Lithuanian company Optida engaged in development and manufacture of optical components for lasers, laser systems and optical devices was allocated more than LTL 4 million (EUR 1.1 million) in European Regional Development Fund support.

On 29 October Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, publishes a new flagship publication: Smarter, greener, more inclusive? - Indicators to support the Europe 2020 strategy1. This is the first of a new series of annual publications providing statistical analyses related to important European Commission policy frameworks or other phenomena in society. The purpose of this first publication is to provide statistics to support the Europe 2020 strategy and to back up the monitoring towards its headline targets. As Walter Radermacher, Director General of Eurostat, says in the foreword of the publication: "Impartial and objective statistical information is essential for evidence-based political decision-making and forms the basis of Eurostat's role in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy".

The anniversary COSAC meeting in Vilnius covered the challenges and outlook of cyber security, and business concerns on this matter.

Reacting to the recent European Council's decision, European Commission has set up an expert group to work on safe and fair terms for cloud computing contracts. The objective is to identify best practices for addressing the concerns of consumers and small companies, which are often reluctant to purchase cloud computing services because of unclear contracts.

One million citizens from every corner of Europe and beyond now follow the European Parliament on Facebook, making our page the biggest Facebook page of any of the European institutions. But how did it all begin and what is it about?

Robert Shiller, a Lithuanian American, who has received the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics, has visited the Lithuanian Embassy in the United States.

Education is very important for the prosperity of our society and for growth, innovation and progress in Europe. The swift changes and the transformation of today's world represent a big challenge for the education system that needs to adapt constantly to socio-economic changes of society.

Some of Europe's top tech entrepreneurs and startup community pioneers are today presenting EU leaders with their manifesto on how Europe needs to adapt for the digital age. This contains ideas for how decision makers – at every level in every country – can improve the climate for innovation and growth. On the eve of an EU Summit which focuses on completing the digital single market and digital economy, the Startup Europe Leaders Club (see IP/13/262), will present today their manifesto to Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, and discuss it in a round table with Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands and other national leaders and ambassadors.

Conclusions regarding the recognition of informal education were prepared during the EU Eastern Partnership Youth Forum, which ended today in Kaunas. The conclusions will be presented to representatives of the EU and Eastern Partnership countries at a meeting in Brussels in the middle of November. The conclusions stress that the labour market currently requires competences that formal education programmes lack. Employers increasingly favour workers with practical experience and participation in informal education activities – international exchange programmes, NGO activities, volunteering, etc.

Cultural differences can really affect business, as well as growth and jobs. That's the message from Commissioner A. Vassiliou, responsible for education, culture, multilingualism and youth in her speech at the Joint Research Centre Conference titled "Scientific support for growth and jobs: Cultural and creative industries"; Brussels 24 October 2013.