Vilnius is a young and forward-thinking city. Its public and private sectors work together to create better conditions for individuals and businesses, and invest in the tools and technologies of the future that will help solve real life problems.
Just ranked number one for tech startups per capita between 2016 and 2018, by the Financial Times’ fDi Intelligence division, the countries of the Baltic Sea region have long been known for being enviably tech-savvy. Lithuania has also established several knowledge sectors represented by strong international companies that are helping to attract and develop relevant events.
From ICT, R&D and FinTech, to biotechnology, industry 4.0 and medtech, the growth of knowledge-intensive sectors across the region is increasing. In fact, both Lithuania and Estonia sit atop the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Knowledge Economy Index.
According to ICCA, the number of technology-based events hosted in the Baltics has almost doubled since 2016.
Here are some of the exciting hi-tech events that have either taken place recently or are slated to happen in the coming months in Vilnius:
1. MCT Summit: An annual community event where Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) can learn and share with fellow trainers from around the world. This year’s summit was held in Vilnius in September and featured top international speakers and three days of development opportunities such as programme certification exams.
2. ICIST 2019: Hosted in Vilnius this October, the International Conference on Information and Software Technologies brought together researchers, engineers, developers and practitioners in information systems, business intelligence, software engineering and information technology applications.
3. Fintech Inn: The largest fintech conference in the Baltics, Fintech Inn is a forum where established companies, startups, investors, associations, policymakers and technology leaders from over 30 countries convene to exchange knowledge and discuss industry challenges. The two-day conference will be held in Vilnius this November.
Vilnius frequently leads prestigious business rankings. It was recently elected the most dynamically developing city of service centres in the CEE region in the CEE shared service centre awards; was listed among the top 10 fintech locations globally by fdi performance (Financial Times), and was awarded as having the best business climate at the Emerging Europe Awards.
The number of international events in Lithuania’s capital grew by 30 per cent in one year. Many large Fortune 500 multinational corporations have chosen Vilnius as their global business centres – healthcare industry giants McKesson and AmerisourceBergen are just the most recent examples.
With its combination of market size, ambitious talent pool, world-class business infrastructure and institutional support for tech startups, Vilnius looks to be facing an exciting future.
Of the many successful startup companies in Vilnius that have gone on to gain international success, Vinted, Trafi, Oberlo and Deeper are just a few. The second-youngest capital in Europe, Vilnius is number one in CEE for mathematics, science and technology graduates per capita as well as being home to more than 22,000 ICT professionals
Vilnius has long been among world leaders in life sciences and lasers. And it is proving to be the ideal playground for startups in these and other sectors. Vilnius is a city-sized sandbox and is the perfect place to develop and test new products due to the city’s special sandbox programmes, friendly regulatory environment, useful tools like open data and vast pool of local talent.
For further information: vilnius-convention.lt
