Prime Minister Evika Silina attended the official opening of Team Latvia Digital on Wednesday, October 22, as well as the launch of the Forum “Techritory 2025”.
“Team Latvia Digital” is an agreement on cooperation between digital enterprises and institutions of Latvia in order to promote competitiveness of Latvia, including export of digital goods and services.
Dear excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a real pleasure to welcome you to Latvia and to the 8th Techritory Forum.
Every year, technology moves faster:
changing how we live,
work,
and stay safe.
That is why events like Techritory matter.
You bring together people who build,
regulate,
and research technology to find smarter ways forward, together.
Artificial intelligence is growing at an incredible speed.
It is already shaping how we compete,
how we protect our societies,
and how we solve global challenges.
To keep Europe strong, we need to make life easier for innovators:
less bureaucracy,
fewer barriers,
more freedom to create.
And we must make sure that great ideas can grow and succeed right here in Europe.
One example from Latvia is the TildeOpen large language model – an open-source tool that supports many European languages. We have just 10 days ago provided this tool to our Ukrainian friends to facilitate their integration into the European Union.
We are also proud to lead the Drone Coalition,
building a fast-growing drone industry
and working closely with NATO.
Together with Ukraine, we learn from real battlefield innovation.
Ukrainian courage and creativity drive new defence technologies – from drones to AI systems – that help keep Europe safe.
Latvia hosts Europe’s first 5G defence test site,
and our experts are already exploring 6G technologies.
Another exciting field is quantum research, where Latvian scientists work hand-in-hand with partners across Europe and NATO.
Although military seem to profit the most from the current technological developments, we must ensure a wider use of technologies for our societies and business sectors.
We are on the brink of much wider use of autonomous systems in all segments of society. Latvia is small, but digitally brave –
where ideas move fast and technology drives growth.
We see digital not as a sector, but as the backbone of our economy.
Digital innovation is already a key driver of Latvia’s exports and competitiveness:
our tech companies bring smart, secure, and sustainable solutions to markets across Europe.
This digital strength also goes hand in hand with my vision for reducing bureaucracy.
Digitisation helps to simplify rules,
automate procedures,
and make government faster and more transparent.
By using technology wisely,
we can better support entrepreneurs,
and make the public sector more efficient – freeing up time and energy for innovation and growth.
This year, we launched the National Artificial Intelligence Centre – a new kind of partnership between government, business, and universities.
Its goal is simple:
help everyone use AI faster,
smarter,
and responsibly.
We are also investing in digital skills and infrastructure, because people are at the heart of any digital success story.
And we invite our international partners to co-create, innovate, and test real-world AI solutions right here in Latvia.
Let’s make the most of these days together.
To share ideas, make connections, and shape a smarter, safer digital future.
Thank you, and welcome to Techritory!
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