Login 2016 magazine

event edition www.login.lt

created by

2016 05 5-6

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CONTENT

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We Are Growing Together with LOGIN

TEO Business Summit

Past & Future

Past & Future

Entertainment

E-Commerce

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23

34

44

LOGIN Survival Guide

LOGIN App Camp

Past & Future

Past & Future

Medicine

Funding

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25

35

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LOGIN Highlights

LOGIN Game Fest

Past & Future

Past & Future

Freemium Model to Reign, Advertising to Generate Money

Marketing & Communication

City

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26

38

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LOGIN DESIGn

Future Trends

Past & Future

Time OFF!

Media

LOGIN Awards

The Decline of Physical Objects: Consumers Buy Possibilities

What Does It Mean to Be a LOGIN Designer?

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29

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Keynotes

Past & Future

Past & Future

Artificial Intelligence

Social Activism

Published by BZN start.

(UAB Glaveckaitė Media) Editorial contact information: J. Galvydžio g. 3-304, LT-08236 Vilnius, tel: + 370 5 274 5840, e-mail: info@bznstart.lt, www.bznstart.lt Annual illustrated event edition Chief editor: Živilė Baubonienė

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LOGIN Startup Fair

Past & Future

Past & Future

Translated into English and revised by VšĮ Kalbos ir komunikacijos centras

Business

Space

Cover design by Aidas Šumskas

The 5 Keys to Success in Attracting Investment What Does LOGIN Startup Fair Offer?

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Initiated by UAB Login conferences

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42

Past & Future

Past & Future

Education

Art

Editors: Giedrė Rutkauskaitė, Gintaras Gimžauskas, Gražina Vincel, Jurga Bakaitė, Kristina Augustinaitė, Povilas Sabaliauskas

Design by Gabrielė Rybinaitė Printed by UAB Spaudos kontūrai Circulation: 5,200 copies Texts and visual information inside this edition can only be distributed with written consent of its initiator. The editorial is not responsible for clients’ advertising content and errors.

Published on 2 May 2016.

TIMELINE

LOGIN LITHUANIAN INTERNET

2007 2008 2009 2010 LIETUVOS BLOGERIŲ KONFERENCIJA

2011

BLOGIN

LOGIN

LOGIN

LOGIN

@ Reval Lietuva

@ Siemens arena

@ Siemens arena

@ Litexpo

@ 31st floor of Europa

ARNOLDAS ROGOZNYJ

RAMINTA MASIULYTĖ

MANTAS ŠUERIS AIDAS ŠUMSKAS

ARTŪRAS OLŠAUSKAS VAIDOTAS VALANTIEJUS ARNAS AUKŠTIKALNIS MIGLĖ MORKŪNAITĖ ERIKA MASLAUSKAITĖ

EGLĖ ŠLIŽEVIČIŪTĖ

FIRST LOGIN APP CAMP FIRST TEO BUSINESS SUMMIT @ LOGIN LOGIN GAME FEST BECAME A PART OF THE CONFERENCE FIRST LOGIN STARTUP FAIR ORGANISED LOGIN CONFERENCES FOUNDED AWARDS HELD FOR THE FIRST TIME

2012 2013 2014

2015 2016

LOGIN

LOGIN

LOGIN

LOGIN

LOGIN

@ Litexpo

@ Litexpo

@ Litexpo

@ Litexpo

@ Litexpo

IEVA DIRVONSKAITĖ JŪRATĖ ŠLIŽIŪTĖ AURELIJA MARKEVIČIENĖ

INDRĖ GRIGALIŪTĖ

GINTARĖ URBŠYTĖ VAIDA BERŽANSKYTĖ

login survival guide CREATE YOUR PERSONAL SCHEDULE You don’t have to stick with it, but having some place to start at will make all the difference. The process of making your schedule can be tough, but you will appreciate having done so in advance. Think about your main reasons for attending LOGIN 2016 and make a plan accordingly. Check Login.lt to create your personal schedule.

REgistration Plan to arrive early to register and pick your accreditation and participant’s wristband. Please note that your wristband must be attached on your wrist at all times – it is your access to LOGIN 2016. If your wristband is lost, stolen or confiscated, reissues will only be offered at the walk-up price.

information desk Should you get lost, want to drop off found items for lost & found or have a question to ask while at LOGIN 2016, please stop by one of our volunteer-staffed Info Desks. Check the venue map for Info Desk locations!

free wi-fi Teo, one of our main partners this year, will ensure free wi-fi to all LOGIN 2016 attendees!

login 2016 events LOGIN App Camp is a 48-hour mobile app creation hackathon powered by DNB. Check it out to see creative and innovative minds compete! Note the time for final pitches: 5:00 pm on 5 May at Omnitel Hall. And it’s free!

LOGIN Startup Fair, organised by Enterprise Lithuania, is a special event for startups and about startups. It’s free of charge and gives you the best overview of the Baltic Startup ecosystem! Final LOGIN Startup Fair pitch challenges will be held at 5:00 pm on 6 May at Omnitel Hall.

LOGIN Game Fest, organised by Nordcurrent, will take a closer look at the exciting gaming industry. Local and international speakers will share their stories, exchange ideas, aim to inspire and much more.

Teo Business Summit @ LOGIN. Organized in partnership with Teo, it is a special event for C-level attendees.

Taking place at Teo Business Hall on 5 May, the event will offer exclusive content (and a keynote by David Rowan!) as well as lots of networking opportunities.

login 2016 expo Check out LOGIN 2016 Expo and familiarise yourself with the most innovative achievements of the year.

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READ THE PRINTED MATERIALS Take a moment to look through LOGIN 2016 programme and map guide, which you can pick up throughout the venue. It will make navigating LOGIN 2016 easier!

LOGIN LIVe feed Cannot attend LOGIN this year? No worries – check Login.lt for live feed from Omnitel and Delfi Halls!

DRIVING & TRANSPORTATION We want you to experience all that LOGIN has to offer, so we ask you to consider saving time and stress and use alternative forms of transportation.

VIP parking. Limited VIP parking is available next to Litexpo – be sure to arrive early to get the best spot!

Public transportation. Bus 2G will stop at Parodų rūmai stop on 5-6 May. The fare is 1 EUR per ride.

LOGIN buses. LOGIN buses are offered as a free service to all attendees. Buses leave Litexpo / Vilnius City Hall every hour during conference hours (8:00 am to 6:00 pm).

Uber. If you have never used Uber before, download the Uber app now! Use LOGIN2016 code and your first ride (up to 10 Eur) will cost you nothing. Please note: valid for the first ride only.

Smart taxi. Make your trip easy and take Smart Taxi to LOGIN. Keyword 18820 gives you a 10% discount!

parties Don’t forget to relax!

Is it Wednesday? Join LOGIN 2016 speakers, game developers and other conference participants for our Pre-Party, organised by Nordcurrent! Come to bar KAS KAS (Islandijos St 4) on 4 May at 7:00 pm, grab a drink, tune into disco sounds and start the show early!

Entrance free with your LOGIN 2016 ticket.

Is it Thursday? VIP Guest? Network at VIP Networking evening in Vilnius City Hall (starting at 8:00 pm) Meet LOGIN 2016 attendees in Vilnius Old Town and other trendy places for the LOGIN goes out initiative! No bar is big enough for thousands of conference participants and so many of them prepared special offers for all of you!

Is it Friday? Attend LOGIN Internet Awards & LOGOUT after-party (6 May, doors open at 9:00 pm) at LOFTAS Art Factory (Švitrigailos St 29) to find out the winners of the year and have a blast!

Last but not least, enjoy LOGIN 2016!

social Follow us on Twitter: @LOGinEvents (official hastag: #LOGIN2016) Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/konferencija Check our photos on Instagram: login_festival

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highlights In addition to that, we are upping our food selection throughout the venue with the biggest choice of meals ever, including 3 food trucks!

LOGIN adds Edmundas Jakilaitis as Julian Assange keynote moderator

Nadya Tolokonnikova will be the main keynote speaker on Thursday LOGIN is excited to present Nadya Tolokonnikova, the founding member of Pussy Riot, a Russian feminist punk rock protest group, as a keynote speaker on Thursday. After she was sentenced to a two-year imprisonment, following an anti-Putin performance in a Moscow cathedral back in 2012 and served time in jail, Nadya has inspired the world with her story and established herself as a crusader for human rights, freedom of speech and justice system reform.

Nadya will focus on how today’s digital tools can empower activists to spread their message to audiences all over the world.

LOGIN Game Fest programming preview Exploring the exciting world of gaming industry, LOGIN Game Fest will feature two days of sessions and networking opportunities, touching various topics, such as game development, design, sound, funding, e-sports, career and many more.

Programming highlights include:

Flickr.com photo

Joining our keynote speaker Julian Assange, one of the Lithuania’s most prominent journalists Edmundas Jakilaitis will interview him, preceded by a “leaks” discussion starting at 3:15 pm on 6 May at Omnitel Hall.

Look up for drones!

Drones were a big tech hit in 2015.

Small unmanned aircrafts are on the verge of becoming a common sight in the sky. We will have quite a few drone events at LOGIN this year!

Topo Centras will hold a mini drone competition at their lounge zone (at Expo zone), Drone Racing Lietuva will show you how professional drones are flown (outside, next to the VIP parking lot) and drones will also be present at LOGIN Startup Fair!

Discover LOGIN 2016 music playlist on Spotify We love good music at LOGIN. LOGIN playlist is kind of legendary for great new tracks. Search for LOGIN 2016 playlist on Spotify. We’re adding music every day and updating the playlist all year round.

a session about building the brand out of a game, with Kaisu Karvala, Rovio Entertainment Ltd, VP for communication and PR; a session with Rami Ismail, a cofounder of Vlambeer, a world-class Dutch game studio; a talk about getting the right publisher for your game by Jesus Bosch, CEO of Game Troopers; presenting the growing phenomenon of eSports, Alexey Burdyko, founder and CEO of GAME SHOW. If you are into games, don’t miss LOGIN Game Fest!

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Malja networking event

LOGIN bits & bites LOGIN is excited to include Alfas Ivanauskas, the editor of world’s best food magazine, in our programme.

Networking is a big part of LOGIN 2016. Talk to each other, meet new people and build valuable connections at Malja networking event with live music, snacks and beer. Join us at 5pm on 5 May at IQ Hall!

login design

Photo by Algis Kriščiūnas

What does it mean to be a LOGIN designer?

Honestly, it means shorter nights and a lot of mess on my desktop :). Last year I told Ieva (LOGIN CEO) that I should make a speech at LOGIN on this topic, but she just told me to shut up and send the damn files that were way over the deadline. So here I am now :). But seriously, it’s a challenge, we have a lot to cover with design! This is my fifth LOGIN and the further we go, the more I enjoy it.

There is something very specific about designing the event since it’s mostly setting the visual mood leading up to the event and then it has to sort of explode and bloom during the conference.

We start working months before the event takes place and my favourite part is always the planning and sketching the next year’s visual direction. The big challenge is to treat

Aidas Šumskas Design / Art Direction

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LOGIN almost as a person. We are in its 10th year now and you can’t deny that it has developed a specific character and public image. So for me it is not about revamping everything, but rather about showing the progress. That’s what the conference is all about, anyway. There is A LOT happening during LOGIN, so the visual language has to be clean, simple, but also eye-pleasing. I like to think about LOGIN visitors as these sort of Comic-Con fanboys (and girls!). I know a lot of them have been collecting their accreditation cards from all the years they attended the conference. So I hope that when they look at these cards, they can remember a certain mood that was created that year. It’s like choosing what drink everyone is having at a party. Since we’re celebrating this year, fancy black and gold is in the air! As for me, I’m already thinking about the next year, and maybe the year after that :)

Margarita Bukšnaitytė Marius Rimkaitis Mantas Velykis McCann Vilnius Advertising campaign Creators

It meant a big challenge for our team. What is the best way to present the conference to make innovation look more than just a part of its name? We took a completely different approach than usual and used the tools which were not only new to us, but were quite an innovation in the world of technology as well.

Designing for LOGIN means learning all the time.

Being one of the LOGIN conference designers and working on it is a great professional experience. Furthermore, it is also good to know that you are a part of those who “dress” LOGIN and work on its representation.

Gabrielė Rybinaitė Bag and event magazine designer

Design for me is about asking questions, searching for the better, making our lives easier. If someone is just making something beautiful, he’s not a designer, he’s an artist. Designing for LOGIN was a great challenge for me, but I’m happy I’ve found a way to turn it into a statement about “Special work”.

Matas Grecevičius Bag designer

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Keynotes

speakers 05/05/2016 10:15

The Future of our species [EN]

OMNITEL hall

About speaker

Neil Harbisson cyborg

Neil Harbisson is a Catalan-raised, British-born contemporary artist and cyborg activist best known for having an antenna implanted in his skull and for being officially recognised as a cyborg by the government. The antenna allows him to perceive visible and invisible colours such as infrareds and ultraviolets via sound waves. The antenna’s Internet connection allows him to receive colours from space as well as images, videos, music or phone calls directly into his head via external devices such as mobile phones or satellites.

05/05/2016 11:00

AUDI mission to the moon [EN]

OMNITEL hall

About speaker

Robert Böhme CEO at PTScientists GmbH, Audi mission to the Moon team leader

Since he was 18 years old, Robert Böhme has been a systems administrator and consultant in information security and storage management, with clients mainly in the Federal German Government. In mid-2009 he and his six partners founded the German Part-Time Scientists team to participate in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition. The competition’s goal is to encourage private missions to the moon.

05/05/2016 13:00

Digital empowerment [EN]

OMNITEL hall

Nadya will focus on how today’s digital tools can empower activists to spread their message to audiences all over the world.

About speaker

Nadya Tolokonnikova Founding member of the Pussy Riot

After she was sentenced to two years imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance in a Moscow cathedral back in 2012 and served time in jail, Nadya has inspired the world with her story and established herself as a a crusader for human rights, freedom of speech and justice system reform.

05/05/2016 16:00

Taste, pop and brand: how “COCA-COLA” mixes traditional formula with new trends [EN] OMNITEL hall ABOUT speaker

Anna Jakubowski Franchise General Manager, Poland & Baltics, The Coca-Cola Company

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Born and raised in Canada, Anna Jakubowski has more than 25 years of experience in FMCG marketing. Having enjoyed a 20-year international career with Procter & Gamble, she has been with the Coke System over the last 5 years, currently managing company’s activities in Poland and the Baltic States.

06/05/2016 10:00

Earthbeat [EN]

OMNITEL hall

Moon Ribas has a sensory extension on her arm that allows her to feel earthquakes through small vibrations. She applies this new sense to her artistic work.

About speaker

Moon Ribas Artist

Moon Ribas is a Catalan contemporary choreographer and the co-founder of the Cyborg Foundation, an international organisation aiming to help people become cyborgs, defend cyborg rights and promote cyborgism as an artistic and social movement of speech and justice system reform.

06/05/2016 11:00

Future trends. Surviving the techstorm [EN]

presented by Dnb

OMNITEL hall

About speaker

Nicklas Bergman

Futurist Nicklas Bergman has spent the last 20+ years working as a serial entrepreneur and investor focusing on emerging markets and technologies. With vast experience from navigating through turbulent and uncertain technology environments, he is the perfect guide when you are trying to understand what the future will bring.

Futurist, investor, entrepreneur

06/05/2016 12:00

Fashion and Music synthesis [EN]

presented by vinted OMNITEL hall

Jamming to music through your Beats by Dre? Lusting after a pair of Adidas Yeezys?

Learn about the synthesis of music, fashion, and tech from a man who has been at the forefront of it all.

Che Pope

Kayne West’s producer, Vinted advisory board member

ABOUT speaker Che Pope is a Grammy-award winning music producer, songwriter, composer, and now a Vinted advisory board member. He has worked alongside Kanye West, Dr. Dre, and Lauryn Hill, among many other top artists in the industry.

06/05/2016 16:00

Special address via satellite feed

OMNITEL hall

About speaker

Julian Assange

Julian Assange is the face of WikiLeaks, the headline-making publishing organisation famous around the world for releasing secret information from corrupt governments, unaccountable corporations, occupying militaries and secretive international trade deals. Founder, philosopher, editor-in-chief and original nancier, his name and the WikiLeaks brand are inseparable, and both have proven indomitable over the organisation’s 10-year publishing history.

Founder of WikiLeaks

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startup fair

The 5 Keys to Success in Attracting Investment uct while they kept working at night and returning to their main jobs in the daytime. They were keen to create a meaningful product which would create value for the user. It’s because of this that they became interesting for investors.

With many years’ experience in investment, the interviewee provides LOGIN Startup Fair participants and attendees with a few tips which could come in handy for those who will build and develop new stories of Lithuanian success.

Photo by Vladimiras Ivanovas

The team is the basis for success.

At LOGIN Startup Fair we are once again discussing what makes startups attractive to investors. Why some of them succeed while the others sink into oblivion? What is the key to success? We are talking about this with Mantas Mikuckas, COO at Vinted and an agel investor.

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“The project achieved rapid growth in Lithuania five years ago and I saw excellent opportunities for it in new markets. At the same time when I got the idea of investing in this project, I realised that the founders of Vinted (previously manodrabuziai.lt) Justas and Milda weren’t looking for such opportunities purposefully because they were just interested in creating a good product then.

I actually had a hard time talking them into a meeting with me for a talk about investment possibilities,” says Mantas Mikuckas, recalling his first encounter with Vinted, which led to one of the most curious investment stories.

At present, Vinted is among Baltic technology companies, which have been most attractive for investors; its product with 12 million users has a fixed place in 11 markets and is still growing. But Vinted was founded and made popular by people whose aim was not investments.

Their focus was exclusively on developing the concept and improving the prod-

Our experience with investors shows that the team has the greatest impact on their investment decisions. The idea evolves in the long run and may undergo even radical changes just like any plans or numerical presumptions. The team, on the other hand, is always the nucleus of a company. It’s the strength and excellence of the team that drives the company forward no matter how many ups and downs are met along the road.

The vision.

It is crucial to think about your product or service broadly and see far away as well as make every effort to envisage the changes in the industry environment and the customer. This is a compass that helps to determine a long-term course and set sustainable, ambitious goals. The vision inspires and makes the team stronger as it shows how far you can go.

Determination.

It will be tough, sometimes insanely tough. Determination to overcome even the greatest hardships is what distinguishes successful companies from those that give up too quickly. Steve

Jobs made mistakes with his products many times, but now Apple is universally considered as an outstanding success. Elon Musk had a hell of a time developing Tesla and SpaceX: anything that could go wrong went wrong, his companies and he himself were on the verge of bankruptcy. I’ve recently read a statistical analysis of fund companies which emphasises that companies managed by their founders are generally more successful than those that are later managed by more educated hired CEOs. The conclusion is that hired managers give up after the first failures whereas founders fight to the death and usually win.

Sustainability.

It’s a piece of advice that we got from our investors who manage a billion worth portfolio. Crawl, walk, run – it’s a principle that must guide us. Yes, the winner is the company which runs the fastest. However, you need to prepare very well before you run. It’s important to have a sustainable business model as early as possible. One of the biggest mistakes and lessons with Vinted is that they developed a free product for too long. This limited their potential to create the best product in the market and made the company less attractive to investors. Think about sustainability.

Enjoying the process.

There’ll be hard moments indeed, that’s why it is important to be able to enjoy the creative and learning process instead of striving blindly for the final result. It will probably take more than one year to create a successful company.

There is a big chance you’ll fail. For technology startups are rated as one of the riskiest businesses to start, with only 1 out of 10 becoming a success.

Therefore, it’s vital to value and enjoy challenges of every day, and accumulate a well of experience rather than strive desperately for results and risk getting upset when you don’t achieve them.

BY VERONIKA BIELINĖ

WHAT IS HAPPENING AT LOGIN STARTUP FAIR? 50+ most promising startups of the region showcasing and pitching... ...mentored and supported by Lithuania’s most successful startup, Vinted.

Event is swarming with Lithuanian and international investors!

Maybe it‘s your chance?

Hardware district: makers, robots, gadgets and... …a drone race!

Top technical creatives: Green Garage, Technariumas, Robotikos Mokykla, Business Hive, KTU Maker Space, VGTU Linkmenų Fabrikas, Meškėnų Laboratorija (M-LAB), Padirbtuvės.

Startup Lithuania – A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR STARTUPS IN LITHUANIA startuplithuania.com: news, events, data base and a job marketplace We organise Barcamps, Hacker Games hackathons and other events... ...where you can realise your idea, make a product prototype, find a team or partners to start a startup with We know foreign investors and bring them to Lithuania

MasterClasses: professionals of Uber and Startup.lt share their experience.

We provide guidance, advice and introduce people to each other

Startup Battle, startups‘ competition with the prize fund worth 6,000 EUR powered by TRINITI.

Startup Lithuania Roadshow: we take the best startups to Silicon Valley, London, Helsinki and other major hubs

Presentations on artificial intelligence, future entrepreneurship, creative economy, sustainable energy design and other topics at the conference presented by DNB bank.

Startup School and Startup Academy opening this year

Ideas and connections inspiring to start your own startup... …or join dozens of others offering jobs!

LOGIN Startup Fair – THE MAIN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM EVENT OF THE YEAR.

LOGIN Startup Fair – the New Year of Lithuanian startups.

Come and celebrate! www.startuplithuania.com

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TEO Business Summit

The Decline of Physical Objects: Consumers Buy Possibilities and wherever we like because it’s more convenient. For example, most of the Omnitel customers who’ve opted for a free trial of Spotify, continue to use the service as they enjoy the opportunity to choose their music whenever and wherever they like.

Photo by Laura Nečiūnienė

It‘s not technology, but connection that counts

We live in the age of technological revolution.

Just 15 years ago a mobile phone with a colour screen looked like science fiction, whereas today neither electromobiles nor 3D printing comes as a surprise to us. In what way are services replacing products and what are today‘s consumers‘ expectations? Kęstutis Šliužas, CEO of Teo and Omnitel, is sharing his insights into this.

I’m lucky. I can observe the process close-up, take part in it and even make impact. It’s a revolution of our consuming habits. The total hegemony of the consumer product is near the end: the consumer of tomorrow will manage by purchasing services, or possibilities, to be more exact. Do your remember when not so long ago you could find a music store or a video rental just a block away?

Today we access music or films with a smartphone. And it’s not the extinction of physical objects, but the easy choice that has changed our experience. We no longer choose a specific film, but a service to get the desired content whenever we want and enjoy it wherever we are. For example, most of the Teo smart TV users choose to watch their favourite programmes at time other than when the programmes are aired on TV; they want to have the choice to watch a programme when they find it convenient.

The same goes about the music: when we pay for it, we don’t usually think about a specific song. We just need to know that we have the opportunity to listen to our favourite music whenever

Today’s consumers need an Internet connection everywhere and any time.

Thus the communications technology itself is no longer important: fibre-optic or mobile Internet makes no difference.

A smart user needs Internet as a service to be fast and accessible in all places. Providers of Internet services must ensure that the service is available any time, no matter where the customer is – at home or on the way to another city.

Internet not only for people, but also for objects Speaking about today’s consumers we still mean people, but in near future we are going to speak about services, or possibilities, for objects. The Sweden-based Telia Company has now designed a system which allows connecting to the Internet nearly all vehicles produced after 2001 and offering personalised solutions for them.

Even if it sounds like future – it is very close. Solutions adopted in Scandinavia normally get widely accepted in Lithuania 3-4 years later. The same can be predicted for the Internet of Things.

We’ll hardly notice when the time will arrive when we start buying Internet services for our cars.

Lithuanian consumers of today are very quick to appreciate possibilities opened up by new technologies and make use of them. The future is already here.

BY GIEDRĖ RUTKAUSKAITĖ

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LOGIN Game Fest

Freemium Model To Reign, Advertising To Generate Money

Photo by BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis

motion of computers and IT sciences in those countries. It was made possible for every family to get a computer easily. We had the same opportunity only a decade later. I think it was a lucky coincidence that people got the chance to learn how to use a computer and then switch over to mobile phones quickly: this is how we’ve got a critical mass of people who are not only IT literate, but also sufficiently creative. More and more of these people are getting involved in games. They either move from other creative industries or come straight to this field. We are on a very good wave now indeed.”

The games industry in Lithuania is so developed now that we’ve fallen short of qualified developers. Meeting the demand will need to be a sustainable process.

Do you remember yourself as a child and what a miracle the first Super Mario games seemed to you back then? Little has chaged since those days – you can experience that again at LOGIN Game Fest.

And yet what does the Lithuanian games industry look like today? In what way are games going to evolve in the nearest future? We are talking about all of this with Ričardas Jaščemskas, Communications Manager at Nordcurrent.

The interviewee says that the rapid development of the games industry is primarily driven by technological progress.

“Highly unique visions have always been around, but technical limitations would impede their implementation. As they are getting fewer all the time, the choice is getting wider. We can make a comparison with the film industry at this point.

With the development of film technologies, the format remains the same: the viewers watch films on a flat screen.

Games involve interactivity. Not only are technological solutions in development, so is the user interface.”

A breakthrough in the games industry Technological progress enabled the development of games industry in Lithuania. Lithuanians were quick enough to pick up on innovations and adapt them to local needs. Ričardas Jaščemskas likens our situation to that of Scandinavian countries 10-15 years ago. “The gaming industry boom started there as a result of the previous universal pro-

Freemium model leads to revolution Nordcurrent itself was one of the first companies to make a successful use of the so-called Freemium model, which went on to cause quite a revolution in the mobile games industry. According to Jaščemskas, more developments like this are to come, only he couldn’t so far tell what they’ll be like. If we knew what kind of model could work, it would have been put to test already. “There is also the idea to make games totally free for players and have advertisers cover all the expenses. Amazon has started to experiment with such a model. It is likely that everything will be really free of charge in the end; however, one will have to watch lots of ads. On the other hand, I don’t think there’ll be one dominating model. More and more variations will be introduced to the business model in search of solutions to satisfy the developers and the players alike,” says the Communications Manager of Nordcurrent.

BY POVILAS SABALIAUSKAS

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future trends

Art:

Artificial Intelligence:

Creation process will move to the environment of virtual or augmented reality

It will approach human intelligence but will not reach it

Business:

Education:

Personalised and automated business processes

Creativity and technological literacy

Medicine:

Marketing & Communication:

Surgical and humanoid robots

Personalised information dominance 26

Flickr.com nuotr.

Media:

Social Activism:

Customer interaction + mobile and global environment

Sharing economy

Space:

E. Commerce:

Satellite networks and the possibility to receive immense amounts of data in real time

Personalised offers

Funding:

City:

DIY startups and block chain platforms

Transport will not be controlled by humans anymore

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past & future Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Getting More Human-Like

Photo by BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis

be able to decide what should be done in the future. Therefore, no omniscient maker of the right decisions – a kind of automatic judge – can ever be programmed. In certain fields, however, in simple or standard cases, computers can make decisions, but not in hard cases. For example, if you overspeed, you get a fine. On the other hand, the driver can negotiate with the officer that by speeding she/he is trying to avoid a bigger harm (e.g. she/ he is driving someone to the hospital). In this case it becomes a problem.”

Intelligence is perceived differently

Artificial intelligence is no doubt among the main topics of science fiction. No wonder, as the promise to create a machine capable of human-like intelligent behaviour induces mixed feelings of dread and admiration. Yet in which stage of the AI development are we today? Our interview with Dr. Vytautas Čyras, professor in Mathematics and Informatics at Vilnius University gives some insights into this.

Improvisation is hardly possible The scientist affirms that artificial intelligence shouldn’t be mixed up with human intelligence. Even superior artificial intelligence will lack in qualities that a human has. “Programming human widom is mission impossible. Artificial intelligence is about computer programming for certain tasks which are normally attributed to human mind. In the data-information-knowledge-wisdom sequence, knowledge can be programmed, but not wisdom. Wisdom involves the human capacity to take ALL circumstances into account. A computer, however, cannot consider all the circumstances; only programmed knowledge, possibly found in texts on the Internet, etc., is available for it,” explains Dr. Čyras.

In other words, artificial intelligence will always have problems improvising and making creative decisions. “A computer will never be able to weigh up decisions on the basis of customs, morality, history, law or other, perhaps contradictory aspects; nor will it ever

According to Dr. Čyras, the smartness of AI technologies can be evaluated by different, even contradictory criteria.

“For example, what is more intelligent: a quick, to-the-point answer to a simple question or a slow, extensive answer to a complicated question? You’ll get different points of view depending on the context. A showy young man, an unmanned aerial vehicle (a drone), a pilot or a judge are in completely different contexts,” Dr. Čyras shared his considerations on the perception of intelligence.

Learning to trust There is a constant influx of new products with new features. However, ordinary people don’t have the objective to play chess with a computer like it were the IBM Deep Blue, which won against Garry Kasparov in 1997. In their research, scientists are concerned with a great many more criteria, which don’t even occur to an ordinary user of a smartphone.

The truth is that artificial intelligence is still far away from human likeness, but moving towards it. Artificial intelligence is round the corner, and we’ll have to live with it.

BY POVILAS SABALIAUSKAS

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past & future business

Donatas Keras About Business In Ten Years And The First Lithuanian Nobel Prize B2B sector too encouraging companies to share their resources for the sake of creating a new product or service.

Photo by BFL/ Butautas Barauskas

“I wouldn’t be surprised if other, currently ordinary business processes experienced changes too. For example, young people no longer use email as much as earlier generations used to when emailing and live socialising was so important.

Virtual communication will be enough for them,” envisaged Donatas Keras.

“10 years ago few people could foresee that mobile phones would be used to such a wide extent. It is estimated that in today‘s world the average person looks at her/his smartphone 250 times daily, which isn’t surprising,” continued the interviewee.

The best person to talk to about the future of business and what business will look like in 10 years, is someone whose everyday work involves investing in and developing new businesses. This is exactly what characterises Donatas Keras, a co-founder of the risk capital fund, Practica Capital. We are happy to present his futuristic ideas here.

Personalisation is the word for business future When asked to share his insights into possible developments of business in ten years, Donatas Keras says that in the next decade, business processes will become more personalised and automated. They will include computer systems performing big data analytics and, as a result, opening up many new ways. Furthermore, physical goods will decrease and will be replaced by intangible products and services.

“A breakthrough in medicine is expected.

Global leaders in the field predict that in future diseases will not be treated, but prevented. Also, I think that it’s not long before pilotless, self-governing devices and vehicles will be a usual thing, which will bring fundamental changes to the world of business,” Donatas Keras suggests.

Keras believes that in future sharing economy will mean as much or even more.

It is likely that the concept will enter the

Lithuania is on the right track, it just needs time and experience When it comes to the future of business in Lithuania, the co-founder of Practica Capital is confident that making a leap every year, our country is on the right track.

“A good example of this are the new scientific centres of Vilnius University delivering amazing quality and content.

I suppose a semi-joke about them creating a basis for Nobe Prize winning tells a lot. It would be no wonder if in 10, 20 or 30 years, the first Lithuanian Nobel Prize winner had started his/her work at these centres,” Keras said.

The interviewee believes that Lithuania’s present young generation is already free of constraints and can actively pursue their goals. These people don’t limit themselves, which gives the whole country a huge impetus and makes it possible to anticipate great achievements.

BY GINTARAS GIMŽAUSKAS

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past & future education

Child At The Core of Education and teachers, reflects the national level: we don’t know what we want. As long as we don’t have a clear vision and direction of education, there is little we can do on the national level. We’ll continue to hear those who are screaming the loudest and therefore focus on inessential things,” Landsbergienė observed.

Personal album photo

Awaiting teachers with vocation

“We don’t know where education in Lithuania is heading,” claims Austėja Landsbergienė, Doctor of Social Science, Expert in Educology and the founder of Vaikystės Sodas Kindergartens and Queen Morta School.

The Need To Make Unpopular Decisions “In the meantime I’m happy that we have finally started to talk about education,” says the expert. And yet there is little change in educational institutions themselves. “The school is still very much the same as it was right after the recovery of independence, only the enthusiasm for change has subsided.” Pointing to the Good Start Programme that has withered and Open Society Fund Lithuania, she calls the

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current situation regressive.

Austėja Landsbergienė believes the solution can be found by optimizing the number of schools, creating the network, discontinuing inefficient programmes and reducing the number of teachers. “These are difficult and often unpleasant decisions, but we need to adopt them,” the expert insists.

No Clear Vision The interviewee admits that formally Lithuania doesn’t look bad by global standards. “Our documents and curricula are incredibly progressive. However, even the most innovative curriculum makes no sense if teachers don’t use it in class,” Landsbergienė emphasised.

“A good teacher opens the textbook in August; however, she/he develops a new relevant content every year.”

Speaking about other factors that affect the country’s educational future, parents’ attitude should be mentioned, including a fear of change and a harmful tendency to prevent children from taking risks. “That micro-level, involving parents

“I wish it would be different with the next generation. But then those who are kids now would have to be willing to become teachers instead of saying ‚I don’t have to do it, which has become a cult phrase now.” Having followed her childhood dream to teach, Austėja Landsbergienė is convinced that changes should start from enhancing the prestige and reinforcing the position of the teaching profession. The interviewee calls this profession a service and adds: “No doctor on a plane would say ‚I’m now on vacation’.

Instead she/he would rush to save a life. I wish our future school would attract more value-oriented people, who wouldn’t go past a crying child without stopping even if her/his office hours are over.”

Seven competencies Ratings and marks considered today as the key measures form just a single part of the puzzle. “Child is at the core of everything,” insists the expert in educology. She advocates for developing the talents rather than evaluating the knowledge. Being a member of the Klingenstein Society at Columbia University, Landsbergienė points to the 7 competencies of the future to be developed in school: creativity, communication, leadership, teamwork, technological literacy, global competency and awareness, integration as a capacity to adapt to unavoidable changes and ethical awareness.

BY GIEDRĖ RUTKAUSKAITĖ

past & future entertainment

Fast Entertainment and Maximum Gain

Photo by Dainius Ščiuka

technologies, the main boom in the entertainment industry started when the Lithuanians began travelling more.

On the other hand, not necessarily do we become more original. “Let’s take food trends and tendencies: I hear much more often the requests to prepare something “the way we ate there and there” and not “the way no one has done yet”,” says Ivanauskas.

Another change is speed. He shares his own experience from the culinary industry. A half-an-hour show which we were used to see on TV? Now you need to make a 15-second video clip out of it. “We want fast entertainment, here and now. The consumer wants to get the maximum gain and the experience (that of taste, for instance) in a short time,” claims Ivanauskas.

Alfas Ivanauskas, chef, book author, editor of the best culinary magazine in the world VMG, founder of Virtuvės mitų griovėjai (or “Kitchen myth busters” in English), says that entertainment industry is the Aladdin‘s lamp and the miracles being performed to us are more and more mind-blowing, mainly because more senses are involved.

The “WOW EFFECT” is limitless According to the interviewee, the changes during the last decade were primarily brought by the new technologies. “We have wider possibilities to create the “wow effect”. Everything has changed: just remember how the stage used to look like; now all the decorations are becoming digitalised,” tells Ivanauskas.

“Probably the most entertaining and the most unique thing, which is awaiting us in the future is the chance to be in the undefined space,” claims Ivanauskas, telling that due to the projection technologies it will be possible to feel as if in a science fiction movie while staying at a basic warehouse. And not only because of the visual effects: the impression will be strengthened by synthetic scents, realistic sounds and even more. For instance, we will be able not only to see a bird but to hear it and to feel the whiff created by its wings. Let’s not forget that we are still in the same bare warehouse!

Only the desire to surprise is not changing In Ivanauskas’ opinion, despite all the

Back to Rumšiškės and radish?

Of course entertainment becomes more expensive, there is a new demand to make a personalised impression. Ivanauskas notices yet another tendency: the appearance of personal entertainment. “Such a form will become more fashionable over time. People who have seen everything and who have a lot of money want to surprise themselves or their significant others and are buying personal entertainment as a gift,” says the interviewee.

Once you get accustomed to these spectacular events, you can’t get enough of them. Nevertheless, Ivanauskas stresses that at the same time one can feel the desire to come back to simplicity. “I think that in the near future the event of the Z generation could be held in Rumšiškės very successfully because it will be some sort of exotica. The thing is that over time we will become more and more entertained by a simple opportunity to pull a natural carrot or radish out of the garden bed,” thinks Ivanauskas.

BY JURGA BAKAITĖ

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past & future medicine

Photo by Gediminas Žilinskas

The Future of Medicine: Unlimited Reconstruction Possibilities and Ethical Dangers

Current medical achievements amount to miracles. Modern technologies allow regenerating spinal cord or operating foetus inside the mother’s womb – all this was recently hardly imaginable or attributed to science fiction.

Medical innovations will affect patients, doctors, scientists. We have talked to plastic surgery specialist professor Kęstutis Vitkus about what changes await us in the future.

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Surgical and humanoid robots It is interesting that already nowadays robots in the surgery industry improve the movements of the surgeon, reducing their hand tremor during the surgery and giving the opportunity to perform more and more complicated invasive procedures. As professor Vitkus claims, robots allow performing remote surgeries with a much bigger precision than it could be done manually. On the other hand, due to the lack of universal skills and lack of ability to adapt, robots will never serve as an operating room, however it is likely that they will become an inseparable part of surgeons’ team.

Microscopic robots will allow us to better understand human anatomy and to perform different types of surgeries by reaching locations which are otherwise difficult to access.

ginable opportunities as medical and prosthetic components or mechanisms or even medications can be printed using them. Regenerative medicine is aimed at helping those who are suffering from various organ disorders, providing them with the artificially created replacement organs. According to Kęstutis Vitkus, these printers also play an important role in the regenerative medicine as they give the opportunity to regenerate tissues, blood vessels, bones, heart valves, ear cartilage, face frame among other organs. The increasing availability of this technology and open source engineering makes 3D printing an unbelievably widely applied and incredibly useful technology. The professor is certain that anything can be regenerated, therefore reconstruction possibilities in the future medicine will be immensely vast. Moreover, due to this technology, the shortage of organ donors will be reduced in the future. On the other hand, future medicine technologies are very much related to ethical issues. “Future technologies will make getting inside the DNA chain possible and as a result, such institutions as banks or insurance companies will be able to know everything about a specific person’s genetics and how long he or she will live,” fears professor Kęstutis Vitkus.

Lack of human relationship Technological advances will turn the medical system upside down, leaving the relationship between doctors and patients based solely on technology.

Professor regrets that modern doctors do not look up from the computer screen and there is less and less contact with patients.

The revolution of 3D printing 3D printers in medicine open up unima-

BY KRISTINA AUGUSTINAITĖ

past & future Marketing & Communication

Marketing Strategy Changes and Future Communication Predictions and, as a result, new independent figures forming public opinion have emerged, such as Andrius Užkalnis, Andrius Tapinas or Agnė Jagelavičiūtė. The interviewee notices the changes in the way we and our society are thinking. “What used to be matter-of-course, now is not relevant anymore, and vice versa,” says Kęstutis Gečas.

Photo by Simas Bernotas

Personalised information dominance

Technological and social tendencies have significantly affected marketing and communication areas during the last decade. We have discussed the changes, which have happened and the future predictions in the area of marketing with Kęstutis Gečas, senior partner of INK agency.

The choice of online channels The news is systematically moving to online platforms, TV and radio are becoming digital meanwhile offering additional services. The senior partner of INK agen-

cy emphasises that Facebook, which emerged in 2004, marks the beginning of social media, with which the decline of classical news management system is related. According to Kęstutis Gečas, Internet has created many channels, thus marketing and communication specialists need to allocate their attention and resources accordingly and to select the most important ones.

Subjective information space Internet and social media have created insane amounts of information, thus we can only be grateful that we have our Lithuanian language as competing in the English-speaking information space, according to him, would be a complete nightmare. As Kęstutis Gečas notes, the role of a journalist is diminishing in the today’s world, the readers are becoming journalists themselves. The information space becomes more and more subjective and conforming to the “crowd psychology” patterns. Lithuanians have learned how to use social media channels

“Shouldn’t we think about products for hipsters? Or maybe homosexuals?”

Such discussions can be heard more and more often in the marketing and communication departments. “We are travelling more and we see more world.

A constantly increasing part of Lithuanians are living outside of Lithuania.

This helps us disrupt the stereotypes and forms new predominant points of view,” claims Gečas. He is convinced that future marketing and communication strategies will be outlined according to the circumstances and will strive to adapt to them. Gečas predicts that we will be using the newest technologies which will allow us to produce syndicated content, i.e. to use the same information and content in different channels. The interviewee claims that despite the fact that there is more content than needed, good and exceptional content is always missing. “Brands inevitably have to communicate, even play with their audience. To joke around, if needed. People value that,” says Kęstutis Gečas. In his opinion, in the future, there will be a rapid growth in the invisible part of advertising campaigns: the gathering of data about clients and personalised messages through the channels which we haven’t even heard about yet.

BY KRISTINA AUGUSTINAITĖ

35

past & future media

Media Will Change, Let’s Not Be Afraid of It

Personal album photo

form of comments, though now there are many more forms of it. User involvement has its side effect, too since at the same time the role of ethical and legal responsibility and control increases. The user activity in the media is becoming more active and the boundaries between the responsibilities of the channel and the user often disappear.

The content personalisation is becoming much stronger. While striving to reach the broadest possible audience, we need not only to think about the content which would be interesting to everyone, but also how to satisfy as many specific needs as possible.

Already 3 or 4 years ago, we started offering many sections and channels of specialised content. The demand for thematically narrower, more niche content will only increase.

How will the media industry look like in ten years? Vytautas Benokraitis, CEO of DELFI, shares his insights.

Media is changing every day Did we ever imagine that media would be such as it is today? This is one of the sectors that have been affected the most by new technologies and innovations. No one actually knows what will happen in a few years. Time in media now is measured differently. We are talking about minutes and seconds as any one of them can turn everything upside down. If you want to be a leader, you have to be the first one. And for that not only do you need speed but also courage to take the risk.

The boundaries between global and local media are vanishing. It doesn’t mean that there will be no more local news – it is as important in Lithuania as it is in Spain or France – but the question is how it will be reached: direc-

38

tly through media channels or through some other channels such as social media? Ways will have to be found for the users to identify who has created the content they are watching. Moreover, the content will have to be of very high quality so that eventually people would come back to its creators. Only those media brands which will offer guaranteed information of exceptional quality are going to prevail. This is what we can feel very well in DELFI, too.

Consumer expectations are changing One of the most obvious changes is how the content form has evolved.

Roughly seven years ago, focusing on visual content seemed fun. Now it is a necessity. In the future, we will focus on how to remain informative, attractive and interesting all at the same time.

It’s not enough for media to attract the customer: people need to feel involved, to be invited to contribute by creating the content and sharing it and to be able to communicate to each other.

This process started in DELFI in the

The pace will not slow down The speed of presenting information is changing unbelievably. Not such a long time ago, we used to receive global and local news in the evening or with a few hours delay. Now we hear the news while they are still happening. It’s hard to imagine it but it’s obvious that the pace will only increase.

We all can see the current boom of smartphones. When the new technologies appear, we will be working with them. Yet at the same time we shouldn’t forget the ordinary platforms. The size of the audience which can be reached through smartphones is increasing but it doesn’t mean that there are less of those browsing the news websites on the computer screen.

When we think about the future, the only certain thing we can be 100% sure of is that the changes will never end. But our experience shows that we shouldn’t be afraid of them. Instead we need to use them.

BY JŪRATĖ ŽUOLYTĖ

past & future social activism

How Is Social Activism Changing in Lithuania?

Photo by BFL / Andrius Ufartas

of time if you want to create a social project able to unite many people and giving an opportunity to do something truly good. Also, it is widely considered that it is very difficult to found something like that. “But our example clearly shows that you can create it with very minimal resources and that it can become one of the biggest social projects in Lithuania. Thus I believe that it is only a mere imagination that it is difficult or that you need to spend a lot of time for it and that it counts almost as a second job,” says the interviewee.

Social field is expanding

Andrius Čepkus, the founder of the social initiative vaikusvajones. lt, has been interested in social activism for around a decade.

According to him, at that time various social projects were organised exclusively by big companies and there was a lack of initiative from ordinary people. At the moment though he notices a contrary trend which should become even stronger in the upcoming years.

The ideas of big companies were dominating Andrius Čepkus recalls how roughly ten years ago, there were many different projects broadcast on TV where you could send an SMS and in such a way donate a specific amount of money for a good cause. “In Lithuania, the social field was dominated by big companies.

Right now, there are more people who initiate various social projects themselves and are trying to help, while ten years ago, there was actually only one such website aukok.lt created by people’s initiative. Thus there were more self-promotional projects in the social field run by big companies, which is not bad either as through an established social model they create a lot of value for those who need it.”

In Čepkus’ opinion, people like doing good deeds and they are willing to join good initiatives. He notices that there are quite many people in Lithuania who support various social projects and participate in them. On the other hand, apparently there is an existing understanding that you have to spend a lot

According to him, the number of social projects in Lithuania is currently increasing, the social environment is being developed rather rapidly and it becomes more suitable: “There are people who, for example, create projects similar to ours, just intended for the elderly or for children with disabilities, etc. Such projects are initiated by ordinary people for whom it is not their main activity, who have jobs or are involved in some completely different areas.”

And what will happen in the future, for instance, in another ten years? Andrius Čepkus thinks that in the longterm there will be more social projects created by ordinary people instead of some particular funds, organisations or public institutions: “I believe that we are moving towards sharing economy.

Such startups as Uber or Airbnb show very well that people want to trade directly with others instead of using the services of intermediators. Thus it will be ordinary people who will make the biggest impact in the area of social projects as well. I am talking about such projects which change the environment, the world and are actually helping someone.”

BY GRAŽINA VINCEL

39

past & future space

Space Network as the Future of Space Industry ly, the new LituanicaSat-2 is on its way: it is already being produced by us together with the same Vilnius University,” tells Buzas.

Personal album photo

free Internet to everyone everywhere and at all times

The private business journey to space industry took a very long time. However, now that it has reached it, it is threatening to bring about a real revolution. It seems that by ten years from now this sector will have changed drastically.

We talked about the changes in the space industry awaiting us with Vytenis Buzas, CEO of Nano Avionics.

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A satellite will become something used on a daily basis Last year was particularly important for the space industry. In December, SpaceX successfully landed their multi-use rocket for the first time. According to Buzas, in ten years this technology should be already widely spread.

When the technology of multi-use rockets is incorporated together with the technology of small satellites, which are being developed incredibly rapidly, too, we can expect some very significant results. “As some time ago Steve Jobs made the computers become the devices of personal use, something similar is going to happen in the field of satellites, too. Of course not every one of us will have a personal satellite, but at the level of companies it should become a rather common thing. Satellites will not be a luxury anymore. The process has already begun. It is enough to look at our example. LituanicaSat-1 was constructed by Vilnius University and its partners. On their own. Current-

The CEO of Nano Avionics claims that the whole paradigm of satellite usage is slowly changing. If some time ago only countries, with the possible exception of big companies, could afford them, today we are talking about the network of satellites. “Previously you could maybe somehow launch a satellite and only download its data when it was flying above a certain territory. Now, same as here on Earth, where computers and phones are connected into a network, satellites are also being connected into networks. The network allows you to receive immense amounts of data at real time. And this is the most important part: to share huge amounts of data quickly,” says the interviewee.

Satellites should soon be able to provide what many of us are dreaming of: free Internet everywhere and at all times. “Currently One Web or Elon Musk’s projects are being developed very intensively and they would use satellite networks as Internet providers. To me, the project of One Web looks the most serious one. They have already signed an agreement with Airbus which will produce a few hundreds of small satellites providing Internet. You can imagine what kind of revolution it will be if free Internet is available at any time at any point of the world. What a huge input it would have in the humanitarian area alone. The whole world connected. How impressively it sounds. I mean, there are still many places around the world where there isn’t even a GSM signal. With the global wi-fi connection, globalisation process would be accelerated even more,” claims Buzas.

BY POVILAS SABALIAUSKAS

past & future art

Jolita Vaitkutė: “Ideas Are to Become the Greatest Asset in the Future” “As all the tools and the possibilities to use them will be universally available, ideas will become the main asset and will be valued more than ever. Anyone will be able to learn how to design, for instance, a 3D model but not everyone will be able to generate an idea truly useful to the world. The current startup culture is a great example proving that it is not enough to have the tools, you need to have an idea which would stir the world,” explains Jolita Vaitkutė.

Photo by fotolobis.lt

People, not the world, are in need of creation

Young creator, idea generator and artist Jolita Vaitkutė is probably best known to the wider Lithuanian audience as a person with an odd passion to draw portraits of famous people using food. Such method of creative expression was once encouraged by the overwhelming boredom. Not even her mum’s teachings that one shouldn’t play with food could stop her.

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Tools are not enough, ideas are needed Predicting how the creation process will look like in 10 years, the interviewee assumes that there will be more tools used for creation and that the creation process itself will move to the environment of virtual and augmented reality. To the areas which we may not be familiar with yet.

Apart from that, Vaitkutė thinks that during the upcoming decade the tools used for creation will also change. She is convinced that the main shift will not be in the context of the actual tools, such as pencils or modelling software, but in the area of additional means facilitating the functioning of brain and stimulating creative insights.

Even though the future is supposed to notably transform the creative activity, people will continue their effort to develop artificial intelligence able to create.

They might even succeed in it, yet some of the things, according to this provocative creator, will remain unchanged.

Many active and curious people most likely care not only about how the creation process is happening or will be happening, they are also concerned if anyone needs their creations at all. Often the saying is remembered: “If you can live without singing, then don’t sing.” Thinking about this, Vaitkutė says that singing or any other activity is only a means of expression, which may not be necessarily appreciated universally. But the artist immediately adds: “Creation is a given for people.”

“It doesn’t have to be a visual, sound or motion creation. Creation can be the quest for solutions or a reflection.

And even though some creations may not be needed by all of the world, the creation itself is actually necessary for the people themselves individually,” assures Vaitkutė.

According to her, creation is important not only to people but also to the companies because in the wide sense it means progress, innovation and change. The artist is certain that these processes don’t happen without the creative people who are pulling the society forward.

BY GINTARAS GIMŽAUSKAS

past & future e-commerce

The Future of E-commerce Lies in Personalisation

Photo by BFL / Andrius Ufartas

As a result, there is no need to build an e-shop from zero if you want to have one. This brings even much smaller businesses into e-commerce. As a result, the possibilities of big and small market players become a little bit more even. Another trend is the vast supply of goods. Even food is already often bought online. It seems that this trend will only become stronger. Does it mean that the role of physical stores is also changing? Won’t many shops simply disappear over time? “Some day there will be nothing left out of what we see today. The only question is when. If usual physical stores disappear, it will be inevitably related to other immense changes in human everyday life, city transformations and who knows what kinds of other innovations. It will be a completely different life,” says the interviewee.

Every year the extent of e-commerce is only increasing. Convenience and saved time may be mentioned among the reasons for this trend.

And e-commerce is not about to stop evolving.

What can be expected in this field in the nearest future? We are talking about this with famous entrepreneur, CEO of NDX Energija, one of the shareholders of VP group and business consultant Ignas Staškevičius.

Drones in delivery service to determine the convenience E-commerce popularity has been determined by its convenience. According to Ignas Staškevičius, the most significant boost for e-commerce would be made by the innovative delivery solutions.

“Currently there is almost no possibility to receive a package if no one is at home. You must wait for the courier, which is annoying. If e-retailers were able to deliver products without disturbing customers and to leave the products outside the door in the storage space, it would be more convenient. Another solution could be using drones for delivery service, bringing the packages to a balcony or some specialised area, but I doubt if it is realistic due to navigational security reasons in the city,” he argues.

Universality helps reduce the risk Another unique feature of e-commerce is its universality. Today there are more and more platforms for renting e-shops.

Artificial intelligence will not outrun human E-commerce is moving very rapidly towards personalisation. There is a desire to be able to offer specific products to a specific person. The so-called cookies definitely help to achieve that. Yet Ignas Staškevičius believes that we will have to wait for personalised commerce a little bit more. “For now, no one has invented really personalised commerce.

Customers are still being classified into groups or their behaviour is being followed. This direction is promising, however I believe that even when following every single customer very closely, artificial intelligence will not be able to understand their needs so well as to make ideal absolutely personalised offers to them. Once this happens, artificial intelligence will become of equal value to human intelligence and the latter will not be needed anymore,” he believes.

BY POVILAS SABALIAUSKAS

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past & future funding

Flickr.com photo

The Future Belongs to DIY Startups and Block Chain Platforms

Raised investment is a sign that you are doing something really right.

Today, when there are millions of startups in the world seeking recognition, investors have the biggest choice ever. So what are they looking for? What are the trends of today’s investments? We have talked about this with Andrey Ustyugov, IMI.VC investment director.

Large customer base is always attractive.

What is a promising startup? What determines the company’s value nowadays? “Everything depends on the strategy and value of the company. Everyone knows its main measurement criteria: customer base, APRU, EBITDA, etc.

But actually there is only one question that really matters: whether the investment into one or another company will help our fund grow. For example, Facebook paid 21.8 bln dollars for Whatsapp or, in other words, 55 dollars for every customer. But Facebook knew very well what they were doing and why.

They needed a large customer base.

Profit was not important to them at all.

At the same time they surpassed their competitors who might have acquired Whatsapp otherwise,” tells Andrey Ustyugov.

The originality of a startup remains a rare commodity Today, when there are so many start-

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ups, funds are selecting their future partners very carefully. “Qualified investors usually invest into those companies they can really help move forward.

If you are investing in the area where you have practically no expertise, most likely you will not receive any return.

Such investments are a direct way to failure. On the other hand, if you and your team are the experts of a particular area, you will see immediately what potential the company has upon receiving your investment. Once you see the highly promising predictions, it is much easier to decide to invest,” claims IMI.VC investment director.

He also notices that even though there is a vast number of startups, originality remains a rare commodity. If we are talking about the main 2016 startup trends, I would distinguish various chat apps, block chain platforms, Uber clones, financial technologies and DIY type startups. We believe that out of all these areas, the still promising ones are block chain platforms and DIY startups. Something new can still be created here,” thinks Ustyugov.

The crowdfunding platforms – one of the reasons of the startup boom The crowdfunding platforms have definitely contributed to the great number of startups. Sales in advance through such platforms as Kickstarter or IndieGoGo can be very useful indeed.

“For the technological startups, it allows to find the first clients and to accumulate money which will be needed for the manufacturing process. However, such model will only work if initial sales will actually mean something, i.e. if the buyer will get what they paid for.

Also, such model can function perfectly well together with the investments received from funds,” claims Ustyugov.

BY POVILAS SABALIAUSKAS

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past & future city

Future City Created

by Technology The system is good, but unattractive

Personal album photo

When comparing Vilnius to London, Sao Paolo, Istambul or other cities, the Lithuanian entrepreneur points out differences in approach, but not in the systems.

“Major cities of the world have reached the point when the fastest and most convenient way to reach your destination is by public transport. Public transport is used by everyone regardless of the income level. When we set ourselves such a goal and stay united in pursuing it, public transport will get more popular and cars will be put aside for weekend trips only; transport services and navigation will become far more convenient,” insists the interviewee.

Martynas Gudonavičius, London and Vilnius based co-founder and CEO of TRAFI, a public transport journey planning app, claims that Vilnius is on par with the major cities of the world. Yet he thinks we could be more open to the rapid technological development.

Lithuania pulled up The new city navigation, transport and sharing economy solutions have turned Vilnius into a living example of good navigation. “It’s a green, highly compact and modern city with the best Internet in the world. It’s home to many advanced systems facilitating

life,” admits Martynas. He thinks that a major change to the better took place 5-6 years ago with the entry of the first leading companies in the field, such as Barclays. “It caused a stir then; we became attractive to large corporations; work pay went up. Everyone was made to pull up, which encouraged more original ideas, ambitious startups and the development of the technological community,” recalls the entrepreneur.

The city today Moving at a fast pace, we are getting more intolerant to waiting and want to foresee many things and err as little as possible. This led to a great number of unique solutions in the market. “Public transport has become more predictable making it easier to plan a journey from point A to point B. We no longer have to wait for a bus at a bus stop; navigation has become super easy,” says Martynas Gudonavičius. The TRAFI app developed by his team for different cities around the world has undoubtedly contributed to promoting public transport.

He suggests starting changes in the fundamental things. “It would do for now to replace the old trolleybuses because it’s cold in them in winter, you get condensation on the windows and they usually get crowded and are uncomfortable; in summer they get stuffy. Once the fleet is upgraded, the routes should be given a closer look too optimising some old routes and adding some new ones,” the interviewee recommends.

Sharing economy will gain strength “It’s real enough that in future we‘ll have electric buses and self-driven transport in general. Judging from recent developments, I expect that even more progressive technologies will be introduced, which will help us prevent human errors and fatal incidents,” speculates the innovator of journey planning systems.

Not only public transport will obey the laws of change. Other man-made vehicles will become more automated as well. Based on the sharing economy model introduced by Uber, such cars will take you to your desired destination and will provide parcel delivery services.

BY GIEDRĖ RUTKAUSKAITĖ

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