Monday, August 29, 2016

Estonia has run about Sweden in digitization – New Technology

While Sweden is losing momentum is accelerating at a short distance from us. Our neighboring country has in recent years become world famous for its advances in the digitization of government services.

Before the summer told Digital Technology to Sweden drops rapidly digitizing according to a number of international surveys. Many Swedish experts now point to Estonia as a model. New Technology took them at their word and took the hour-long flight from Stockholm to Tallinn.

– Various studies ranks slightly different. But if you look at the use cases when it comes to digital signatures, we are clearly in top says Taavi Kotka, Estonia CIO official at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

The land belongs to those in Europe who are most digitized and while growing fastest, such as under the EU Desi index of digitization, from last spring. Estonia leads here on government services for citizens.

According to some surveys, the country’s top five in the world and Estonia are included along with Great Britain, Israel, South Korea and New Zealand in the so-called D5 Group, a network of digitally most advanced governments in the world, where 99 percent of government services available online.

Read more So I became virtual Estonians

a great deal has happened since shaky early days as an independent state in the 1990s. Many tell me about how easy it is to digitally tax declaration, start a business or to renew the license.

– A friend of mine got an email when she was at Heathrow Airport in London – her driver’s license was to go out. She just came, chose a picture and renewed license, says Indrek Õnnik, project manager at E-Estonia Showroom, which showcases the digital Estonia for foreign visitors. There were 10 000 from all over the world last year, an average of two missions per day.

The tourists crowded in the very picturesque and lovingly restored old town. A small piece next door have Margus Uudam his office. He is Estonia’s most powerful venture capitalist. Some say he’s the only one. Obviously he is close friends with Taavi Kotka.

– Tallinn is a small city. Everyone knows everyone here. And the community of startup businesses are they really helpful to each other.

Estonia has more startups per capita than any other country (in close competition with Israel). Then it is true that Estonia a very small country with only 1.3 million inhabitants. Yet. All explains it by the Estonian success story of Skype. Estonian? That’s a Swedish creation, Niklas Zennstrom behind?

The fact is that you ask a Dane is the Skype Danish (due Janus Friis). It might as well go to argue that it is a Luxembourg company because Skype is registered in Luxembourg and has its headquarters there. But the head of three developers were Estonian. The main developments took place in Tallinn and still do.

Read more Estonia CIO: “I want to predict the future”

The importance can not be overstated. As the first Estonian unicorn, companies valued at least a billion dollars, it has inspired a generation of Estonian engineers and contractors.

– A variety defectors have in turn started their own businesses, says Margus Uudam.

the same goes for Estonia’s second unicorn – Transfer Wise. It is also possible to discuss the nationality as the company has its headquarters in London, while development takes place in Tallinn. The two founders are anyway tests. One of them, Taavet Hinrikus, are in fact Skype’s first employee. The company provides a low-cost global money transfer service. After the latest round of funding in May estimated TechCrunch value of the company, founded in 2010, to $ 1.1 billion.

The three chief developers of Skype – legends in their country – are jointly involved in the venture capital company Ambient Sound Investments, Estonia first. Margus Uudam was the expert who helped them with the investment, but the old Skype developers have subsequently become more involved in their own respective projects and Margus Uudams private equity company Karma VC has increasingly taken over.

Right now Karma on gathering together a new investment fund, the target is 60 million to the year-end. Karma thinking of investing in 3-4 startups anywhere in Europe. The focus is particularly northern Europe.

– We recently visited Malmö and Lund. It is indeed sad when companies like Ericsson and Sony Ericsson gets rid of a lot of people, but at the same time it gives rise to many new businesses, says Margus Uudam.

Read more Block Chain based stock exchange for start-ups

Further explanations to the digital Estonian miracle is that Estonia lacks a legacy of the old system. The country has even introduced a law which says that the central government system can not be older than 30 years. Crossed the border must be rewritten from scratch.

– A great Swedish innovation that we have truly benefited from taking for a unique digital identity, your social security number, which you introduced in 1947. It is a linchpin of all data exchange, says Taavi Kotki.

Other advantages are a small country with a young, progressive government, where even the prime minister and the president actively pushing for digitization. The country is also rapidly changing laws and adapt the regulatory framework and processes so that they can adapt to digital changes.

– But I must say that Denmark is ahead, at least with regard to the mandatory use of e- bills. I want that we also face says Taavi Kotki.

It will become a reality next year.

All tests I meet has an international focus, not least in neighboring countries in Northern Europe. But the big powerful neighbor in the East, no one even mentions. Taavi Kotki describes it as the country was at a standstill during the 50 years under Soviet rule. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine frighten him.

– Russia is like the bully in school. We want to have zero tolerance for such things. There is nothing we have to learn from them.

Nothing?

– They are very far ahead of cyber warfare. If I would like to access another country’s sources of information, it would be something, but I’m not interested, says Taavi Kotki.

Estonia today has 12,000 digital e-citizens around the world

Estonia is one of the world’s most advanced countries in terms of digital government services. The country has some 12 000 e-citizens. That means you can start an Estonian registered company from anywhere in the world and it can be done with a few clicks. The tax you pay in your own country, but you are utilizing various online assistance from the Estonian authorities and such audit firms.

Every citizen has its own portal where all information about you, such as marital status, tax data and license data are collected. All access to your data is logged so that you can accurately see who took some of your information, and when.

E-services are not directly linked, for safety reasons, no exchange occurs in a peer-to- peer network with specific APIs.

the country is investing heavily in cyber security and services are monitored around the clock all year round. Technically uses technology KSI, Keyless Signature Infrastructure, which uses cryptography hash functions in block chains in bitcoin.

Virtually the only thing you can not do online is to marry, divorce, or to sell house. It is for safety reasons, so as to ensure that no one has forced you. However, Estonia has since 2005 had e-voting in general elections. In parliamentary elections in 2015 voted 30.5 per cent of the population over the internet.

To use e-services must Esten have a digital ID cards. There is a physical and a mobile variant, where the latter requires a special SIM card. 94 percent of Estonians have today such identity cards.

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