Speakers

Juko-Mart Kõlar is the director of the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy, a lecturer in entrepreneurship and management and a leader in creative entrepreneurship. He gives lectures and practical workshops at various universities and entrepreneurship programs on business idea modeling, development and innovation, and team management. Juko-Mart Kõlar's doctoral thesis dealt with the impact of digitization on the music industry, and he is also the co-founder of two start-ups in the music industry.

Dr. Zita Rasuolė Gasiūnaitė, director of Marine Research Institute of Klaipėda University. Professional activities include aquatic ecology, biodiversity, ecosystem services, blue biotechnology.

Iveta has several roles in the university: the development vice rector, the guest researcher and the international project manager. Her education background is in school management and international economic relations, 11 years of work experience in leading ViA service units on international relations and academic work and 9 years in the university management. Iveta has previous experience in a number of international mobility and development projects related to curriculum development and innovations, project manager of Erasmus Multilateral project on joint master development, leader of the ViA team during World Bank research in Latvia, ViA project lead of European University E3UDRES2 (2020 – ongoing), EIT HEI Initiative project E.I.N.S ViA project lead (2021 – ongoing) and Horizon project Accelerate Future HEI (2023 – ongoing).

Professor of the Faculty of Economics, University of Tartu, Dean of the field of Social Sciences. His most important research areas are future trends of the labor market and workforce forecasts, compliance of the education system with the labor market, professional mobility, analysis of labor market flows, unemployment in transition economies and the wage gap.

Head of Research at the Foresight Center, a think tank at the Estonian parliament. Uku has received a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Tartu, where he focused on economic modelling and public economy and is completing his doctoral studies where his topic of research is the links between productivity and global value chains. As the Head of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) of the University of Tartu, Uku has more than 10 years of experience in conducting and managing applied research in the economy.

Garri Raagmaa is an Estonian human geographer, associate professor of regional planning at the University of Tartu and director of the University of Tartu Pärnu College. His main research topics are institutional and cultural factors in local and regional development and planning, methodology of long-term future and strategic plans, scenarios, globalization and regionalization of the Baltic Sea region.

Elizabeth M. Ineson is a Visiting Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University. Elizabeth's research interests span Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research in the field of Management Education, Selection and Development. She also is the key player in the work of La Fondation pour la Formation Hôtelière carried out in the Central and Eastern Europe in order to support the hospitality education and its providers.

Indrek Reimand is the director of University of Tartu Narva College, a physicist and a former civil servant. He has been a member of the board and advisory board of several foundations related to research and development.

Director of TalTech Kuressaare College, Programme Director (Sustainable Technologies in Blue Economy)

Moderator, University of Tartu Pärnu College R&D Office Project Manager.

Moderator, University of Tartu Pärnu College Development Manager, Head of R&D Office.

Relationship manager, Career Services at Haaga-Helia UAS.