Estonia, a small country in Northern Europe, has the most advanced digital government in the world. 

In fact, the government of Estonia has implemented an open data initiative and online voting. 

Most importantly, all of these advancements are backed by secure online IDs that Estonians can use to access all of their essential information securely and digitally. 

Voting, submitting tax returns, and registering a birth can be done online from practically anywhere on the globe. 

Furthermore, these digital identities may be utilised to access an expanding variety of private sector services, such as online banking.

E-residency is also a great achievement of the government.

More than 85,000 foreign people from 180+ countries have become e-residents as of today. 

The primary benefit is the ability to start and run a location-independent firm in Estonia exclusively online. 

In addition, e-residents have registered over 19,000 enterprises in Estonia, covering a wide range of industries such as IT, marketing, e-commerce, business consultancy, publishing, and physical commodities trading.

As more businesses, especially those related to finance and technology, begin to utilise e-residency, it looks like the future of digital governance will be bright indeed!

How did it begin?

The Estonian e-Government is founded on the Estonian Information Policy Principles, established by the Estonian Parliament in the late ’90s. 

Through this policy, the government began a digital transformation to improve the efficiency of its operations and the delivery of public services. 

According to OECD, the coverage for digital mobile phone networks in the country and having a secure data exchange environment were fundamental in supporting this digital transformation. 

However, there are also two critical technology choices the government made.

One of those technologies was the creation of an ID card early on, which can be used in public key infrastructure (PKI) for authentication and the identification of signatures.

Another important technology was the development of a decentralised but linked data management infrastructure (XRoad) 

The use of this data exchange layer is estimated to have saved 2% of the Estonian GDP each year. 

Success factors

1. Strong stakeholder engagement

The ultimate goal of e-Estonia is to improve service delivery, and it is one that was made possible with the country’s commitment to stakeholder engagement. 

Because they realised that they couldn’t move forward without their citizens or other important stakeholders on board, Estonians got input from every level of society during each step of e-Estonia’s development.

They worked closely with IT specialists while brainstorming new technology; they invited journalists into their meetings and encouraged them to write about their progress along the way.

Even the academic stakeholders were part of the e-Estonia Council, a government committee of experts established in 1990.

In 2001, they launched an online tool called Today I Decide [Täna Otsustan Mina] (TOM), allowing the public to comment online on proposals and policy documents.

2. Political commitment

Digital Estonia’s success has to do with much more than just its technology initiatives.

It’s also because of their political commitment towards innovation—something every country could take note of. 

Despite having a high turnover in government, as various coalitions collapsed, the political support for the digital agenda remained constant throughout periods of turmoil.

Creating a modern, more efficient country in terms of digitalisation was critical not only for Estonia but also for the goal of joining the EU and NATO. 

That’s why all political forces were determined to work towards that common goal: digital transformation of the state.

3. Public confidence

The broad usage of digital ID and other e-public services demonstrates popular trust in the government’s digital society projects.

Estonian policy and tech leaders understood well the importance of interoperability and data security.

That’s why they created digital ecosystems that mimic how a democratic government already works, leading to building the foundations in a secure-by-design way.

The challenge was that transitioning agencies had to maintain existing operations while building out new processes, which is often overlooked by other countries.

Conclusion

Many countries have been adopting some elements of e-government. 

They have been experimenting with more advanced electronic solutions such as e-voting, electronic tax filing and online access to health care records. 

Still, no other country has adopted as many digital solutions for all government levels as Estonia. 

This small Baltic nation has become a model for all governments seeking to modernise their services to citizens through digitisation, and by giving individuals greater control over personal data.

These solutions are simple, inexpensive to implement and maintain and provide immediate benefits to citizens while positioning Estonia at the forefront of government modernisation worldwide for decades ahead.

Sources:

https://learn.e-resident.gov.ee/hc/en-us/articles/360000720437-Why-Estonia-offers-e-Residency

https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/e-estonia-information-society-since-1997

https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/510a82b5-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/510a82b5-en

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/desi-estonia