Just what we need, more killer apps. Add Lithuania to the list of countries that thinks it can house the next Silicon Valley. The largest of the three Baltic states, and the newest member of the euro, doesn’t have to look all that far for inspiration, however. After all, wasn’t Skype technology created a hop skip and a jump away in tiny Estonia? Why, yes of course, it was. Flush with cash from some successful Lithuanian techies, the locals have joined the global rat race of pitching better mouse ‘apps’ to venture capital. Some of them are actually getting heavyweight financial backing. New York venture capitalists are funding at least one of them. Insight V... More

The post-Soviet period was difficult for the Baltic states. Large sections of the country’s labour force and many young people emigrated. Those who spoke foreign languages and had made contacts in advance went to Europe. Others chose Russia. Nowadays, it is quite common to find people from the Baltic States working in large Russian IT companies. However, there are fewer and fewer Russians in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Frankly speaking, when I was invited to visit Lithuania in order to estimate its potential as a place to set up Russian businesses in Europe, I was surprised.  I could not imagine that a country that had closed almost all its plants and factories, and had become ... More

A new investment project by Mondelēz International will see €3.5 million put into its production facility in Kaunas, Lithuania. The funding will be used to acquire unique new technologies that will enable new chocolate production methods. As a result of this upgrade, Mondelez Lietuva Production, the company’s Lithuania branch, intends to add 27 new employees to the team of 412 currently working in Kaunas. Most of these will be highly-skilled graduates who will work as line operators and production process specialists. Mondelez Lietuva’s goal is to be the preferred partner for managing complex technologies within the Mondelēz integrated supply chain. The Kaunas unit, w... More

Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics, a sister company of US life science products and services provide Thermo Fisher, has opened a new aseptic processing laboratory in Vilnius. The 1,700 square meter laboratory, which was formally opened this December, received over € 6.42 million in investment. Its high-tech cleanrooms will be used to develop Dynabeads, magnetic beads used in cancer immunotherapy research. At a news conference this week to mark the opening of the new facility, Algimantas Markauskas, CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics and vice-president for the Baltic region, outlined how important the new laboratory will be for the company’s continued development. &ldqu... More

Lithuania’s public WiFi provision has been ranked first globally for the second year running in a survey of wireless internet speed and quality. With average WiFi speeds of 16.1 Mbps, Lithuania beat its northern neighbour Estonia, who came second, to retain its global crown. The other positions in the top 5 were taken up by Singapore, Switzerland and the Netherlands. UK-based tech watchdog Rotten WiFi carried out the survey, which analysed the speed and quality of public hotspots in 184 countries before compiling its list of the 20 nations with the best free internet provision. European countries made up the bulk of the top 20, with two North American countries and one Asian... More