SSE Riga supports entrepreneurs through tailored business support within IMPACTWHEEL
How can academic expertise and professional networks contribute directly to business development? As part of the international IMPACTWHEEL project, SSE Riga is providing tailored support to entrepreneurs, helping them address business challenges, explore new opportunities and strengthen their entrepreneurial and innovation capacity.
The support began in October 2026 and will continue over several months, with 10 companies receiving individual support from SSE Riga experts. Rather than following a standardised approach, the support is shaped around the specific needs and challenges of each company.
Depending on those needs, it may include individual consultations and mentoring, support in expanding professional networks, introductions to relevant contacts, recommendations for programmes and activities, and other forms of guidance and expertise that can contribute to business development.
The initiative brings together the expertise of Professor Arnis Sauka and Inga Gleizdāne, combining academic knowledge with extensive practical experience in entrepreneurship, business development and organisational management.
Professor Arnis Sauka, Head of the Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga and Chairman of the State Competitiveness Council established by the President of Latvia, brings extensive experience spanning academic research, entrepreneurship, business policy and cooperation with companies and policymakers: "Universities can support entrepreneurs not only with expertise and an external perspective, but also by connecting them with relevant people, networks and opportunities that can help their businesses develop.”
Inga Gleizdāne, Lecturer at SSE Riga, combines academic work with extensive experience in organisational and management consulting and mentoring: “Entrepreneurs know their businesses best. Our role is to bring an external perspective, ask the right questions and help them look at challenges and opportunities from a different angle.”
For SSE Riga, working directly with entrepreneurs provides an opportunity to put academic expertise into practice while gaining deeper insight into the challenges businesses face. This reflects the School’s wider role in IMPACTWHEEL, where SSE Riga leads work focused on building effective partnerships for innovation and strengthening connections between academia, entrepreneurs and industry.
About IMPACTWHEEL
IMPACTWHEEL is an international initiative bringing together higher education institutions, intermediary organisations and innovation-focused companies from across Europe. Its objective is to strengthen entrepreneurship and innovation capacity within higher education, facilitate knowledge transfer and academic commercialisation, and build stronger connections between universities and regional innovation ecosystems.
The project uses the Value Creation Wheel (VCW) methodology and combines training, mentoring, crowdsourcing and cross-sector collaboration to help transform ideas and knowledge into practical solutions and impact.
SSE Riga is one of the higher education partners in the project and leads activities focused on building effective partnerships for innovation.
Project period: April 2025 – April 2027
Learn more about IMPACTWHEEL
Learn more about SSE Riga's role in IMPACTWHEEL
The IMPACTWHEEL project is funded by the European Union through the EIT Higher Education Initiative.
