In this abstract, we introduce a Language Technology Initiative — a project aiming to bridge the gap betweenresearch and education in the field of Language Technology. The key activities of the Language Technology Initiative are (1) the development of Language Technology and Computation Linguistic modules and courses for three main universities in Latvia, (2) the advancement of research and development activities in five important LT directions– language resources for digital humanities research and technology development, large language models, speech technologies, human-computer interaction and machine translation and (3) support for sustainable and open research and education through CLARIN research infrastructure. In this abstract, we highlight the most important achievements of the first project year —- developed study modules and courses. We also outline the first outcomes from the research activities and demonstrate the f irst synergies between research and education and the role of CLARIN infrastructure.