Erna Ivanovna was born in Latvia in March 1906 . Her family were among those Latvians evacuated to the Far East during the First World War. The family later moved to the Southern Urals. Daugaviete completed her degree in the Gorky Ural State University in the Faculty of Chemistry, and went on to get a PhD in 1946. She went to work in a medical facility in Riga where the production of antibiotics was to be her main achievement. With her leadership the facility began producing antibiotics including ampicillin, griseofulvin, bicillin oleandomycin, eficillin, griseofulvin and oletetrin. Daugaviete began there as Chief Technologist in 1947 and worked up to being the director from 1962 to 1975. She was also a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR from 1951 to 1955 and a member of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1952. In 1950 her portrait was completed by Aleksandr Laktionov.