Lifetime Achievement
Radio Voice of America
During hard times of soviet occupation, the radio established by the efforts of the US Government was a tiny ray of light through the Iron Curtain for oppressed Lithuanians and tiny connection to relatives and friends around the world. It inspired the resistance, it helped to receive objective information and keep hope for freedom of Lithuania.
Investments Attracted to Lithuania
Einaras von Gravrock
Founder Einaras von Gravrock brought CUJO AI subsidiary to his hometown Kaunas in 2017. CUJO AI is US based artificial intelligence company that provides cybersecurity and device management solutions for network operators worldwide. Today CUJO AI platform covers more than 200M smart home devices worldwide. Recently, CUJO AI transformed its services to B2B format which enabled to attract investment from US telecommunication giant Charter Communications and Dutch company KPN Ventures. CUJO AI has more than 170 employees worldwide, the majority of them – 92 professionals – work in Lithuania.
Business Connections Between the Countries
Povilas Gudžius
Bloomberg, UAE
Founder and President of Lithuanian Business Association in Dubai (LBAD) and Head of FinTech sales at Bloomberg, UAE. Povilas Gudžius established LBAD with the mission to help Lithuanian firms uncover opportunities in the UAE market. Today this non-profit organisation connects 50 Lithuanian professionals/businesses and is a platform for bilateral economic trade between the countries. Povilas Gudžius coordinated the first state visit of Lithuanian President D. Grybauskaitė to the UAE followed by the road-show of Dubai Chamber of Commerce representatives in Vilnius in May 2018 which resulted in multiple business cooperations. Povilas has been acting as a business and youth mentor at GLL programs – GLL Business Advisors and LT Big Brother creating exceptional working and learning opportunities in the UAE. In 2017, Povilas led the on-boarding of Lithuanian SOS Children Villages to Bloomberg Philanthropies corporate program and together with his colleagues fund-raised more than €50000 for Lithuanian kids in need.
Science Innovations Attracted to Lithuania
Artūras Petronis
Toronto University, Canada
Dr. Artūras Petronis is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. He is a pioneer of epigenetic studies of human diseases who launched the first psychiatric epigenomics program in the world. He has been productively collaborating with Lithuanian scientists for more than two decades. Last year Dr. Petronis established a “twin” laboratory at the Life Science Center of Vilnius University. The Lithuanian and Canadian researchers work together trying to uncover the mysteries of fundamental biomedical problems: why do we get sick, how to predict the upcoming disease, how to escape it?