Part of Estonia Now celebrating 100 years of the Republic of Estonia
Estonia, a small Nordic country with a population of 1.3 million, started building its digital society two decades ago. Today its state services are 99% online and available 24/7. Join Estonia’s ‘Mr. Internet’ Mr. Linnar Viik, Mr. Adam Rang – the Chief Evangelist for Estonian e-Residency – and Scottish leaders and entrepreneurs in debating the progress made in using technology to deliver smart, secure, and accessible public services.
Mrs Tiina Intelmann, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to Great Britain, is delighted to invite you to the Estonia-Scotland Digital Public Services event in Glasgow – part of the Estonia Now festival celebrating the Republic’s 100th anniversary.
Hear from Linnar Viik, Estonia’s Programme Director for Smart Government and Co-Founder of the e-Government Academy, and from Adam Rang, Chief Evangelist of Estonia’s e-Residency Project.
Join leaders from Estonia and Scotland’s digital public services sector and from the two nations’ start-up and SME sectors in debating the progress made in using technology to deliver smart, secure, and accessible public services.
Learn of opportunities to:
- Bring innovation to public services
- How public services can in turn help companies
- Internationalise your business
- Collaborate between government and business in Scotland and Estonia.
Agenda
StrongEST, SmartEST, EasiEST – meet ESTONIA’S e-government, November 16, 2018, Technology & Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde
8.30 Registration and coffee
9.00 Opening remarks:
Chair, FutureScot
Tiina Intelmann, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to Great Britain
Ivan McKee, Scottish Government Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation
David McDonald, Councillor of Glasgow City Council
9.30 Keynote: The little country that could ‘e’ – Estonia’s development of digital public services
Speaker: Linnar Viik, Programme Director for Smart Government and Co-Founder, e-Government Academy, Estonia.
10.00 Keynote: Thinking outside the borders – why Estonia offers e-Residency
Speaker: Adam Rang, Chief Evangelist, e-Residency Project, Estonia.
10.30 Panel discussion: Digital public services helping business and startups
Martyn Wallace, Chief Digital Officer, Scottish Local Government Digital Office
Mikk Tamme, Business Development UK, MobiLab, Estonia
Linnar Viik, Programme Director for Smart Government and Co-Founder, e-Government Academy, Estonia
Adam Rang, Chief Evangelist, e-Residency Project, Estonia
11.00 Event close.
Background
Estonia, a small Nordic country with a population of 1.3m, started building digital society two decades ago. Today, it is one of the most advanced digital societies in the world where state services are 99% online and available 24/7.
Setting up a business online takes 15 minutes and filing an annual tax return online only three minutes. Medical records are available online and a centralised paperless system allows the issuing and handling of e-prescriptions around the clock.
It is possible to vote online, and around one-third of citizens use the service. Primary school children are taught computer programming and secondary school children learn how to build apps. This year, Estonia celebrated its fourth ‘unicorn’; Taxify, the car-hailing service with 500,000 drivers, 10 million users, and a 150m Euro investment from Daimler.
The country has been a path-finder in public e-services, eager to seek out the best solutions, learn from mistakes, and share the experiences. Cooperation and digital leadership is the key. Estonia could not have developed its digital eco-system so quickly and efficiently without the partnership between private and public sectors, as well as research institutions, and the voluntary IT community.
Many of Estonia’s innovations and e-solutions have been successfully adapted in more than 60 nations; a third of the world. With e-residency, e-services are available to anyone using an e-residency digital ID card. The country also aims to adjust to the future, moving basic services into a fully digital mode. This way, Estonia can stay focussed on its values of efficiency, openness, security, and innovation.
Learn more at e-estonia.com
This event is organized in partnership with Futurescot and Estonian Honorary Consul Mr. Peter Ferry.