Under the Soviet power, Estonia had no chance to keep up with developments in Western Europe and this was true about information technology as well as in other areas of life. After the restoration of our independence, we had to take a great leap to catch up with the developed world and hop over several steps. Estonia skipping over the so-called chequebook phase in banking, which enabled us to speed up the progress of interactive financial services, is a famous example of this process.
The progress of enterprising and international competitiveness, which empowers our economic growth and determines its speed, is one of the main supporting pillars of Estonia’s development. After the restoration of our independence, we recognised soon enough that in the context of an open Europe and the world economy, Estonia had to turn to a knowledge-based economy in order to maintain our competitive ability. This means, on the one hand, creating an R&D system of high quality and efficiency. On the other hand, we have to invest in developing people’s knowledge and skills, and to favour the creation and use of new knowledge, technology and innovative approaches both in business and in the public sector. This is where public sector really can set an example. This is why the Government adopted the Estonian strategy for research and development and innovation called ‘Knowledge-Based Estonia 2007-2013’, which concentrates on the sustainable development of society through research, development and innovation.
The ambition of this strategy is to meet several challenges facing the Estonian society. On the one hand we must guarantee that many resourceful people are engaged in the Estonian research and development system and that they have a competitive infrastructure at their disposal. At the same time, the state must support the development of highly innovative co-operation between Estonian enterprises, education and research institutions, the government, local governments and foreign partners. In brief, to shape an innovation-friendly society, the government has to value a knowledge-based approach, and ensure that research and development financed by the public sector would address the needs of the Estonian society and areas of great economic promise.
One area in which the government led the way and set a positive example is with the recent eVoting election. It must have come as a surprise to many that Estonia – one of the youngest members of the EU – was able to arrange the first eVoting election. For us, however, this was a logical step in the natural course of things. There are three keywords that characterise the extended communication possibilities between the state and the citizen: speed, flexibility and economy. The possibility of eVoting brought another important advantage: increase in voting activity. I highly recommend that other governments consider the alternative of eVoting – as we know, in many so-called old democracies voting activity is low.
The progress of enterprising and international competitiveness, which empowers our economic growth and determines its speed, is one of the main supporting pillars of Estonia’s development. After the restoration of our independence, we recognised soon enough that in the context of an open Europe and the world economy, Estonia had to turn to a knowledge-The ambition of this strategy is to meet several challenges facing the Estonian society. On the one hand we must guarantee that many resourceful people are engaged in the Estonian research and development system and that they have a competitive infrastructure at their disposal. At the same time, the state must support the development of highly innovative co-
One area in which the government led the way and set a positive example is with the recent eVoting election. It must have come as a surprise to many that Estonia – one of the youngest members of the EU – was able to arrange the first eVoting election. For us, however, this was a logical step in the natural course of things. There are three keywords that characterise the extended communication possibilities between the state and the citizen: speed, flexibility and economy. The possibility of eVoting brought another important advantage: increase in voting activity. I highly recommend that other governments consider the alternative of eVoting – as we know, in many so-
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Article by: W Davis
E: wdavis@bpl.uk.com
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