On October 1, the second business conference “Whats next?” organized by EIKA Group took place at the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center “LITEXPO”, this year exploring the topic “Future Connections: Cooperation, Investments and a Prosperous City”. The event brought together more than 200 participants. After the conference, everyone had the unique opportunity to be the first to visit the exhibition of the soon-to-be-opened international contemporary art fair “ArtVilnius’25”.
At the beginning of the conference, EIKA Group CEO Domas Dargis welcomed the large group of guests who had gathered at the event and was pleased that this initiative, for the second year in a row, is becoming an important platform for discussions about the future of thriving cities.
“The “Whats Next?” conference was born from our desire to talk about what lies ahead in the future – what trends will shape cities, investments, communities. We know that many things will transform, but there is one thing that will remain the most important – human connections. Although technology is rapidly changing the world, communication, creativity and the strength of community will always be the basis of our future. A strong community means a strong country, and a strong country means a resilient economy and new opportunities,” said D. Dargis.
The keynote address of the conference was delivered by a guest speaker from Denmark, Rune Boserup Jacobsen, architect, associate fellow and urban planning director at COBE. He presented the experience of Copenhagen’s transformation, which showed that harmonious cooperation between the city and business allows for the creation of spaces focused not only on infrastructure, but also on people’s needs.
After the keynote address, discussions began, which explored topics relevant to urban planners and builders, as well as residents and investors.
The first discussion, moderated by EIKA Development CEO Martynas Žibūda, addressed the topic: “How to create a prosperous city where everyone would want to live?” The discussion was attended by Laura Kairienė, Chief Architect of Vilnius City Municipality, Gintarė Verbickaitė, General Director of Unicorns Lithuania, Dovilė Grigienė, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Revolut Bank, and Mantas Vedrickas, Head of the Events Department of Žalgiris Group.
Then, Robertas Dargis, founder and chairman of the board of EIKA Group, took the stage and shared his insights. He spoke about the importance of ambition for a thriving city and emphasized that community agreement and mutual trust are key to urban development.
After a short break, the conference continued with a conversation between the event moderator Živilė Kropaitė and Almantas Čebanauskas, CEO of EIKA Construction, about the construction features of the Rūdininkai polygon from the project management perspective: “A thriving city is impossible without security.”
Finally, the conference discussed the topic: “Where will we invest next? Regions where it is worth investing money”. This discussion was moderated by Milvas Fund Manager and Board Member Tautvydas Marčiulaitis, and was also attended by Swedbank Investment Strategist Vytenis Šimkus, INVL Asset Management Private Equity Manager Vytautas Plunksnis, EIKA Asset Management (EAM) CEO Andrius Uždavinys, and INWEST Co-Founder Jekaterina Govina.
The second “Whats next?” conference once again showed that the future of the city is in the hands of people from many fields and different competences. Participants in all discussions pointed out that the city today is like a “living organism”, and its success is determined not only by economic indicators, but also by culture, ambitions, technologies and trust and focus both among institutions and among entrepreneurs, investors and communities.
After the conference, all participants were able to take part in a special tour and were the first to see the exhibition of the upcoming international contemporary art fair “ArtVilnius’25”. In addition, the event guests were able to get acquainted with the future technology innovation – the “XPeng X2” flying car, which was exhibited outdoors, symbolically revealing visions of future mobility.
These impressions were crowned by the evening part – the celebration of the 10th birthday of EIKA Asset Management. It became not only an occasion to celebrate a significant anniversary of the company, but also an opportunity to continue communication in an informal format.
We thank everyone who participated in the event. See you at the next “EIKA Group. Whats next?” conference.