Lithuania: Fit for the Future
A European Commission project under the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility
Full report available for download: https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/28a97b83-aca0-11e7-837e-01aa75ed71a1 and on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/
Lithuania has invested in innovation over the past decade, and there have been improvements in capacity and performance in higher education and research as a result. However, the country is not yet competing at the international level as strongly as it would like in terms of research, development and innovation (R&D&I), and the economy is still dominated by lower value-added production, in the main.
The Lithuanian government therefore sought support under the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility for 1) cooperation between the public science base and business, and 2) attraction of innovation-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI).
This report highlights the challenges and issues for the cooperation between public science (academia and public research) and industry; and the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) in knowledge-intensive sectors.
The study group provided a roadmap and 13 detailed recommendations across three core themes: 1) strengthening the foundations of the policy support system, 2) fostering cooperation between the science base and business and 3) innovation oriented FDI.
Michel Lemagnen of MCJ Lemagnen Associates Ltd was the designated expert in the field of innovation-oriented FDI. The six key recommendations within this context were 1) revision of the classification of innovation-oriented FDI and related KPIs, 2) review of the sector and country targeting to improve coverage of the most likely sources of innovative FDI, 3) shift toward FDI aftercare strategy based on strategic, key account management, 4) reinforce the staffing available to attract FDI, notably in the overseas network, 5) attraction of alternative modes of innovation-oriented FDI projects and activities that are precursors to FDI, 6) develop a talent attraction initiative to reinforce Lithuania’s image as a place where innovators live and work.
A study for the Research and Innovation Directorate-General of the European Commission, completed in September 2017.
Written by an independent panel of four experts:
Hans-Jorg Büllinger (Chair, Germany)
Alasdair Reid (Rapporteur, Belgium)
Michel Lemagnen (United Kingdom)
Emily Wise (Sweden)