Lithuania has risen 8 places in the European Innovation Scoreboard, published by the European Commission. By rising from 24th up to 16th position, the Lithuania now lies ahead of Poland, Latvia, Spain, Slovakia and Hungary.
According to the report, between 2010 and 2016 Lithuania’s biggest improvements were made in business expenditure on non-technology innovation – which increased 157% in addition to expenditure on R&D – and venture capital investment. This form of investment increased by 1,031%. In 2010, it represented just 7.5% of the EU average, but by 2016 this figure already stood at 84.8%. Lithuania also performed well in the number of international scientific co-publications (which grew 145%) and the proportion of the population with a tertiary education (which rose by 31.6%), Invest Lithuania reports.
According to Donatas Smailys, head of Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) Startup Space, the infrastructure for innovation in Lithuania is becoming more and more welcoming. This is proved by the Lithuania’s current place in the European Innovation Scoreboard and by the global visibility of Lithuanian start-ups.
“The start-ups are aimed at global markets, they are raising foreign investment and learning from best practices, which is crucial for the national economy and promotes our country on the international level. More than 90 per cent of the investment into Lithuanian start-ups is from foreign investors”, says Smailys.
According to the Head of KTU’s Startup Space, start-up culture not only stimulates innovation, but also requires the adequate attention from the state institutions for creating the start-up ecosystem boosting instruments.
“The word start-up has replaced the word innovation across the world”, says Smailys, Head of KTU’s start-up community.
