News

From 27–30 April 2026, Los Angeles hosted Lithuanian Business Week and, for the first time on the U.S. West Coast, the North American Lithuanian Business Forum (NALBF 2026), bringing together business, science, diaspora professionals, and public sector leaders for dialogue, exchange of ideas, and the development of new partnerships.

Over the years, NALBF has grown into one of the most important transatlantic platforms for business and innovation. This year’s main forum day on 30 April attracted more than 300 participants from Lithuania, the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Los Angeles was selected as the host city due to its status as one of the world’s leading innovation hubs, where technology, creativity, and investment converge to create opportunities for international cooperation.

Held at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the forum was welcomed via video messages by the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda, and California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis. Lithuania’s Minister of Economy and Innovation, Edvinas Grikšas, presented Lithuania’s innovation ecosystem and its growing global potential.

A key milestone of this year’s forum was the official announcement of the establishment of the California Baltic Chamber of Commerce, which will further strengthen regional cooperation and transatlantic business initiatives. The founding members – Baltic Amadeus, California Lithuanian Credit Union, KudoX Network LLC, MG SpiceCo, Rosewalk Consulting, and Yepremyan Law Firm – were formally acknowledged on behalf of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The symbolic certificate of establishment was presented by Paul Krekorian, Executive Director for Major Events for the City of Los Angeles, and Christine Peterson, Senior Director for International Trade and Investment in the Mayor’s Office.

The 2026 forum focused on innovation and artificial intelligence, exploring its development trends, applications across sectors, and associated challenges and risks. The keynote speech was delivered by Shilpa Kolhatkar, Global Head of AI Nations at NVIDIA. The forum also featured internationally recognised speakers and experts, including Professor of Space Law&Policy Mary-Christine “MC” Sungaila, Marty Kausas (Pylon), Prof. Jonas Žmuidzinas and Prof. Anima Anandkumar (Caltech), Einaras von Gravrock (CAST AI), Christopher Savoie (SiC Systems), Randall Hunt (Caylent), Founders, Managing Partners and representatives of Fearless Capital, Impellent Ventures, SHIELD Capital, Upfront Ventures, Coinvest Capital, Resilience Media, AB Kauno Grūdai, Rival Technologies, Saildrone, US Market Access Center.

At the closing of the event, Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States Gediminas Varvuolis symbolically passed the organisational responsibility of NALBF to the Canadian team, as the next forum is planned for June 2027 in Toronto.

Throughout the week, Los Angeles hosted an intensive programme of meetings, sectoral discussions, and business missions covering food and beverage industries, creative industries, defence and space, and information and communication technologies. The programme was led by Lithuania’s Minister of Economy and Innovation, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Taurimas Valys, Vice Minister of National Defence Vitalija Zumerienė, and Vice Minister of Agriculture Rolandas Taraškevičius. Sectoral highlights included:

• A Food & Beverage industry workshop “U.S. Market Entry Workshop for Lithuanian CPG Manufacturers” (27 April), organised in cooperation with Litfood, bringing together 11 Lithuanian companies and market experts.
• On April 28, Lithuanian companies participated in the SELECT LA Investment Summit, where the opening speech was delivered by Edvinas Grikšas, Minister of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania.
• The North American Lithuanian Defence and Space Forum (28 April), with a 15-company delegation from defence, drone, space, research, and venture capital sectors. On April 29, separate visits to companies were organized for defense and space business delegation with the aim of establishing long-term partnerships. The Lithuanian Innovation Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US company “VAST”.
• The creative industries event “Accelerator for Creatives: Unfiltered Conversations – LA Edition” (29 April), organised in cooperation with Innovation Agency Lithuania, focusing on the impact of AI and evolving business models in creative sectors.
• A Lithuanian ICT business mission to San Francisco and Los Angeles (27–29 April), including visits and meetings with Netflix, Google, Amazon Web Services, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Nordic Innovation House.
• An e-commerce session “From Local to Global: E-commerce without Borders” (29 April), dedicated to scaling Lithuanian businesses internationally.

The organizers extend sincere gratitude to all participants, partners, and sponsors who contributed to the success of NALBF 2026. We are delighted that the outcomes of the forum – new connections, partnerships, and initiatives – continue beyond the event itself.