Bye, bye 2022

Posted on by estoniadigital

January 25, 2023

Visit of Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Tallinn – Visit of the e-Estonia Hub

In January, e-Estonia Briefing Centre celebrates its 14th birthday. Oh, what a ride it has been. The history of the e-Estonia Briefing Centre (or by other names e-Estonia Showroom and Demo centre) is a topic for a future article, but before that, let’s look at our stormy last year.

We entered the year 2022 with the hope that Covid will recede and the world will open up again for travelling. However, for Estonia and many countries in our region, it led to a completely new and highly uncertain crisis – the devastating war that Russia started against Ukraine on February 24th. “If we think about the learning opportunities that the crises in recent years have offered for e-Estonia Briefing Centre, I dare to point out the dilemma of determination and quality vs quantity,” told Ave Lauringson, CEO of the Briefing Centre. “If, before 2020, approximately 1000 international delegations visited us without us making huge marketing or sales campaigns, then during the years of crises, it was necessary to contribute significantly more to the international visibility of e-Estonia, to reorganise the centre’s service offering into an online format and proactively approach the customers. Determined work led to an increase in visits in 2022, which is confirmed by both the visit statistics and the number of business programs,” she added.

The crises have also contributed to the more meaningful expectations of the visits. Public sector delegations, which make up an average of 47% of all delegations, have had to speed up the digitalisation of services offered to citizens due to Covid. However, the war in Ukraine has brought up the issue of the sustainability and resilience of a country – the creation of data embassies, the provision of services during wartime, etc.

Altogether, e-Estonia Briefing Centre hosted over 430 delegations with almost 6500 individuals. And for the 14th year, Germany was the TOP country to visit us, followed by Brazil and the United States.


Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation of the Czech Republic, Mr Ivan Bartoš

To name a few of our esteemed visitors in 2022:

  • H.E. Dr Edouard Ngirente – Prime minister of Rwanda;
  • Mr Ivan Bartoš – Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation and Minister of Regional Development, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic;
  • Mr George Vella – President of Malta;
  • Mr Eduard Heger – Prime Minister of Slovak Republic;
  • Ms Roberta Metsola – President of the European Parliament;
  • Ms MAKISHIMA Karen – Minister for Digital Transformation of Japan;
  • Mr Micheál Martin T.D – Prime Minister of Ireland;
  • Mr Albin Kurti  – Prime Minister of Kosovo;
  • Ms Carme Artigas – Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence of Spain;
  • Mr Nate Glubish – Honourable Minister of Alberta, Canada.

X-Road in Mexico

A good indicator between the expectations of the delegations and the values ​​offered by the centre are also the success stories of business programs, which we organised over 100 last year. The idea is to match international delegations with Estonian private and public sector experts and companies who have built our digital solutions. Following the success of recent years, also this year, the interest was towards e-government (e-government strategy, data exchange, AI strategy, cyber security etc) and also smart mobility. We are more than happy if people who visit us get inspired and travel home with at least some important key takeaways and ideas to implement. But our hearts melt if we see concrete results and fruitful cooperation being born out of our meetings.

And one of the great recent examples comes from the other side of the world – Mexico.  Last year Roksnet, a Tallinn-headquartered company devoted to building digital ecosystems, partnered with Querétaro, a federal state in central Mexico with a population of 2.4 million, to explore embedding Estonia’s X-Road protocol into its digital agenda. According to Carlos Vargas, representatives from Querétaro, the Briefing Centre played a pivotal role in putting them in touch with Roksnet. “With work from both sides, we have managed to integrate our expertise with their plans,” he said.

From unicorns to digital well-being

Our Digital Transformation advisers, or the frontends, as we call them, Carmen Raal and Erika Piirmets are the ones who brief the delegations on e-Estonia. And they are also sought-after keynote speakers and panellists globally. For Erika, one of the highlights of 2022 were the Disraptors Summit in the Czech Republic and ITAPA Innovation Conference in Slovakia. “It was wonderful to discuss Estonia-Slovakia experiences in developing convenient life event-based services and recognising many similarities between the two countries in one of the flagship tech events in Bratislava,” shared Erika. “And Startup collaborations and knowledge sharing in one of the most vibrant tech-scene in central Europe, in the Czech Republic, has turned some extra pairs of eyes to observe what Estonia is doing,” she added.

For Carmen Raal, digital well-being was one of the recurring topics of 2022. Both Digital Wellness Day and SYNC Digital Wellbeing Summit touched upon new opportunities and challenges that the digital era brings. “The big question is how we reap as much benefit as possible from technological solutions and make sure that the impact of digital solutions on the mental health (especially of young people) is as minimal as possible,” concluded Carmen. “I also really enjoyed introducing Estonian smart city solutions at the GoTech World 2022 in Romania. The high interest from the Romanian audience was really inspiring for me,” she added. 

Is the hype real?

e-Estonia Briefing Centre didn’t just host public and private sector delegations, but international media found us also, and in September, we were happy to host 12 international journalists who came to Estonia to find out if the hype was real. In four days, we dived into the land of unicorns, witnessed the future of smart cities in Tartu, and met Bürokratt, the AI-driven public service assistant creating seamless interactions between people and the state.

We also helped out the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in running an international campaign for a new and innovative procurement process to find developers that will work on the nation’s Siri of digital public services, Bürokratt. The number of applications we received was quite impressive – 47 in total –  and from those, 23 were international tenderers.

Steady growth for e-Estonia podcast “The Art of Digitalisation”

Last but not least, our little success cannot be left unmentioned. We have seen a solid increase in the number of our monthly e-Estonia podcast listeners. Since we started in 2021, we have reached almost 10k downloads, while almost 60% of the downloads took place in 2022. That is a 156% increase compared to the previous year. We are very pleased with the fact that almost 80% of our listeners come from outside Estonia, and that is our goal – raise awareness around e-governance, digitalisation etc., abroad. The main audience, after Estonia, comes from Germany, the USA, the UK and Japan. 

The most popular episodes from 2022 are:

So if you haven’t had the chance to get acquainted with the e-Estonia podcast yet, we recommend you start with the latest episode, which is also the first one fresh from the oven in 2023 with the Government CIO of Estonia.

Towards a more strategic approach

We have set the centre’s goals for the new year also based on quality – more delegations who come to Estonia intending to solve specific problems and challenges with the help of Estonian experience and competencies. In 2023 we will also direct the centre of our focus inside Estonia. We have been operating under different names and concepts for over 14 years. It is time to update the centre’s strategy and set new goals for the continued success of Estonia’s best-known brand, e-Estonia, in the world!

Resource: e-estonia

7 GovTech trends to watch out for in 2023

Posted on by estoniadigital

January 11, 2023

by Blessing Oyetunde

“From an individual’s point of view, communication with AI becomes so natural that in the very near future, we will not imagine it otherwise,” said Indrek Velthut, Head of Data, Analytics & AI at Nortal, predicting what the year 2022 would bring in the realm of artificial intelligence. On November 30, 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT opened up the global community to the said, fulfilling Indrek’s prediction. So, what does 2023 hold?

Deloitte’s GovTech Trends 2023: A government perspective pinpoints some technological trends most likely to cause disruption over the next few months, focusing on how governments can harness them. Here is a look at the trends with further insights from government officials and experts in the related fields.

1. Through the glass: immersive internet for the enterprise

The shift from traditional screens as a method of connecting to the digital world to immersive virtual interfaces has started with companies and even some governments are already leveraging them. According to the Deloitte report, governments can take advantage of this technology to enable virtual means of engagement with the citizens and provide immersive training activities for constituents, government officials, and workers. 

Commenting on this, Ott Velsberg, the Estonian Government Chief Data Officer, highlights that Estonia is working to give citizens and companies the option to choose how they interact with government services. He reveals that plans are underway to carry out an analysis and proof of concept on the “digital twin” this year to define citizen preferences for government interaction. He adds the state is already seeking partners to test this new way of interaction, which includes virtual experiences and the metaverse.

2. Opening up to AI: learning to trust our AI colleagues

As AI tools become increasingly standardised and commoditised, businesses and governments must focus on trust. This involves developing a new understanding of what it means to trust machines and creating AI systems which are reliable and trustworthy. Meanwhile, governments can leverage the advantages of AI by using it to support automation and make operations more efficient whilst also viewing it as a wise colleague providing helpful and unbiased assistance. 

“Consider, for example, AI being the gentle nudge to law enforcement or other employees to take a second look; being the tireless triage of trivial cases; and being the patient phone agent,” the report cites use cases. Ultimately, the aim should be to create helpful and reliable AI systems rather than aiming for perfection, the GovTech Trends report stresses.

3. Above the clouds: taming multicloud chaos

“As the number of cloud platforms maintained by the typical enterprise proliferated, so too did operational complexity,” the Deloitte report notes. This is where meta and supercloud tools present a solution. Metacloud tools and techniques can help simplify this complexity by providing access to shared services and enabling organisations to control their multiple cloud platforms from one place and with synchronised activities. 

At the same time, these solutions enable cost efficiency and reduce the risk of security and compliance breaches. For governments, metacloud solutions can also automate provisioning, rights and other cloud-related tasks, freeing up resources for more operation-critical tasks. According to the report, governments should leverage this trend by investing in metacloud solutions and automating cloud-related tasks to reduce complexity and cost.

4. Flexibility, the best ability: reimagining the tech workforce

Unfortunately, the heated competition for a limited supply of tech talent continues. The GovTech Trends report underlines the need for a new strategy. Now would be the best time for companies to prioritise flexibility, build a skills-based organisation, seek tech workers from the creative spaces, and provide a compelling talent experience. In addition, the report highlights that governments can take advantage of the current uncertainty of the global workforce market to create pipelines of non-traditional talent and an employee experience that rewards adaptability. 

Piret Luts, Nortal’s Global Head of Talent Sourcing, notes that, indeed, the high competition in the talent market is expected to remain in 2023 due to the current economic and political situation. She stresses that, in this highly competitive talent market, organisations should focus on supporting people development and creating a growth-oriented work environment to gain an edge over talent-search competitors. 

She divulges that Nortal has embraced a remote-first set-up, offering employees more freedom, such as flexible work locations, working times and contract types. The global company also provides its employees with exciting learning and development opportunities, a chance to be a part of visionary projects and pursue competitive internal career options.

5. In Us We Trust: decentralised architectures and ecosystems

Blockchain-based solutions are revolutionising how digital assets are developed and monetised while also enabling trust between stakeholders. By leveraging decentralised architectures and ecosystems, trust is distributed among users rather than in a single entity. The Deloitte report points out that governments are both users and regulators of blockchain, and they can leverage this to automate and streamline processes while also providing policy clarity to support innovations. 

Kristo Vaher, the Estonian Government Chief Technology Officer, acknowledges decentralisation as essential to Estonia. He highlights that Estonia’s digital government has been decentralised for almost 30 years, contributing to its successful digital services. On this note, he showcases X-Road, a decentralised solution that enables secure and unified data exchange between private and public sector organisations, which serves as the backbone of e-Estonia.

6. Connect & extend: mainframe modernisation hits its stride

Legacy systems like mainframes still perform well for their initial workloads; however, that is no longer enough. To meet growing demands, organisations are modernising their legacy assets by connecting and extending them to emerging technologies rather than ripping them off. According to the GovTech Trends report, AI-powered middleware solutions, microservices applications, and refreshed user interfaces are combining the trusted functionality of legacy systems with the expansive capabilities of new tech.

Governments, in particular, can leverage this approach to reduce migration risk and better support their operations. Kristo Vaher notes that legacy systems are a continual issue for digital governments worldwide, more so in a country like Estonia, which had long digitised its infrastructure even before most of the globe caught up. 

He reveals that, like the trend highlights, Estonia is pairing its legacy systems with emerging technologies for efficiency. Additionally, the country is pioneering diverse innovations like the concept of a “data embassy” to provide digital security and stability in these current times riddled with uncertainties.

7. Widening the aperture: from InfoTech to xTech

Historically, “technology” has been equated with information technology. But a new set of technologies, known as xTech, is emerging from the formal, natural, and social sciences. The Deloitte report notes that these fields are attracting significant patent and startup activity, investments, and venture capital funding and will eventually rival IT in their impact. Six disciplines, in particular, will herald the new dawn. The report goes on to encourage governments to ensure the right balance of opportunity and safety for and towards these disciplines. 

Sille Kraam, the Deputy Secretary General for Economic Development at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, comments that deep tech is the fourth wave of innovation that is emerging. She reveals that Estonia is taking steps to support the growth of 500 deep tech startups by 2030. Furthermore, she notes that the Estonian government has set up a Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) to accelerate applied research in specific domains and provide the private sector with the necessary services and infrastructure. 

Specifically, the RTO will focus on hydrogen technologies, biorefining, autonomous vehicles and drones, and the valorisation of medical data. In addition, the Estonian Research and Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RDIE) Strategy 2021-2035 has prioritised five focus areas to grow the Estonian economy. These focus areas are digital solutions across all areas of life, including health technologies and sustainable energy.

Check out the full Deloitte GovTech Trends report for 2023 to better understand these trends, their level of relevancy (on a scale of 1-5), what they mean for both the public and private sectors, as well as the level of government readiness to adapt and adopt them. 

Recouse: e-estonia

Digitising taxation secures Estonia’s #1 position in Tax Competitiveness Index

Posted on by estoniadigital

January 25, 2023

by Peeter Vihma

According to the Tax Competitiveness Index 2022 Estonian tax system is the most competitive among OECD countries for the ninth year in a row. This is largely due to the digitalisation of the tax system, which significantly reduces the administrative burden for the state, businesses as well as individuals.

Why do Estonians love paying taxes?

The most visible aspect of digitalisation for the end user is the single access “window” for e-services created by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB) already at the beginning of this millennium. This, plus the fact that 98% of all data sent to the Tax Board is in digital form, ensures that when a user opens their tax forms, they are already at least partially filled in. As a result, 96% of private individuals and 99% of companies use digital services for paying their taxes.

While these numbers are telling already, the most significant outcome of transparent, simple and functional digitalisation of paying taxes is the high trust in tax administration. According to Jevgeni Shoron, International Relations Specialist at ETCB, their annual public survey shows that 91% of Estonians agree that paying taxes is every citizen’s duty, and 88% know when and how taxes should be paid. Public trust in the Estonian Tax and Customs Board is one of the highest among public offices in Estonia. Thanks to these advances, people generally correct any potential mistakes in their tax declaration themselves and tax administrators can focus only on problematic cases.

One of the first tax administrations with an AI strategy

„We realised that by developing AI utilities through fragmented projects, we would soon run into difficulties. Harnessing AI requires a lot of work in the back office, including creating new roles for our employees,” says Ms Pille Muni. “Now, instead, we have mapped 43 instances where AI could be of use, prioritised them and created a roadmap for achieving our goals.”

Ms Muni elaborates that while it is widely recognised that additional benefits for any digital services come from interoperability, adding more databases into the system creates challenges. As an example, while there were about 90 open data databases in Estonia just a few years ago, now there are more than 170 databases that could potentially be used by the ETCB. To use them, however, a rule-based risk model is required that takes about 2 years to complete manually. With the help of AI, a model can be completed in 6 months, creating additional opportunities for cross-checking, automated data flows and ease of declaring taxes.

AI fights tax evasio AI readiness in for tax purposesn

Several AI-based pilot projects have already been put into action, for example, in the problematic field of “envelope wages” (that is, unofficially paid wages that avoid taxes) and VAT. These experimental pilots have incorporated private sector partners such as MindTitan for injecting digital know-how into ETCB. Together they have trained AI to recognise tax patterns and anomalies in those patterns indicating potential tax evasions with 97% accuracy. For example, ETCB models of VAT risk scoring have helped to detect a large-scale VAT fraud in Saaremaa, a municipality worth hundreds of thousands of euros. These encouraging results boost organisations’ readiness to implement AI more widely.

The future of paying tax is in real-time

The developing economic environment and digitalisation of society require the continuous development of the tax administrator. In tax collection, digitisation of services is not the ultimate goal but a prerequisite for the quality of services and for ensuring a reliable and transparent business environment. A real-time economy is a future that ETCB is aiming for. This would change the tax system from declaration-based reporting to data-based reporting, thus eradicating the need to declare the data separately. The data would flow from the company’s accounting system directly to ETCB. The transition to data-based reporting would create opportunities to present the same data simultaneously to several different state institutions and thereby further reduce the administrative burden on the company. Already fully functional digital invoicing used widely by Estonian companies is among the first steps in this direction.

Supporting smaller businesses and creating common good

Also, a significant development is the business account for small and medium-sized companies. In 2017, in cooperation with LHV Bank, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board opened this innovative payment service for small and medium-sized companies. For them, a simple and convenient tax service is especially needed because keeping a professional accountant would be burdensome. The business account creates a simple and affordable form of conducting tax-related transactions. The bank, in cooperation with the tax administration, allows entrepreneurs to pay for goods, pay salaries, and taxes in the same digital environment. Tax liability for the users of the account is automatic, and no additional financial reporting is required. Follow-up surveys by ETCB show that the business account has been warmly welcomed by starting entrepreneurs.

By considering the benefits of digitalisation, one should not only think of the savings on administration. The state is potentially losing hundreds of millions in tax evasions annually. Therefore, a real-time economy, along with AI, can significantly increase the delivery of public goods.

Resourse: e-estonia