High-tech sector in Lithuania: present situation and future perspectives

The scientific problem what systemic ties relate the high-tech sector with other elements of the socioeconomic system, and which of these elements mostly hinder the development of this sector is analyzed in this paper. Authors seek to identify the high-tech sector as part of the country’s socio-economic system. The paper consists of four parts. The criteria, according to which individual areas of activity are ascribed to the high-tech sector, are analyzed in the first part. There is stated that sectoral and product approaches to the reckoning of activity in the high-tech or other sector is poorly informative. So called horizontal approach is much more acceptable in the case of the search of scientific problem solution in this paper. It is tried to explain how high-tech sector affects individual elements of the country’s socio-economic system in the second part. Three main types of impact are marked out and discussed – stimulation of creativity, improvement of other sectors’ activity and stimulation of general socio-economic changes. The preconditions for the development of high-tech sector as part of the country’s socio-economic system are identified in the third part. They are presented as the components of the value chain metaphor. Statistical data illustrating preconditions for development of the high-tech sector in Lithuania are presented and compared to those of other countries in the last part of the paper