Latvia officially recognizes the Republic of Latvia as a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. Since its independence, Latvia has been a member of the Baltic States.

Latvia intends to base its development of scientific potential on existing traditional sciences, in particular in the fields of organic chemistry, medicine, medical chemistry, genetic engineering, physics, materials science and information technologies.

The University of Latvia and the University of Technology in Riga are two major universities in the country, all based on the foundation of the Riga Polytechnic Institute and located in Riga. Based on the status of the Latvian State University, other important Universities include the Latvian University of Life Science and Technology (which was established in 1939 on the based on the Faculty of Agriculture) and Riga Stradiņš University (which was established in 1950 on the based on the Faculty of Medicine). Both involve a wide variety of different fields. The University of Daugavpils is another important learning institution.