Šilinskas: Prime Minister and I Agree Biotechnology Should Be a Priority Sector

Lithuania’s biotechnology sector accounts for less than 3% of the economy, but business leaders want it to grow to 5% of gross domestic product. Investors' Forum chief executive Vytautas Šilinskas said Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius shares that priority after a meeting between the two men.

Šilinskas described biotechnology as an area where Lithuania already produces high-level goods that other countries cannot make. The challenge, he said, is to produce more of them and compete through capabilities rather than lower prices.

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Eight out of 10 countries get stuck in the middle-income trap because it is not difficult to learn to compete with cheaper products, but to become truly wealthy, you have to learn to compete with what others cannot do.

“Eight out of 10 countries get stuck in the middle-income trap because it is not difficult to learn to compete with cheaper products, but to become truly wealthy, you have to learn to compete with what others cannot do,” Šilinskas told journalists after the meeting.

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Biotechnology is the area where Lithuania truly produces high-level products that other countries are unable to make.

He said the government and business community would work together to expand the sector. Lithuania will also need to make better use of European Union funding, he said, arguing that the country has so far drawn less support for biotechnology and innovation than it could have.

Šilinskas linked the issue to Lithuania’s approaching EU presidency and to the first and second European biotechnology acts. He said national decisions, as well as the way Lithuania helps shape those decisions, would influence whether the country joins the states that make the most use of European support and invest most heavily in biotechnology.

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So far, we have used EU support specifically in biotechnology and innovation less than we could have.