News
25 September, 2015
Vilnius Mayor on Brains & How South Korea Differs From North Korea
Community
Sept. 24th, 2015, Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius attended the opening ceremonies of the MRU LAB highlighting the importance of the social sciences and social innovation.
He said the be all and end all is social innovation. "If anyone has a doubt, ask yourself - is the difference between South and North Korea due to technologies or social phenomena?" said the Mayor.
Taking into account the chicken and the egg dilemma, I'd say that first of all there is a person and his brains, added the Mayor.
"How we use them and utilize them is the biggest factor, when we are developing," he added.
Although often it is said that the sunset of social sciences is upon us, and one must concentrate on technical sciences, this is not true, the Mayor said.
"Technical sciences are great, but if we raised the question about human development, than such things as language, family, real estate, currency, society are a part of the social sciences and humanities.
If we raised the question, why one civilization or one city is thriving and others not, then we can say that some invested more into technologies or production, than others, the Mayor explained.
"On the other hand," the Mayor noted, let's ask why some find an opportunity to invest in these things and others did not - maybe lost their chance. In either case, we end up and come across the social sciences.
It's the same when we talk about successful companies and others not so, we think always about equipment and investments. But, when we look deeper, we see leadership skills, great timing and so forth, the Mayor said.
Šimašius also agreed with Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) Rector Assoc. Prof. Algirdas Monkevičius who talked about University communities, centers.
"One of the worst things that can happen with such centers is isolation and the attitude of "mine, mine, mine - I'm not sharing," the Mayor said.
"That's why it's very important to have the invitation extended to the Didlaukis community (where MRU is located) to cooperate.
"Openness is the main ingredient of success, which may allow these laboratories to successfully develop," the Mayor said.
Mayor Šimašius was one of the many dignitaries on hand at the opening also attended by Lithuania's Premier A. Butkevičius, ministers, MRU partners from Japan and Korea, ambassadors and guests from abroad.
MRU partner, Korea Dongseo University (DSU) Vice-President Jeoung Sung Cho, PhD, participated in the opening MRU LAB ceremony. MRU and DSU have set up a joint Bachelor's Degree programme, "Informatics and Digital Contents."