

A1. What drives me in my entrepreneurial work is my strong need to decide about myself and shape my future according to my dreams

A2. I was interested in enterprise from an early age and I have trained myself in seeing opportunities, where others see only problems. Today I like to build my network and listen to stories of people experienced in business

A3. If you support people without asking for something in return, you will receive more than you could imagine.

Katya is a general manager of TanzTranzit. Trained in economics, her thesis explored culture as a resource of territorial development. She and Na¬talia Vishnya aim to launch BALTICDANCEFILM FORUM. Their mission is to bring filmmakers and dancers from the Baltic region together and to encouraging

a vivid discussion on performance arts both on stage and on the screen.

www.tanztranzit.ru

A1. I like to make people happy!

A2. 1. I try to achieve goals in everything I start doing. 2. I like to visit different festivals and learn from the experience of my colleagues in the field of dance 3. I am not afraid to be myself. I am aware of my special set of skills, strengths and weaknesses, and build on these.

A3. Realization of TanzTranzit contemporary dance Festival in Kaliningrad from year to year.

Kristina studies social and cultural sciences with an emphasis on politics. She has worked alongside the representatives of the integration of the city of Frankfurt (Oder)/Germany and led an international project under the authority of the special representative for international cooperation of the mayor of Frankfurt (Oder) to develop a student network among its twinned cities. In recognizing how each country has different systems for producing and using resources, she hopes to organize a forum for teenagers to share new ways of ecological thinking.

A1. Communication and developing new ideas with different people; to make something out of nothing, or to start finding other things to get involved with; to discover myself, my own organizational skills.

A2. I am an optimist and when I have an idea or a vision, I try to inspire other people. I plan and organize my every day. I never have a boring “daily routine”. Regularly I set my own goals and try to achieve them.

A3. Teamwork – understanding and respect of other people; to see how you can get value from your team and good contribution out of every person on the team.

Kinga is studying media and global communication and has a background in journalism. She is a communication assistant at HELCOM where she works at the level of ideas and strategies of presentation. Her masters thesis explores the articulation of creativity within social media, including creative impulses as triggered by new technologies and how creativity might be manifested within these environments.

A1. The innate curiosity of the world and eagerness to constant self-development motivate all of my actions. Through undertaking certain activities I hope to learn about the world around me, and to improve my own set of skills. Who knows, maybe one day the two could be combined to ameliorate the reality we all live in?

A2. I have a very theoretical mindset, thus reading guide books and learning about other people’s real-life experiences are always my primary methods of learning. I have not really moved on from that phase as of yet, but secretly hope to acquire enough courage and self-confidence to do so.

A3. The most crucial thing I have learnt about entrepreneurship thus far, is that there is much more to it than I initially expected. I am a newbie to the field, so my biggest lessons are pretty obvious, I am afraid.

Kristín is the founder at Possunt. She is curious about both life and career fulfillment but even more how people define themselves and their values. To find some answers she quit her job, got rid of all material belongings and hopped on her bike with the mission to meet 100 random people around Europe to discover what makes them tick. 120 days, 9 countries and over 100 random people later she returned to Sweden to build up Possunt. She aims to showcase how individuals are empowered to create their own opportunities by doing what they love.

www.kristingrimsdottir.tumblr.com

A1. 1. My enthusiasm for making improvements. 2. My passion for people and belief in people’s potential. 3. Frustration over how people are acting without thinking WHY.

A2. Endless curiosity. I put myself constantly out of my comfort zone, seek new experiences, try new things, meet people and try to learn something from everyone I meet. Challenge myself and others.

A3. Just do it.

Martyna works with sound in the urban space, exploring questions such as if sound effects the behavior of people and if urban life can be changed and improved using sound. Her work includes using foreign sounds to reveal subliminal aspects of already occurring sounds, and making an acoustic map of the London Underground. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary urbanism, including what architects, politicians, engineers, and citizens think about urban noise.

www.martynapoznanska.com

A1. Currently I don’t but I’m interested in learning about them.

A2. Through workshops. Learning about projects made in the world. Getting involved in social programmes/projects.

A3. Right know I’m not sure.

Maria’s work combines geo-ecology and engineering safety. She hopes to develop an inclusive cooperative project for the Baltic Sea Region that spreads the importance of ecological values through creative expression. This work would teach both esthetic taste and environmental responsibility.

Maija is a contemporary art curator. She completed the Paths Crossing residency at the Baltic Art Centre in Visby, Sweden. Together with curator Juste Kostikovaite, their three-day project Museum in the Market invited market people to create their own museum. The project acted as a catalyst for discussing the role of museums within the modern marketplace and economy. They aim to expand their idea to include additional social systems.

www.pathsmaija.tumblr.com

A1. I haven’t run entrepreneurial projects so far, this is the first attempt therefore I can’t really answer this question. For my project for Balticlab I see it as a chance to experiment, to combine completely different fields and approaches – pure art with a social entrepreneurial approach which could work out very well for the particular context and conditions in Riga.

A2. By participating in various projects that provide not only the creativity and new approaches but also the possibility to merge different spheres and disciplines; the projects I’m mostly involved in are related to art and culture, but they always contain some level or potential of entrepreneurship which would be interesting to develop.

Maria studies industrial design and has worked in the fashion department at Harpers BAZAAR in NYC. She has also put on a creativity and entrepreneurial workshop in South Africa courtesy of the organization Start For Life. An overachiever in her youth, she stumbled upon silversmithing and ultimately started Moi UF where she designed, manufactured, and sold her own jewelry. Maria hopes to produce a line of furniture exploring the relationship between art and design.

A1. I love creating, weather it is an actual object or an idea I love going from thought to action.

A2. I am constantly on the lookout for new challenges and projects that help me grow and evolve as a human being, artist and entrepreneur.

A3. That getting lost is not a bad thing. Most often it leads you in a new direction and forces you to grow in unexpected ways. Keep your mind open and you will not be disappointed.

Mattias studies technical nanoscience and is the CEA and founder of Cook‘n Smile Food Communication, a company that communicates sustainable food consumption. He has also worked with KliMAT-Guiden, a smartphone app that allows users to create their own green grocery bag. He is passionate about creativity and social development, and is curious about how to create solutions that will enable us to live a good, happy life in the future.

www.linkedin.com/pub/mattias-kroon/32/7b1/b38

A1. I want to see things happen. Life is more fun when moving

forward!

A2. Meet people!

Natalia is a PhD candidate of history and art. She prepares lectures and articles to promote the possibility for design to be affordable enough to be a part of daily life. She hopes to launch a website compiling comprehensive information on the history of design and designers from the Baltic Sea Region in order to promote cooperation between designers, clients, and industry. She would also like to be a design travel guide, showing small groups the classic as well as contemporary products of the region.

www.nbursiewicz.wix.com/aboutme

A1. A strong belief that I can make some positive changes through art and design.

A2. Through different local and international actions, workshops, conferences and talks. I am also organising various events and publishing articles.

A3. It’s impossible to get anywhere alone, without the co-operation of different specialists and enthusiasts.

Nikolay has a master in software engineering and computer science. Interested in bioinformatics, his main project is Rosalind – a platform for learning bioinformatics through problem solving. He is also developing cool algorithms and software for genome assembly and analysis.

http://spbsu.ru/vyahhi

A1.The possibility to change the world and affect lives.

A2. Practice, pick up some books.

A3. Love your team, love your users.

Piotr is the owner and PR manager for Public Relations Agency Pracownia Szumu and has a master in journalism. He is a keen observer of Polish culture and fashion and has many years of experience working with media and creative industries. Piotr hopes to launch an internet platform and professional network where creators can inspire each other and exchange experiences.

www.pracowniaszumu.pl

Tomasz is studying logistics and is a TEDxPoznan curator. He is also a product manager for redexperts.net and uczestnicy.pl, and an evangelist at eventorium.com. He participated in the HugeThing accelerator program and co-founded Sellbox. His work at uczestnicy.pl focuses on creating ecosystems for event organizers.

A1. I want to do something good in this (mostly) bad world.

A2. By learning from mine and other people’s mistakes.

A3. Engage and talk to the customers.

Zuzanna studies graphic design and is the owner of Melo Design, a company which develops interactive toys for preschool children. She is also a freelance toy designer for Tigerprint. For her bachelor project she developed adventurous sound dolls that interact using RFID tags and readers. Her experience has taught her that you need more than being an inventor and having a good idea to succeed as an entrepreneur.

www.melodesign.pl

A1. There are two major things – first I love designing things, inventing new forms and technologies and second of all I love children and their world – full of play, imagination, stories, irrationalities, emotions… And I believe that if you do something that you are passionate about, you will produce something valuable for the others. I realise this is not much of an answer of

an entrepreneur, but rather idealistic young designer.

A2. Just experience – my project is still a small scale so I do not deal with issues that might have a large impact. I am learning all as I go, really.

A3. That everything takes 10 times longer than you expect and it should not frustrate you.