work2future
United States of America
work2future is Silicon Valley’s Workforce Investment Network. It is a part of the national workforce development system as authorized by …
Good practice
Imported
★ 100
★ 91
★ 91
★ 91
LiveRiga — Work in Riga & Workcation: city-led talent and company attraction for Latvia's capital
Latvia · Riga · See the Latvia profile · See the Riga profile
Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 65% 62/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
Latvia's only city-level talent portal: the Riga Investment and Tourism Agency (LiveRiga) launched the 'Work in Riga' digital platform (2023) and the 'Workcation' hosted-visit programme (2022) to attract international professionals and companies to Riga.
263 EUR million
City-wide FDI commitments (LIAA-co-supported projects) (H1 2024)
1245 jobs
New jobs created (LIAA-co-supported projects) (H1 2024)
10.2 EUR billion
Cumulative foreign direct investment in Riga (by January 2026)
60 EUR million
Start-up investment in Riga (2025)
Details
- Promoter
- Riga Investment and Tourism Agency (LiveRiga)
- Period
- 2021–present (Agency); 2022 (Workcation); 2023 (Work in Riga platform)
- Region (NUTS)
LV006- Keywords
- City investment promotion / talent attraction
Context
Latvia faces a persistent labour shortage, and Riga's international profile has lagged that of other Baltic capitals. The City of Riga founded the Riga Investment and Tourism Agency (LiveRiga) in April 2021 to strengthen the city's investment promotion, tourism and international talent positioning.
Objectives
To attract international professionals — EU citizens, non-EU nationals and the Latvian diaspora — and foreign technology companies to relocate to Riga, addressing the city's and country's labour and investment needs.
Activities
LiveRiga runs two complementary programmes: the 'Work in Riga' digital platform (launched 2023, built with HR agency ERDA and tech firm Printify), aggregating job listings, visa/work-permit guidance, relocation logistics and city-life information for international job seekers; and 'Workcation Riga' (launched 2022), a fully-hosted one-week visit for eligible foreign technology companies (minimum €5 million turnover, 25+ employees, no existing Latvian subsidiary), including flights, accommodation, co-working space and meetings with city leadership, investors and business consultants.
Results
No programme-specific usage figures (platform registrations or Workcation company outcomes) have been published as of June 2026. City-wide investment context for the same period shows continued growth in Riga's investment climate, but these figures are not attributable to the Work in Riga or Workcation programmes specifically.
Conclusions
LiveRiga's dual talent-and-investment platform model is readily replicable by other mid-sized European city agencies, but the practice currently lacks programme-level evidence of impact; city-wide FDI and job-creation figures should not be read as programme outcomes.
Implementation
- Indicative cost
- Medium (€50k–€500k) — Workcation covers a fully-hosted one-week visit (flights, accommodation, co-working space) for eligible foreign companies; the Work in Riga platform was built in partnership with HR agency ERDA and tech firm Printify; the agency operates with a ~30-person staff.
- Time to results
- Medium (1–3 years) — Agency founded April 2021; Workcation launched 2022; Work in Riga platform launched 2023; ongoing as of 2026 with no programme-specific outcome data yet published.
- Staffing & skills
- Riga Investment and Tourism Agency team (~30 staff covering investment promotion, tourism, international positioning), Partnership with HR agency ERDA and tech firm Printify for platform development
Conditions for success
- Partnership with private HR/tech firms for platform development
- National-level coordination with LIAA (Latvia's Investment and Development Agency)
- Municipal marketing budget for the hosted-visit programme
Common failure modes
- No published usage metrics for either programme as of June 2026, making it hard to demonstrate value beyond city-wide investment figures
- Workcation eligibility thresholds (€5M turnover, 25+ employees) may exclude smaller companies most in need of connection support
Where it fits
- Governance type
- municipal
- Scale
- capital city
- Income level
- high-income
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
- C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
- Riga Investment and Tourism Agency (LiveRiga) — accessed 2026-06-21
- Work in Riga platform (LiveRiga) — accessed 2026-06-21
- Workcation Riga programme (LiveRiga) — accessed 2026-06-21
- Work in Riga launch announcement (Invest in Latvia / LIAA) — accessed 2026-06-21
- Riga FDI figures 2026 (riga.lv) — accessed 2026-06-21
Attachments
Similar practices you may find useful
TRIEC Mentoring Partnership — Toronto's Skilled-Immigrant Employment Bridge
Canada
Since 2003 Toronto's TRIEC has matched 5,300+ skilled immigrants with professional mentors; a 2020 evaluation found participants 2.5x more likely …
London Living Wage Policy
United Kingdom
The (true) Living Wage is an hourly rate of pay set independently and updated annually (not the UK government's National …
Invest Lisboa
Portugal
Invest Lisboa is Lisbon’s investment promotion agency. It's a one-stop shop for companies, investors and entrepreneurs looking to invest or …