On 14 January, Wednesday, at 2 p.m., the Visitor Centre of the Seimas will host a book launch event “White Paper on Lithuania’s Futures Ecosystem: From Ideas to Action”. The event is intended to present and discuss a document that aims to become a practical basis for the future governance of Lithuania, strengthening the country’s security, resilience, and competitiveness in a rapidly changing world. The event is organised by the Seimas Committee for the Future.
In a period of geopolitical, geoeconomic and technological shifts, a growing number of countries are developing foresight centres, national futures ecosystems, and international networks. Futures governance is becoming the axis of strategic planning, allowing not only to respond to changes but also to anticipate them.
The participants of the event will discuss how the White Paper on Lithuania’s Futures Ecosystem could practically harness the potential for the development of Lithuania’s futures ecosystem and help respond effectively to increasing uncertainty. The discussion will focus on reforms to modernise public administration, increasing Lithuania’s geoeconomic competitiveness, and more effective solutions for social development and progress.
According to Vytautas Grubliauskas, Chair of the Seimas Committee for the Future, ‘Lithuania’s futures ecosystem has been evolving conceptually over the past few years, expanding and improving the scope of the work of the Committee for the Future, and the result of this work is the White Paper’. The Chair emphasises that this document outlines a significant stage in the Committee’s activities and indicates its maturity.
According to him, ‘the growing role and influence of the Committee for the Future in shaping, formalising, and implementing new forms of strategic thinking and action at the national level has provided impetus to modernise, coordinate, and give substance to a future-oriented policy course’. This process led to the consolidation of analytical and foresight-based structures, such as the formation of a group of researchers at the Research Unit of the Office of the Seimas and the establishment of the Strategic Forecasting Unit at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.
Vytautas Grubliauskas emphasises that ‘the White Paper, as a document of the political genre, marks an important stage in the development, maturity, and influence of the Committee for the Future’, with its purpose being to contribute to the strategic development of the State and to increase its competitiveness and resilience. According to him, the document ‘should become a tool to help implement the goals of the State Progress Strategy ‘Lithuania’s Vision for the Future ‘Lithuania 2050’’’ as well as promote anticipatory innovation governance, a culture of future-oriented political decision-making, and higher-quality legislative processes.
The opening speech will be delivered by Vytautas Grubliauskas, Chair of the Seimas Committee for the Future. The welcome address will be delivered by Gitanas Nausėda, President of the Republic of Lithuania, Inga Ruginienė, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania (to be confirmed), and Algirdas Stončaitis, Secretary General of the Seimas.
The discussion will be attended by Dr. Aleksandras Abišala, Member of the State Progress Council and former Prime Minister, Dr. Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Member of the European Court of Auditors, Prof. Arūnas Augustinaitis, Adviser to the Seimas Committee for the Future, Darius Žeruolis, Director of the Lithuanian State Historical Archives, and Dr. Ligita Šarkutė, Adviser to the Research Unit of the Office of the Seimas.
The discussion will be moderated by Prof. Lauras Bielinis, Head of the Strategic Forecasting Unit of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Prof. Arūnas Augustinaitis, Adviser to the Seimas Committee for the Future, and Justinas Mickus, Senior Policy Analyst at the Government Strategic Analysis Center STRATA.
The first part of the event (prior the discussion) will be broadcast live on the Seimas YouTube channel “Atviras Seimas” (Open Seimas).
The publication is available at: White Paper on Lithuania’s Futures Ecosystem.
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