Building a digital Europe: interview with Edgaras Kriukonis / EDIH Vilnius

If you could please introduce yourself and your EDIH, highlighting its field of expertise and how you are helping SMEs and public sector organisations to overcome their challenges.

Hello, I am Edgaras Kriukonis. I am representing EDIH Vilnius. It is an official EDIH for Vilnius Region and I am the coordinator of our consortium.

Could you share a story in which your EDIH helped clients make a lot of progress in their digitalisation goals?

We only started our activities at the beginning of this year but we have already seen results. As an EDIH, we work both for SMEs and the public sector. We have made good progress in the case of one public sector organisation. They have an app for farmers to send data about farming. Right now, in this app, pictures of farm fields are sent directly to the organisation but the staff, the humans, still need to analyse the picture and make the respective decisions. So, one of our members created a prototype solution based on artificial intelligence technology that analyses the image and automates the process without human input.

That’s very interesting. Have you had the chance to collaborate with any other EDIH from the network?

Yes, in these 5 months we already have, let’s say, one success story. Together with 5 EDHIs from other countries, we have built an advanced digital assessment tool and developed an app. We are also creating a communication strategy for EDIHs, which we can all use in our countries to increase awareness about us.

What do you think has made the collaboration successful and what lessons are you learning from it?

Successful collaboration is first and foremost a matter of trust. And that can be built only if we work with reliable partners. Knowledge is secondary in the sense that we can gain knowledge during our shared journey, but trust is a million times much more important.

We are working towards the growth and the advancement of this network. What message or piece of advice would you like to share with fellow participants as we grow, as we move towards this goal?

My message is very simple. It is to be more active. It is a very nice opportunity for us to have the funding, to have the support of the DTA, the support of our customers, of the European Commission. Yet it is up to us to be dynamic and seize the opportunities that we are being offered.