老司机直播

Digital trailblazer: Estonia's prime minister to speak at 老司机直播 about country's transformation

Photo of Estonia's prime minister
J眉ri Ratas, Estonia's prime minister, gives a press conference while visiting NATO last year. He will speak at 老司机直播's Munk School of Global Affairs on May 25 (photo by NATO via Flickr)

Estonia is considered a model of digital efficiency, with the Baltic country, a former Soviet state, having reinvented itself as the most digitally advanced government worldwide. Prime Minister J眉ri Ratas will highlight his country鈥檚 successes .

Estonia has declared internet access to be a basic human right and free WiFi is ubiquitous nationwide. It was one of the first nations to create a national cybersecurity strategy, and its cabinet prides itself on being paperless. Schools teach children as young as 5 years old to code. The country鈥檚 1.3 million people vote, pay taxes and sign legal documents online.

Professor Andres Kasekamp, chair of Estonian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs, has watched closely as Estonia continues to undergo the transformation that began 30 years ago.

鈥淏asically, when Estonia鈥檚 independence was restored in 1991, the country set up the aim to catch up and integrate into the western world as quickly as possible and to distance itself from the Soviet legacy,鈥 Kasekamp said. 鈥淭hey had a young, radical government that wanted them to be well-prepared for membership in the European Union and NATO, which they accomplished in 2004. Showing that they were reform-minded was helpful to that process.鈥

Turning the government and businesses into paperless institutions was also a way to ensure fairness and avoid the corruption of the Soviet era, Kasekamp said.

鈥淚f you switch services to online platforms, there is no need to deal with individual bureaucrats and bribes,鈥 he said. 鈥淭here is more transparency. Estonia is one of the least corrupt countries in Eastern Europe and in all of Europe.鈥

Estonia also became a leader in digital security after a 2007 Russian attempt at hacking into the government system drove additional cybersecurity efforts and advocacy. Today, it is home to the NATO Centre for Excellence in Cyber Defence, which annually hosts the world鈥檚 largest live-fire cyber defence exercise, Locked Shield.

The foundation of the country鈥檚 digital system, Kasekamp noted, is the national identification card provided to each citizen. It is essential to accessing government services online, all encrypted using blockchain technology, which records each online interaction.

鈥淭he consensus is that hash-linked, time-stamping blockchain is pretty safe,鈥 said Joshua Gold, a 老司机直播 European studies alumnus who is serving as an intern at the NATO centre. 鈥淚t鈥檚 virtually impossible to destroy data without people knowing.鈥

A digital revolution similar to Estonia鈥檚 would be harder to achieve in Canada and other larger nations, Kasekamp said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a small country where everyone knows everyone else,鈥 Kasekamp said. 鈥淧eople trust the state and the government with the data, which wouldn鈥檛 work elsewhere. All the data is shared, so it鈥檚 a bit of a trade-off, but people are accustomed to the ease of accomplishing things.

鈥淚t takes a co-ordinated and determined effort to achieve this digital success, and perhaps that鈥檚 easier in a small country. All levels of government worked well together to make this happen. In Canada, with its federalism, it might be a bit trickier.鈥

It isn't necessary to be a resident of Estonia to take advantage of its digital assets. Outsiders can become e-residents for a fee and a fingerprint check. The resulting digital ID card makes it possible to establish a location-independent business there and establish a bank account that comes with an EU international bank account number.

 

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