“Lithuania: ICT status and potential” Mr. Vytautas Vitkauskas, President of Association Infobalt, Lithuania

Source: European Information Technology Observatory EITO 2002 E-government drivers seen by business respondents E-government drivers seen by government respondents

Growth rates of GDP per capita in Lithuania and the European Union

ICT Share in Lithuania’s GDP in according INFOBALT Strategy

IT Market of Baltic States in 2001 Baltic States IT Market in 2001 was 642, 18 mln. USD

Sectors of Baltic States IT Market Rapidly growing IT market segment is software sector.

Lithuania’s ICT Export  In 2001 Lithuanian ICT export exceeded 50 millions EUR  In common with electronics industry – 250 millions EUR  In ICT firms participated in international ICT exhibitions and forums (CeBIT, SYSTEMS, COMDEX, SETI and etc.)  In m. Lithuanian ICT business missions in Finland, Germany, France, Ireland, USA.

Potential fields of Lithuanian ICT industry and science technologies for the next 5 years  Implementation services of traditional hardware (programming).  Programs (PKI, etc.) of e-signature for e-business, e- government and e-education  Development of such systems like Intellect-House, social security, hospital, transport, etc.  Protection of e-accounting and m-accounting systems by e- signature and bio-metric voice and finger-pint technologies.  Development of e-business applications in ERP, SCM and CRM fields.  Development of open source technologies creating business applications.

 Electronic sensors for food, security and other industrial sectors of Lithuania.  Laser technologies related to ITT.  Scientific computer applications for biotechnology sector – development of databases and hardware instruments.  Development of multimedia products (applications, encyclopedia, multilingual programs, Internet sites, CDs, DVD, etc.).  Implementation services of traditional hardware (programming).  Programs (PKI, etc.) of e-signature for e-business, e- government and e-education  Development of such systems like Intellect-House, social security, hospital, transport, etc. Potential fields of Lithuanian ICT industry and science technologies for the next 5 years

Lithuanian ITT Market Growth in 2002  The turnover of ITT wholesalers increased twice faster compared to  According “Prime Investment” data, during the first quarter of 2002, compared to 2001, IT turnover index increased 23%.  In 2002 IT market will stay at the same last year rate of growth which exceeded forecasted growth 30% (during nine moths of this year –27%)  Turnover of personal computers in 2002 – – computers (during 9 months) or 50% more than during 2000.

Lithuanian ITT Market Growth in 2002  The number of the computers in Lithuania exceeds  During 2002, compared to year of 2001, the turnover of ITT retailers increased 20% on the average.  The use of mobile telecommunications increased to 40%. Forecast for 2002:  mobile operators – USD million (2001 / USD 225 millions ),  Lithuanian Telecom – around USD 320 million.

Lithuanian ICT Market Trends the Internet Is Used For  ~ 61%  Corespondence with business partners~ 43%  E-banking~ 33%  Market information~ 31%  Informative media~ 27%  Partner / product search~ 18%  Entertaiment~ 16%

Lithuanian ITT Market Trends Data Protection The conclusion is that around 47% of common problems in ICT sphere are solved by unskilled specialists.

Lithuanian ICT market growth 42,5% 17,2% residents 20,8% residents 30% residents ,5%34,7% Computers for home use connected to the Internet 87% 9,2% residents Computers for home use 90% 11% residents Internet use 50% 20% residents Computer use Growth2001

National Program of Public Internet Access Points (PIAP)  The task of the program – m. in sixty Lithuanian local administration and 535 municipalities (464 of them are rural) establish 595 centers giving Internet services for residents free of charge.  Intitial investments – 17,9 mln. Lt.  Strategical goal – diminution of informative public digital isolation between Lithuanian cities and regions, residents with different level of income (digital divide).  One of the goals – make a tipical basic set of services for residents and representatives of small and average business.  In 2002 has to be established 43 PIAP centers  PIAP centers  PIAP centers.

INFOBALT Association  The INFOBALT activities in the ICT frameworks of the European Union serve as a catalyst for the growth of the information society in Lithuania.  Established in  154 members of Association INFOBALT include:  Lithuanian information technologies, telecommunications and office equipment companies.  Higher education and research institutions and other education institutions.  Public organizations and concultancy firms.

Mission of the Association Infobalt  Consolidate, within the framework of the Association, Lithuania- based companies engaged in such fields as the IT, telecommunications, office supplies, and production of electronics to operate jointly.  Seek to ensure favourable conditions for the development of the IST industry with an aim of raising its share in the national GDP to 20%.  Partake and promote joint partnership initiatives together with science, culture and business communities as well as authorities.  Boost the flow of foreign investments to the Lithuanian IST sector.  Enable the Lithuanian IST sector to fulfil its potential on the global markets.  Support education, science and programmes promoting development of the information society.

EU IST Project TELEBALT  Teleworking as a Tool  for Information Society Programme  promotion to Baltic States

EU IST Project TELEBALT  Promotion of IST program in Baltic States.  Present telework, telemedicine and virtual labor communities in the Baltic States.  Support and present 10-month projects’ proposals for the IST program.  Conduct the ITT research in the Lithuania.  Create the Information Distribution Center in the Lithuania (IDC)  Present the IST goals, possibilities and results to the audiences of the Republic of the Lithuania.  Ensure the means of distance learning and promote IST program.  Present the results of realizing the IST project to the telematic community of the Lithuania in accordance with the tendencies of European telematics expansion.

Problems of Lithuania and telework  Unemployment – economy - living standard  Regional development  Digital divide  Rural development  Export of specialists and workers  Special groups of workers:  Disabled  Students – additional work and practice  Pensioners  Employment problems in Visaginas district (near Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant)

Telework governing structures of Lithuania  Information Society Development Committee of the Seimas and Information Society Development Committee under the Government  Social Affairs and Labour Committee of the Seimas and Ministry of Social Security and Labour  Lithuanian Labour Market Training Authority  14 LABOUR MARKET TRAINING CENTRES

National Strategy for Information Society Development of Lithuania 9.2. Education of the society:  opportunities for all;  new organisational structure of the society encouraging people to continuously seek new knowledge;  knowledge and competence centres;  mechanism for recognition of distance education (formalisation);  networks for creation, storage and dissemination of virtual knowledge.

TELEBALT Conference “Teleworking for Business, Education, Research and e-Commerce”  Vilnius, Lithuania, October 2002  100 speakers from 25 countries  300 participants from 6 countries  173 on line participants  13 workshops  110 presentations  24 presentations of IST projects  10 video – conference connections  The TELEBALT Conference was a major event of the FP5 IST programme in the Baltic countries.

TELEBALT Deliverables – INFOBALT responsible  Evaluation report of TELEBALT main conference in Vilnius.  Adaptation of groupware for EU member countries - Baltic States teleworking.  CD - ROM “EU - Baltic States Team Work”.

Telework Domain Knowledge Centre  Telework Domain Knowledge Centre as Ontology based application  main features  plan for future – develop as Ontology-based Web application  Ontology-based applications – part of 6FP

National Strategy for Information Society Development of Lithuania 9.4. Digital divide:  systems of re-training;  distance consultation and social assistance centres

Association INFOBALT, Vokiečių str. 28/17 – 16, 2001 Vilnius, LITHUANIA Phone , fax Contacts