In September 2025, delegations from Turku and Riga visited Tartu, where they were introduced to Tartu’s business environment and organizations providing adult education. Presentations were given by representatives from the Tartu Centre for Creative Industries, the Tartu County Development Centre (Tartu Ärinõuandla), Tartu Science Park, a representative from the University of Tartu’s business accelerator program CDL, and several others. The itinerary included visits to creative industries support organizations, museums, and the Tartu Folk High School (Rahvaülikool). The study trip concluded with a tour of local enterprises along the Onion Route (Sibulatee). The visitors were highly impressed by the strong network established between the city’s business support organizations.

The second experience-sharing trip to Turku took place in April 2027. The program featured speakers from the University of Turku, its startup support programs, and regional development organizations. A major strength of the Turku region was the close collaboration between researchers and development agencies. The guests highly valued the university’s extensive network and its capacity to actively shape regional development processes.

At the end of June, employees of the Tartu Centre for Creative Industries, Külli Hansen and Maarika Schuster, visited the Sigulda region to learn about their experiences in adult education and community development. The study trip took place within the framework of the Nordplus project RegiLink, whose partners include the Riga Planning Region and the Turku University of Applied Sciences from Finland. The program for this knowledge-exchange visit was put together by Vita Žunda, representing the Riga Planning Region, while Turku University of Applied Sciences was represented by Timo Halttunen.

Külli Hansen comments: “The program was very versatile. We learned about the work of the Riga Region Development Agency and its subordinate institutions, and visited various organizations providing adult education. For me, the most exciting part was visiting the Creative Industries Incubator in Riga, which coordinates the development of creative businesses across the whole of Latvia. Although the support systems for creative industries in Latvia are structured differently than in Estonia, the core content is quite similar to what we do. They offer training, counseling, mentoring, and HUB services.”

The visit concluded at the Sigulda New Castle, where the participants were introduced to the development trends of lifelong learning and adult education, as well as their connection to the needs of the local community. As a continuation of the visit, they also toured the center “Cerību spārni” (Wings of Hope) to learn about its social services, the work of its creative workshops, and the products made by its clients, which stood out for their high design value and excellent quality.

This study trip was the final activity of the RegiLink project, funded by the Nordplus program. Throughout the project, the partners have visited Tartu and Turku, mapping out the organizations driving regional development and the management of adult education in these areas. The project is led by the Riga Planning Region from Latvia, with Turku University of Applied Sciences from Finland and the Tartu Centre for Creative Industries as partners.