Articles
e-Governance in practice: The Estonian Success
Overcoming the economic crisis through innovation
With the economic crisis still going strong in Europe and worldwide, it is logical to look at countries that seem to be doing well despite this difficult situation and wonder why. It is no surprise then that both BBC and the Spiegel have articles this week on Estonia, a small European state, but nevertheless a member of the Eurogroup and a strong economic performer.
The reason for Estonia’s uninhibited economic growth? After the state achieved its independence 20 years ago, the citizens made sure to get rid of the cumbersome bureaucratic practices of the past. In their place they created one of the more “wired” governments in Europe. Through the wide use of Internet applications, services are streamlined and costs are kept down. The right to Internet access at public libraries has been written into the constitution.
Point in case, the average time to set up a new company in Europe is seven days, with countries like Spain having an average of 17.5 days, when the EU has set a prescribed limit of 3 days. The average cost of the process is about €400, with Netherlands, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg exceeding €1000. In Estonia the process takes place almost exclusively via the net. As a result, the average time is two days and the cost is about €190.
Ralf Hoppe and Jan Puhl interviewed Linnar Viik for the Spiegel. Viik is credited as the image maker of Estonia, having acted as an advisor for the first government in 1991.
“He asked for the item in the government's budget that was reserved for photocopiers and paper. He used the money to buy a small carload of PCs, and then he convinced politicians to make their work paperless for two reasons. First, there were the savings his plan would generate. More important, however, was the symbolism of the project.”
He pushed, successfully, to create "e-Estonia," a digital, fully interconnected, ultramodern country. Today, Estonia has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world. The country has a digital ID card system and in 2005 local elections were held with the official possibility to vote online — the first case of its kind in the world.
Estonia was hit hard in 2008 by the world economic downturn, as were most countries. Estonians though made use of the resources and technology available in the 21st century. Through innovation, hard work and an admirable courage to do away with old practices in government and business, Estonia is today hailed as a new digital miracle-state.
Picture from flicklr.com /cc cfarivar http://www.flickr.com/photos/cfarivar/20140077/