A new agency has been launched with a mandate to boost the level of innovation in Lithuania and bring it in line with the European Union average.

A new agency has been launched with a mandate to boost the level of innovation in Lithuania and bring it in line with the European Union average.

MITA, Mokslo, inovacijų ir technologijų agentūra, or the Science, Innovation and Technology Agency, is the brainchild of the Ministries of Economy and Education and has been modeled on Nordic agencies such as Sweden's Vinnova and Findland's Tekes.

A new strategy put forward by the Government calls for Lithuania to reach the EU innovation benchmark by 2020.

“If you want to implement a strategy, you need an instrument,” Deputy Economy Minister Mindaugas Petrauskas said.