Estonia - IT Services and EquipmentEstonia - IT Services
Overview
Estonia ranks 9th in the 2018 EU Digital Economy and Society Index. Estonia is the champion in Europe in the online provision of public services and scores above EU average in digital skills and the use of Internet by citizens. As for broadband, it is strong on mobile but has low fixed broadband coverage despite progress over the past year. The key challenge in Estonia is the digitization of companies. Estonia remains the leader in the comprehensiveness of prefilled online forms, and the use of ePrescriptions by General Practitioners (100%). Estonians are well-skilled in the use of digital technologies (their digital skills levels are above those of the average EU user) and keen users of a variety of internet activities.
Starting December 1, 2014, Estonia offers foreigners an e-residency option. An e-resident is a person who has received the e-resident’s digital identity (smart ID-card) from the Republic of Estonia. This does not entail full legal residency, citizenship or right of entry to Estonia, but gives secure access to Estonia’s digital services such as business registration and an opportunity to use digital signatures in an electronic environment. Such digital identification and signing is the legal equivalent to face-to-face identification and handwritten signatures in the European Union. More info: https://e-resident.gov.ee/
Estonia also has introduced the digital highway X-Road via which all state IT systems communicate and which allows the creation of integrated e-services. To ensure security, the system uses timestamps and keeps records on who has been accessing what sites.
An overview of e-government projects.
Cyber Defense
Estonia has also become a focal point for issues related to cyber security and defense. In April 2007, Estonia experienced an intensive, coordinated ‘cyber-attack’ against government and private sector websites following the government’s decision to relocate a Soviet-era statue from the center of Tallinn to a nearby military cemetery. The targeted sites recovered quickly, but the attacks spurred the government to increase resources and structures related to cyber defense and to work to increase the number of information security specialists. Estonia has also developed an innovative public-private partnership, called the Cyber Defense League, to enhance the country’s ability to prevent and respond to further cyber-attacks affecting national security.
For Estonia, the most important cyber threats include:
1. Cybercrime in all its forms.
2. Cyber espionage, data breaches and lack of applying principles of information security, which can result in the reduction of trust towards information systems and digital services.
3. The use of cyber tools in armed conflict.
4. The fact that an important role in the perpetuation of cyber threats is played by the lack of security knowledge, skills, and awareness among users of information systems.
More info.
Estonia also hosts the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center Of Excellence (CCD COE), which the United States formally joined in 2011.
Leading Sub-Sectors
• Identification and secure data communication related applications, software and hardware
• Data storage
• Cloud computing
• Upgrading of the government e-services and interoperability of databases
Oportunities
More info on the sector and opportunities: http://www.investinestonia.com/en/business-opportunities/ictt
Web Resources
Trade Statistics
ICT Demo Center
EU Digital Economy and Society Index 2018
Information System Authority
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