State Data Conference: Data – the Foundation of National Progress

On 24 January, Friday, the annual State Data Conference took place in Vilnius. This year’s theme, “The 15 Feats of Hecatoncheires in the State Challenges Workshops”, focused on changes in data usage culture within the public sector, challenges, and innovative solutions.  As every year, the event was organized by the State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania), bringing together over 200 participants, including experts, analysts, programmers, and public sector representatives.  The Conference centered on the innovative possibilities of data analysis through the Data Lake – a system that not only collects and efficiently processes data, but also enables its secure and effective use in decision-making.

"How much time does it take to solve national challenges? Sometimes, it seems like a matter of years or even entire terms in office. However, at the State Data Agency, we have discovered that sometimes just 30 hours is enough," noted Dr Jūratė Petrauskienė, Director General of the State Data Agency, during the event. She emphasized that expert collaboration and cutting-edge analytical technologies enable rapid and effective solutions to national-level issues. 

15 Fields – 15 National Challenges

During the Conference, the results of the State Challenges Workshop, held earlier that week, were also presented. Over 30 hours, 60 public sector experts, including analysts, programmers, and different field specialists worked on solving 15 different challenges, each corresponding to areas covered by the ministries and the Government. 

These challenges were selected through a voting process involving more than 800 public sector employees, with one challenge chosen for each area of state management. 

For example:

• A team of analysts and experts from the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania developed a legal act search, interpretation, and correlation engine. 
• The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania tackled the challenge of managing and reducing patient waiting queues in health care establishments. 
• Participants representing the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania created the “Librarian Assistant”, a tool for literature recommendations and reader profile development. 

More challenges and details on the voting process can be found on the Conference website conference website. 

Practical outcomes of the workshop, i.e. analytical tools, not only help public sector institutions modernize their processes, but also enable data-driven decision-making. 

Some of these tools are already ready for practical implementation and use by relevant institutions. All the developed solutions were demonstrated and presented by Jonas Bačelis, representative of the State Data Agency.

A New Stage – A Refreshed Visual Identity 

This year’s Conference also introduced a new stage for the State Data Agency – its refreshed visual identity. 

"A year ago, we changed our name from Statistics Lithuania to the State Data Agency. Our goal is to become a leading data management organization and to foster a stronger data usage culture. As a team, we continuously evolve alongside the ever-changing world. With this updated visual identity, we aim to showcase our innovation and creativity while maintaining and symbolizing the Agency’s core values: integrity and competence,” mentioned Daiva Baravykienė, Acting Head of the Public Relations Division.

“Data is not just for reports or decisions that end up forgotten in executives' drawers. They should be sustainably used to identify problems and create solutions for the state, society, and organizations," said Dr Jūratė Petrauskienė, encouraging everyone to contribute to strengthening the data culture. 

The insights shared and the workshop results presented at the event suggest that data will play an even stronger role in advancing Lithuania’s public sector and building public trust. 

Full Conference video recording and highlights from the workshops can be found on the event  website.