Why you should really pay attention to Estonia.

It's a story that's 20 years in the making but still not a lot of people have heard it, and those that have don't pay it enough attention. Last month, I had the chance to attend a conference called Latitude44 and hear from the people behind the innovation and tech story that has left other nations scratching their heads.

I'm talking about Estonia. A country of just 1.3m. A place I know a few people might struggle point out on a map.

What's so special?

Estonia has a thriving world-class tech sector. Estonians brought the world Skype, TransferWise, Bolt, Pipedrive and Veriff to name but a few, yet the more interesting thing comes from where you won't see much innovation almost anywhere else....government. 

For the last 20-ish years, Estonia has enjoyed the benefits of the world’s first digital government known as e-Estonia, which promotes transparency, empowers citizens, and improves services. On top of that, Estonia is also a bit of a heavyweight in cyber security, kinda necessary when you go this digital.

The conference shared many of the highlights, including Estonia’s innovative e-Residency program which allow entrepreneurs from all over the world to quickly and easily start companies in Estonia and access Estonia and beyond into the EU. Brexiters should probably look at this story, as it shows most of what they want to do can be achieved while being a member of the EU, not outside looking in.

Context is important, but don't let that stop you

Admittedly, Estonia had a few advantages that made this possible such as a start from scratch attitude following regaining independence from the USSR in 1991. With a small population lacking in political structures, this meant a new class coming to take charge, one that was prepared to do thing differently, take a few risks, embrace new technology and make it work. Going right to the top of the government, leaders have embraced technology, the frameworks and cultures required to make it successful.

Many in Canada, or other bigger nations may points to Estonia being small, able to leap ahead and the context that means it's not possible to make it happen in their nations. I don't totally buy this though, yes, the context is important, but remember the context also came with the constraints of limited resources of money, people and expertise.

What now?

Anyway, now Estonia is taking this to the world. The legend goes that in a conversation between the Estonian and Finnish Prime Ministers about digital government platforms and how Estonia had made theirs real quickly and cost effectively, while Finland had spent multiples more with little to show, the Estonian leader declared, "well if you'd just asked, you could have ours". This attitude of openness, collaboration and enterprise to export around the world is indeed refreshing!

A glance at any interaction with a Canadian government entity would show how badly we need some of those capabilities! Email still hasn't made it to many Canadian government services, places where the fax machine continues to reigns supreme. I say this a lot, but I had never written a cheque or sent a fax until I started to do work in Canada.

Pretty much any government interaction in Estonia, however mundane of significant is done digitally, such as signing paperwork, voting or making a payment. All of this is facilitated through a mandatory digital identity through a central platform. The only two exceptions are getting married or divorced and selling real estate, more so for political reasons that technological ones.

Baking transparency in

While this might have a few people concerned about privacy and security, Estonia takes this very seriously. The system is designed in a way that if you lost your ID card, the information on it wouldn't be of much use to fraudsters, indeed people were passing theirs around at Latitude44 to show them off. Further, with this central platform, it means that data can be easily and safely shared between government entities and citizens don't need to continuously provide the same information to authenticate themselves - it's called the X-Road, think of it like the backbone of everything for the digital government in Estonia

Citizens can log in at any time to ensure their data has only been viewed by relevant employees. If your data has been accessed when it shouldn't have, there are serious consequences as some over eager members of the state have found out.

Not that it's necessary to copy Estonia, the context is somewhat unique, but the aim is to learn, borrow and be inspired by it. After all, this did take time to happen, and mistakes have been made along the way. Like the Finland example, we should be able to make things like this happen better and faster! I've borrowed the quote below from a much more detailed article if you want to learn more.

“Most often [foreign delegations] want to know, ‘how can we be like Estonia’. The answer is you can’t. And you shouldn’t want to. Each country has its own specificities, political structure, historical background, and different user needs. Plus, as I said in the beginning, we have had more than twenty years of experimenting. If you start now, you can be smarter than we were, faster than we were, and more efficient as well.” - Sandra Särav, Global Affairs Director for the Government CIO of Estonia

It runs beyond government

This isn't limited to government, it has a huge impact on the culture and skills in Estonia. Look at the startups coming out of Estonia, rivalling or besting what we see from other meccas of technology. Many political leaders the world over will talk about digital skills and the future of their economy, but when it comes to it, the reality doesn't match the rhetoric. In Estonia, when the government is putting the infrastructure, skills and culture in place for a digital future by effectively eating its own dog food, that rubs off on the school curriculum through to entrepreneurs taking the plunge with their own ventures.

A two way bridge

Now Estonia is not just taking its skills to the world, but creating a two way bridge, bringing things back the other way. As a small country that looks out to the world, it needs more talent, funding and partnership opportunities, with Toronto a logical hub in North America by virtue of having the largest Estonian community internationally. There's even an incredible new cultural centre just about to start construction.

See and hear it for yourself

Latitude44 will hopefully come back to Toronto, and likely spur similar events in places like New York or Boston. But perhaps take a chance to see this story for yourselves at Latitude59 in Tallinn this May. I hope to see more than a few Canadians making the trip.

And if that's too far away, stay tuned for an Estonia themed Innovation Supper Club event coming to Toronto soon.