CURRICULUM VITAE
LĀSMA
IVASKA
Riga, Latvia
Urban economist specialized in co-creation, innovation facilitation and smart
city tech development. Experienced project manager, certified Scrum Master.
Background in market research, strategic advising and business internationa-
lization. Passionate about sustainable urban design & green cities.
WORK EXPERIENCE
11/2019 –
INNOVATION LEAD & PROJECT MANAGER
now
VEFRESH | www.vefresh.com
▪
Co-creating first smart city innovation district in Riga together with public and private partners.
▪
Lobbying for innovation-friendly legislation at national and municipality level.
▪
Facilitating smart city innovation through hackathons, investor & startup matchmaking events,
discussions, podcasts, etc.
▪
Supporting corporations, SMEs and startups in deployment of their latest solutions in real
urban conditions.
▪
Attracting funding for innovation projects though open calls (EIT, EEA Grants, Horizon) and
sponsors.
BUSINESS SECTOR: Smart city | Urban design | Innovation facilitation
10/2018 –
OPEN INNOVATION PROJECT MANAGER
11/2019
ACCENTURE LATVIA | www.accenture.com
▪
Creating open innovation action plan for co-innovation with Baltic startups, corporations & other
innovation ecosystem members.
▪
Scouting high potential startups and evaluating their relevance for client interests.
▪
IT project manager & Scrum master for rapid application development projects incl., web and
mobile applications, blockchain solutions, drone management tools.
BUSINESS SECTOR: Innovation facilitation | IT | Startup scouting
10/2018 –
FREELANCE CONSULTANT
now
▪
Freelance consultant at ‘Gateway & Partners’ working with various market research projects,
incl., supply chain analysis, strategy development, etc. (Apr 2018 – now).
▪
Project coordinator of NGO ‘Free Riga’ lecture cycle ‘Kompass’. Responsible for organizing 20
event cycle exploring topics related to urban development, temporary use and creative citizen
engagement (May – Sept 2018).
▪
Coordinator of volunteers at art, music & discussion festival ‘Komēta’ (Jun 2018).
▪
Start-up mentor at business support programme ‘Export Express’ for Estonian and Latvian
companies (Apr 2018).
BUSINESS SECTOR: Project management | Urban design | Creative industries
09/2013 –
SENIOR PROJECT COORDINATOR & RESEARCH TEAM LEAD
01/2018
GATEWAY & PARTNERS | www.gatewaypartners.net
▪
Leading the company’s market research department.
▪
Quantitative research project (CATI, face-to-face surveys) coordination including supervising up
to 25 researcher work in large projects.
▪
Market research & internationalization strategy project sales, execution & coordination within
the team.
▪
Trade mission organization for up to 10 companies to Baltics, Norway, Denmark, Iceland,
Ireland, Turkey as well as individual assistance to clients with partner selection and attraction in
export markets, overseas business visit and meeting organization.
▪
Working with global consulting companies, SMEs, international & state organizations, clusters
and start-ups from various European countries.
BUSINESS SECTOR: Market research | International trade | Strategic consulting
09/2014 –
ASSOCIATED CONSULTANT IN LATVIA
01/2018
INNOVATION NORWAY BALTICS | www.innovationnorway.no
▪
Assisting Norwegian companies with subsidiary establishment in Latvia, personnel recruitment,
market research and partner attraction.
BUSINESS SECTOR: Innovation facilitation | IT | Startup scouting
EDUCATION
09/2016 –
MSSC URBAN AND REGIONAL ECONOMICS (GPA 8/10)
01/2018
Riga Technical University | Riga, Latvia
▪
Programme combining Economics with various aspects of Urban design & development.
▪
Master’s thesis on Riga neighborhood development association and municipality institution
communication, including new cooperation model development.
09/2010 –
MA (HONOURS) POLITICS & ENGLISH LITERATURE JOINT DEGREE (2:1)
06/2014
University of Glasgow | Glasgow, United Kingdom
▪
Subjects included topics from International Relations, EU politics, History of Political thought,
Organizational management, Modernism and more.
▪
Bachelor’s thesis on EU and Russia energy relations.
09/2007 –
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE DIPLOMA (39/45) WITH EXTRA
06/2010
CERTIFICATE IN ECONOMICS (7/7)
LATVIAN CERTIFICATE OF GENERAL SECONDARY EDUCATION (AAB, GPA 9/10)
Riga State Gymnasium No. 1 | Riga, Latvia
▪
Latvia’s top-ranked high school with specialization in mathematics & natural sciences.
▪
Completed two secondary education programmes in parallel.
▪
IB subjects: English (HL), History (HL), Latvian (HL), Mathematics (SL), Biology (SL),
Economics (SL), Russian (SL).
VOLUNTARY WORK
09/2015 –
CO-FOUNDER, BOARD MEMBER
now
Repair Cafe Riga | www.repaircafe.lv
▪
‘Repair cafe Rīga’ events aim to introduce Latvians, especially young people, with possibilities
how to repair things on their own in order to reduce waste & encourage a more sustainable
lifestyle
▪
Working in a team of 4 volunteers, we organize monthly events for people in Riga that want to
learn how to repair their household electronics, clothes and bikes.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
MOTHER TONGUE
Latvian
OTHER
UNDERSTANDING
SPEAKING
WRITING
LANGUAGES
Listening
Reading
Spoken interaction
Spoken production
English
C2
C2
C1
C1
C1
Russian
A2
A2
A2
A2
A2
Levels: A1/A2: Basic user - B1/B2: Independent user - C1/C2 Proficient user
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
OTHER INFORMATION
CERTIFICATES
▪
‘Professional Scrum Master (PSM I)’ certificate from Scrum.org. Validation ID:
[email protected]. Awarded 09/2019.
▪
‘AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner’ certificate from ‘Amazon Web Services’. Validation ID:
9ZCRXX1CMJ1Q1E5F. Valid during 08/2019 – 08/2022.
PUBLIC
Active participation in various public events, seminars and other public speaking engagements.
SPEAKING
▪
Participation in TV24 show ‘DigiTuvi’. Part 1 & Part 2. (Nov 2020).
▪
Interview at radio show ‘Nākotnes formula’, episode #42 (Nov 2020).
▪
Public presentation of smart city challenges in Latvia at ‘Nordic Edge’ conference workshop
‘Co-creating Smart Cities» with Danish Design Centre (Sept 2020).
▪
Co-host of podcast ‘VEFRESH audio’, Season 1 (Sept 2020 – Nov 2020).
▪
Public presentation of Riga Freeport public engagement policy evaluation at Latvia’s largest
architecture & urban planning event ‘Reinholda Šmēlinga konference’ (Nov 2018).
▪
Moderator of a public discussion between Riga City Architect’s Office, Riga City Council
Development department & community NGOs about introduction of public water transport
in Riga (July 2018).
▪
Public presentation of Masters’ thesis results and suggested communication model
between municipality & NGOs in Riga City Council (May 2018).
▪
Participant in discussion panel with Minister of Economics of Latvia Arvils Ašeradens during
event ‘Konsultē vispirms’ for Latvian state institution managers (Mar 2017).
PRESS
Commentaries published in written media:
▪
‘Drukāt pašiem savu naudu», portal ir.lv (Oct 2020).
▪
‘Pa kurām Rīgas ielām Tu izvēlies neiet?’, portal Delfi.lv (Oct 2020).
OTHER
▪
Knowledge of HTML, CSS, Bootstrap for website design creation.
▪
Driving licence (Category B).
