Smart solutions in Estonia’s second city: smart Tartu

August 2020

by Amanda Haynes

The world is getting smarter. Or at least people have begun dubbing everything as such. For example, “Smart City” is a moniker that’s being adopted by places all over the world. And while there is a catchiness about the name, it’s also inherently vague. What’s the cut off from when a town goes from “dumb” to “smart?” And what actually constitutes a “smart solution“ as opposed to natural technological progression?

In Estonia, where so much of a citizen’s daily life can be completed online already, implementing such “smart city” solutions might seem redundant. Or perhaps it can be seen as accumulating another pricey gadget into the town’s ecosystem. Something which will inevitably be cast aside when something newer, shinier, and “smarter” comes along. So no shade to electric scooters, but the term can mean so much more than adopting an electric scooter scheme. But what is it really?

To get to the bottom of this, we sat down with two representatives from Tartu city government –   project manager, Jaanus Tamm, and analyst, Kaspar Alev. Recently, thanks to becoming a Lighthouse City in the EU funded SmartENCity, there has been an upswing in the adoption of smart solutions all over Estonia’s second biggest city. So we met to discuss what this project meant for Tartu, and where the city plans to go once the project finishes in a year and half.

SmartEnCity + sharing digital solutions = 1 smart city

From retrofitting 17 of Tartu’s drab Soviet-era “khrushchyovkas” into energy-efficient and artistically striking “smartovkas,” to repurposing old EV batteries to partially recharge electric taxis with renewable energy, to LED street lights, many of SmartENCity’s solutions focuses on becoming more efficient and sustainable in the face of climate issues.

However, this isn’t necessarily new for Tartu. Because even though this project has been going on since 2016, “Tartu city government has actually been paperless for more than 10 years,” notes Jaanus. And while this project definitely gives it a push, Tartu has also been developing its own solutions at the same time. Most notably implementing smart traffic signs, as well as traffic counters at the entrances to the city.

Maybe not globally recognized (yet), but in Estonia at least, Tartu has always been known as a smart city. Boasting one of the oldest and best ranked universities in the Baltics, it has been home to scientists, intellectuals, noted professors, and students from every faculty for the past 400 years. This has developed into a mutually beneficial relationship for the university and the city government. Both of whom are eager to cooperate with one other – sharing data sets, resources, and information. For example, cooperating on and learning from Tartu’s recently implemented ARCgis data management system.

And it is perhaps this cooperation between sectors and different stakeholders that really makes a city smart. As Jaanus explains, “It’s about openness and readiness for change.” As well as an ability to “interact and talk,” adds Kaspar. Not only with the citizens and local institutions, but with cities around the world.

To that, “Tartu regularly cooperates with a Smart city network around Estonia – to meet and talk about issues and share experiences.” They also meet with other international city governments. Something which is extremely important as Kaspar points out, because, “things we saw 10 years ago and we thought of as ‘space technology’ that would take 30 years or more to implement, we were able to implement in 5-6 years. All because of solving problems together and learning and sharing.”

The future of Tartu’s smartness

Although the funding for SmartENCity will end next year, that doesn’t mean that the solutions will stop in Tartu. Jaanus and Kaspar let us in on the plans to make Tartu’s city government 95% carbon free in the next year. Using wood chips for district heating, biogas in public transportation, and renewable electricity for the need of administrative buildings and the electric bike system that was implemented in the middle of last year.

Such changes might actually be what lies at the heart of a smart city. Because it’s not just about improving the lives of its residents now, but it’s about setting a foundation for the future. Especially because new gadgets and shiny IT toys tend to be forgotten and taken for granted with lightning speed. Kaspar touches upon this aspect, when he notes,

“Those who talk about smart cities, they say that ‘they are for the people, and the interaction, and the people are in the centre.’ And it’s all very nice, but then OK ‘now we’ll go off into IT.’ Suddenly, everyone forgets about the people and then focuses on the ‘cool IT’ stuff.”

For a city to be truly smart it has to think about how these solutions will actually benefit residents for years to come. Which means it often requires the (non-glamorous) job of data analysis and number crunching, putting this into pilot projects, and seeing how it affects the most important part of any city, its people and those who visit. Jaanus explains this succinctly when he says it’s about a “mingling of cold calculated data with that of real-life interactions with the citizens.”

No matter how they get there, in the end, Jaanus concludes with his hope that both its residents and people around the world come to recognise Tartu as “innovative, open minded, scientific, and smart. A smart city.”

Some of the smart solutions implemented in Tartu:

Tartu retrofitting package – turning “khrushchyovkas” into smartovkas – energy efficient buildings meant to inspire its residents and the town.

Public bike sharing system – funded by the city and partially by the ERDF and EC, introduces 65 electric bike stations throughout Tartu.

LED lights with smart controllers – smart street light control system, including a number of detectors and sensors will be installed in more than 300 new LED street lights in Tartu.

Gas buses in the whole city – 60 brand new biogas buses to serve the public transportation network, a step towards making public transportation 100% based on biogas.

Reusing old EV batteries – in a way that partially recharge a fleet of electric taxis.

District cooling system that uses residual heat – a network similar to District Heating, but it provides cooling to non-residential buildings in Tartu. There are two plants, one cooling the city center buildings and using the river as means for cooling.The other plant is situated on the southern border and provides cooling for Lõunakeskus. The advantage of district cooling is higher efficiency compared to on site cooling devices, no noise, and elimination of heat islands in the city.

For more information see the SmartENCity project page or see TarkTartu’s website.

Read also about smart city solutions of Estonian capital Tallinn.

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Today, e-governance and e-services have become a necessity in every country. e-Estonia Briefing Centre – the gateway to Estonian expertise in e-governance, invites you to connect with the Estonian IT companies directly responsible for the successful functioning of the e-state even during a pandemic. Get in touch with us to set up your custom virtual programme with the best partners: business.e-estonia@eas.ee

Resource: e-estonia

Digital education firms speed up innovation

August 2020

by Justin Petrone

It was surprising even by Estonian standards. In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting quarantine, the entire country moved to remote learning almost overnight, and companies that develop digital e-education platforms repositioned their products to help new users. Not only did the pandemic transform Estonian education from top to bottom, but it also gave these same firms new innovative ideas about how to improve their digital education solutions, and how to best be prepared for the future.

A sea change in learning

In the middle of March, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the entire nation went into quarantine for a period set to end in May. An emergency situation was announced by the government, borders were locked down, flights were cancelled, and ferry transport to some of the country’s largest islands was halted for some time.

At first, parents of schoolchildren like myself were told that our sons and daughters might be able to return to school within a matter of weeks. But that two weeks then stretched out into a month, then two, and even after the lifting of the emergency situation in May, schools grappled with how to best reintroduce in-person schooling or how to hold end-of-year parties.

In the case of my daughter’s sixth grade class, they decided to separate the children into A and B groups, with the weekdays divided evenly between them, but still, parents were apprehensive about allowing their kids to return and some opted to continue digital learning. In fact, it had become the new norm. Within the span of weeks, students transitioned to remote online learning so easily that there was no need to meet face-to-face. Instead, my daughter dutifully downloaded her work via Google Drive, attended the weekly Zoom meetings with her teacher, and photographed her English and Russian language assignments to send them to the right teachers.

It was a sea change in learning in Estonia, and even some e-education firms were left impressed by the way the country managed to pull it off.

“I was surprised by the quickness of the response,” says Kadri Tuisk, CEO of Clanbeat, a Tallinn-based software company that offers an online space for teachers and school leaders to interact. She especially credits government-supported organizations like the Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA) and Foundation Innove with helping educators make the transition to remote learning.

“Right away, when it happened, they undertook almost superhuman efforts to get information out there, creating support materials on how to use technology solutions, how to support teachers, school leaders, students and parents,” says Tuisk.

Clanbeat also did its part, quickly repositioning its flagship platform into a Virtual Teacher’s Lounge and offering to onboard new users for free.

“We picked up that the communication of teachers would be vital for surviving this period,” Tuisk says. “On Friday, we heard there was a problem, and by the next day, Saturday morning, we were already offering Virtual Teachers’ Lounge to Estonian schools for free, as well as to international schools.”

The four-year-old company also was prompted into a new round of product development because of the crisis, and recently introduced a new product, Clanbeat Students, to help students set and achieve their own goals.

“Some students got stuck,” Tuisk acknowledges. “The assignments from school piled up, they got lost in prioritizing them, and they lost their ability to get things done,” she says. “In this new reality, they had to develop their own learning rhythm, and some struggled to say the least.”

She notes though that these issues of moving to remote learning had to be dealt with sooner or later. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic only forced educators to make adjustments that some believe would happen in five or ten years’ time.

The benefits of digital infrastructure

Other companies in the e-education services market had similar experiences. While teachers and students were mulling over the best ways to stay on track for the rest of the school year, companies were pulling all-nighters to make sure their products were best positioned to assist.

“We reacted extremely quickly,” says Tõnis Kusmin, CEO of 99math, another Tallinn-based software firm that develops online math games. “When the news came out about the lockdown, I immediately called in my team and we went to work,” he says. “We spent a night in the office preparing for the next day and because of our quick reaction, things went well and we saw an increase in user numbers, not just for 99math, but other firms that are necessary in this new distance-learning situation.”

Kusmin notes that Estonians were able to transition quickly because of a familiarity with doing business online. In the digital society, where banking has been online for decades, and voting and filing ones taxes is now just a click or two away, moving to digital remote learning wasn’t so unusual for Estonian educators or pupils.

“A lot of it comes down to the digital infrastructure that we have in Estonia,” says Kusmin. “Fortunately, the situation in Estonia is pretty good.” He noted that nonprofits also worked to make laptops and devices available to families in need too. But mostly the success of the transition depended on schools and individual teachers, especially. Here, he credits the tech savvy of younger teachers with assisting older teachers to adjust to using e-education services.

“They had colleagues who were already proficient, and from whom they could ask advice,” says Kusmin.

For 99math, the quarantine hit just as the company was introducing its debut product, which aims to teach math via an interactive, video game-like user experience. While it encouraged rapid uptake of its platform, it also built out the firm’s experience which helps it as it sells its product into other markets, not only in Europe or the US, but elsewhere. “In Latin America, it is going quite well,” notes Kusmin. “All kinds of e-tech tools are growing in Latin America.”

Reaching 2030 … in one day

Tanel Keres, the CEO of eKool, an 18-year-old firm that offers a school management tool for administrators, teachers, parents, and pupils, eKool’s experience was quite similar to other firms.

“In one day, everything changed completely,” Keres says of the experience. “We saw that our user account in peak times increased from 3,000 to 12,000 people online. Engagement increased by 120 percent,” he says. “It all created a complete change in usage.”

But something else changed this year. Teachers lost their apprehension of transitioning to digital courses or meetings. “I’ve held many discussions with school administrators and one remarked that we accomplished our 2030 education strategy in one day,” notes Keres. For eKool it also provided the company with a wealth of user experience information to help refine its offering.

“Over the summer, we made a lot of development in our back end,” says Keres. “The pandemic definitely gave us some guidelines on what schools want, what they need, and how they want it.”

While the pandemic has brought e-education solutions to the fore in Estonia, it has also created new issues that have to be dealt with too. Clanbeat’s Tuisk noted that students started to suffer from “digital fatigue” during the online learning period and this presents challenges in the future.

“There were lost kids out there, they got tired of the digital world, and this is a problem to solve in the next epidemic,” Tuisk says. “We need to help those who are less open to digital learning.”

Tuisk (Clanbeat), Keres (eKool), and Kusmin (99math) will all take part in an upcoming digital discussion on 10 September concerning e-solutions and the Estonian experience. Digital transformation adviser Anett Numa will provide an overview of Estonian e-education and Florian Marcus, e-Estonia’s transformation adviser, will lead the session. Participants will be able to ask questions during moderated breakout sessions as well as a general Q&A session.

Resource: e-estonia

E-governance saves money and working hours

August 2020

by Peeter Vihma

Governments increasingly require plain numbers of costs and benefits for making administrative decisions towards digitalizing. Here is a brief introduction into Estonia’s experience of cutting costs, and improving the overall quality of life for everyone, through digital services. Estonia has more than 2000 officially registered information systems and databases. According to a study, the most popular services, each with about half of the Estonian population between 16 and 74 of age as users, are:

• Digital tax reporting
• Drug prescriptions
• Paying state fees
• Central service portal eesti.ee

Other services, such as the digital education portal, e-voting, business registry, social benefits, and legal text portal, are also popular. No doubt, the sheer popularity of services signals particular attraction, but, additionally, 80% of the users of each of these services report increased accessibility and time saved. Registering new business, for example, is 14x faster using the digital service. Thus, on the one hand, we have lower costs for users.

No doubt that reporting annual taxes in mere minutes due to pre-filled digital reports automated by inter-operable databases may be especially noteworthy to our US readers. It takes 11 hours for an average taxpayer to prepare their taxes according to the IRS.

e-Voting is 20x cheaper than regular voting

More significantly, however, on the other hand, there is a cost reduction for the service provider. This is more difficult to calculate because of the interoperability of databases. According to the Estonian X-road – a centrally managed distributed Data Exchange Layer between information systems –  factsheet, more than 1,3 billion queries were made last year to various databases, and citizens submitted only 3% of them. Assuming that each of the human-based queries saves 15 minutes of someone’s working time, those requests have saved more than 1100 working years last year alone. To calculate the time saved from the remaining 1,28 billion queries is a more notorious task. There have been attempts, though. A study of e-voting in 2017, showed that while processing regular votes in a shopping center cost 20,4 euros, the cost of processing an e-vote was 2,3 euros. The difference is close to 20-fold.

Digital signatures help save tens of thousands of euros

Savings from the most mundane of the entire portfolio of services – a digital signature – can be more easily calculated. A simple calculator is even available for estimates. For example, Tartu University (hosting 18 000 students) calculated that the organization saves 12 190 euros each month by using digital signatures in their interaction with students compared to “old school” signing with pen and paper. How? The University has to sign more than 7000 documents monthly and send 10% of them by mail. Given that one signature – in two copies – takes about 15 minutes, switching to digital signing reduces 9700 euros monthly on saved working time, 2100 euros on printing, and 390 euros on postal services. Stretching this to the whole country, the widespread expectation during the implementation of digital signatures in 2002 was that it would save 2% of GDP. Because of added functionality such as signing using mobile phones, this estimate may be even higher today.

e-Services’ positive influence on the quality of life 

And the benefits for each user are probably higher, too. According to Indrek Õnnik, Global Affairs Director at Government CIO Office, the saved time and money is only half of the equation. “Besides reduced financial cost, other potential measures in quality, accessibility, and increase of satisfaction are perhaps as important. This has an overall positive influence on the quality of life of our citizens,” he suggests. “For Estonians, knowing that their state services are available, 24/7 has become self-evident. I guess that people who are used to paper-based bureaucracy don’t even know what they are missing.” He then brings an example where constant and distant availability of services is especially useful – requesting documents when abroad. Also, when applying for a driving license, for example, proving one’s driving record can be done in mere minutes instead of getting someone to search for, and then fax hard copies. According to the State Audit Office, Estonian public sector annual costs for IT systems are 100M Euros in upkeep and 81M Euros in investments. It is evident that the benefits greatly surpass them.

Resouce: e-estonia

B.EST Solutions helps launch m-Residency in Azerbaijan

July 2020

B.EST Solutions – an Estonian company delivering trusted e-governance solutions in emerging states around the world – has once again proven the transferability of Estonia’s digital success. Recently, the company helped develop and launch the m-Residency program in Azerbaijan – the first counterpart to Estonia’s e-residency. We are delighted to share the stakeholders’ overview of the future prospects of the program.

Physical distance can be a debilitating challenge for businesses looking to leverage the potential of an increasingly connected world. Geopolitical complications, ranging from trade wars to economic sanctions, often force companies to move from one country to another as well as reinvest and restart their operations. Business units aiming to optimise costs and increase profit thereby face a complex reality in the current global climate.

The m-Residency program, introduced in Azerbaijan by the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev, provides insurance against these difficulties.

Introducing m-Residency

m-Residency is a cutting-edge and pioneering form of doing business. Offered in only two countries in the world – Estonia and now Azerbaijan – the program provides the opportunity to establish and run a border- less business without major risk or hassle.

The m-Residency program provides virtual government-verified identification in Azerbaijan. m-Residents receive a specially issued Asan Imza (Mobile ID) SIM card for secure authentication and electronic signatures. With this, it is possible to start official activities in the country and use any banking service. Although international applications currently come with limitations, the m-Residency program is growing rapidly.

What benefits does the m-Residency program provide? And what are the program’s future prospects? Access the PDF of the full article via this link to find out more.

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Today, e-governance and e-services have become a necessity in every country. e-Estonia Briefing Centre – the gateway to Estonian expertise in e-governance, invites you to connect with the Estonian IT companies directly responsible for the successful functioning of the e-state even during a pandemic. Get in touch with us to set up your custom virtual programme with the best partners you could get: business.e-estonia@eas.ee

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Photo: Future prospects of Azerbaijan’s m-Residency program PDF

Resource:e-estonia