Economics, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Innovations, Lithuania, Technology

According to Minister of Economy Evaldas Gustas, traditional industry should be looking for new opportunities seeking to remain competitive, even if has economic growth potential. Value added created by different sectors and success of new products highly depends on the ability to be innovative and apply innovations. Thus, discussions are needed to encourage traditional industries to develop systematic attitude towards innovation, initiate economic transformation and implement substantial changes moving from traditional towards innovative industry.

At the conference Lithuanian and foreign speakers will talk about the importance of innovation for the process of economic transformation, discuss what effects innovative activities have on further development of a company and what opportunities will open for European countries after economic transformation. The significance of transnationality in the area of research and development in Europe will also be discussed, taking into consideration cooperation in the context of smart specialisation.

At the conference the Ministry of Economy will bestow the Business and Science Partnership 2014 award. The Lithuanian Business Confederation will present its Service of the Year 2014 award. Meanwhile, the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists and the Lithuanian Innovation Centre will present its Innovative Enterprise award.

This year's conference is organised together with the Joint Research Centre the European Commission's in-house science centre; Lithuania's Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology; the Lithuanian Innovation Centre, the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists and the Lithuanian Business Confederation.