World leaders in life science industry gather in Vilnius
“Vilnius has turned into an impressive place for the trend-setters in life sciences and the industry”, said Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius while addressing the 3rd international Life Sciences Baltics Forum, having convened scientists, businesses, life sciences industry leaders, ministers and other representatives of the public sector.
According to the Head of Government, it was back in 2012, when an ambitious initiative was born to gather experts, leading professionals and stakeholders for exploring and accelerating the potential of the Baltic region in the sector. Today, fresh with new people and ideas, the Forum continues to build on its core values and principles, namely by focusing on the most important societal issues, building partnerships, making use of knowledge transfer, business opportunities and market penetration.
“Lithuania is proud of a well-developed life-science industry with its annual growth of more than 20% and exports to over 70 countries. The recent large-scale public investment in life-science R&D infrastructure has made Lithuania an attractive country to work with”, said the Prime Minister.
PM Butkevičius stressed that Lithuania seeks to become a European Hub in health technologies and biotechnology by 2020. To support this, the Government of Lithuania has invested 400 million EUR into state-of-the-art infrastructure. Five science and technology valleys provide for favourable conditions for the interaction between the research, studies and business.
According to the Prime Minister, the true champions are biotechnology, pharma and medical devices contributing with an exceptionally large part of the GDP. The two decades of industrial leadership have turned these sectors into the most developed in the Central and Eastern Europe region. Our biopharmaceutical and MedTech products made their way to the most regulated markets around the world.
“I trust that by coming to Vilnius you have identified your personal and institutional objectives. Be open, engage and network. This is the place and time to share most revolutionary and innovative ideas. I wish everyone a great event. I am confident that we will re-join there, in Vilnius, in 2018”, said the Head of Government.
In the framework of Life Sciences Baltics the Prime Minister met with Mr. Makoto Suematsu, President of Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development Agency (AMED), to discuss cooperation in the field of life sciences and bilateral cooperation.
“We see Japan as our strong and reliable economic and trade partner. However, there are still many opportunities to develop our relations in science and education. Lithuanian Government encourages businesses and science and innovation leaders to cooperate with partners in Japan, including in the field of life sciences”, said the Prime Minister.
PM Butkevičius also noted that, proposal for an inter-ministerial agreement on cooperation in science and technology was initiated by Lithuania and sent to Japan, expressing hope it will soon be signed by both parties.
15 representatives from Japan are among participants of Life Sciences Baltics 2016, including 5 speakers, also Mr. M. Suematsu, President of AMED, which is a government agency coordinating activities of all the relevant ministries and other departments in the field of medical research, with the annual budget of over a billion euros. Established back in 2015, AMED has the power to organize, execute and control medical research in Japan and international cooperation in this field.
AMED representatives will also visit Vilnius University, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, National Cancer Centre, Joint Life Sciences Centre, Centre for Medical Genetics with expressed intention to start projects with Lithuania in the fields of oncology, genetics, aging and chronic diseases.
Life Sciences Baltics forum has over 1,000 guests from 40 countries this year. There are numerous life sciences representatives from Israel, Japan, the United States and other countries with well-developed life science market.
