A Journey to the Future: The Estonian Experience
I was invited to attend an introductory program about Estonia’s experience in knowledge economy after I was nominated as one of the young leaders in the Middle East and North Africa region by the Friends of Europe http://www, which is an independent intellectual center based in Belgium. The center works on providing tangible recommendations for the rising challenges of our time.
Estonia is ranked by the World Bank as a high-income country. The country was also ranked first in the Internet Freedom Indicator by Freedom House, and first in Entrepreneurship by the International Economic Forum. It is also ranked first in digital economy and provision of public services in Europe. Estonia joined the EU on 1st May 2004, to be one of the 27-member states of the Euro Zone.
Since the most important thing I learnt personally from my trip to Estonia was the importance of transferring and sharing knowledge, I will recount some details from my trip which may contribute in shaping the upcoming stage of negotiations in the Libyan roadmap.
The beginning: towards new economic systems
The program started with a debate on the need for a new economic system. Professor Steve Hanke, who is one of neoliberalism’s leading figures, participated in the debate. He was a White House adviser during Donald Regan’s presidency, a time when neoliberalism prospered through the American model, and the British one led by Margaret Thatcher.
In a professional atmosphere, the need for a huge institutional change in the world, and the need to democratize instructions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; were discussed. Statistics highlighting the rise in poverty and unemployment and the decrease of growth in world economies; were shown to demonstrate the failure of the economic systems. The side defending neoliberalism held on to the Estonian experience, and attributed neoliberalism’s failure in countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa to widespread corruption and lack of institutional cultural.
The different ideological schools were discussed, in addition to the need to renew these theories as they are not up to date with technological developments, globalization and the current changes in the world. With this brainstorming, our journey started towards a world completely different to our daily reality: one which discusses long-term visions putting the future of humanity on the table, unlike the daily reality in our region where ancient disputes and entities are conjured when planning for the future.
e-Estonia Showroom:
Under the slogan ‘We have built a digital society, and so can you’ we were welcomed in e-Estonia Showroom, which is in charge of the e-government program and the e-residency for commerce project.
Estonia’s e-government project was established in 1997, and in two decades the project was developed to include 99% of government services. In doing so, the government succeeded in ending bureaucracy, and the public were encouraged to participate in elections, pay taxes and participate in economic activity due to the ease and transparency of processes. Estonia culminated this with the digital ID, which enables the Estonian citizen to enjoy all services while protecting their digital identity. Today the only procedures that are not done electronically are marriage and divorce, and real-estate deals, due to the need for a notary. You can visit their official website for more inspiration and information on:
Estonia’s gift to the world
This is how Estonians introduce the e-residency project, the gate to e-commerce, which came as a response to the recent changes in Europe and their impact on commercial transactions of many individuals and companies, particularly in the UK after Brexit. It also came due to the difficulty facing people from the Middle East and North Africa to work in the Euro Zone, particularly with the recent political developments in the region. This gate was designed as a solution to embrace entrepreneurs and businessmen, enabling them to do their business with no discrimination, exclusion or difficulty due to their nationalities.
The idea of this project is to provide a digital identity to anyone, anywhere, and from any nationality with no conditions or restrictions. In this way, business owners can have access to all electronic commercial services in Estonia. It also allows them to do commercial transactions in the EU, alongside all the tools necessary to facilitate business management such as legal, financial, accounting, logistics services.
What is special about this project is the partnership between the public and private sectors. The state owns the project and administers it, while all services needed to manage the project encourage private companies and entrepreneurial projects. Hence the government guarantees the growth of these projects, creating employment opportunities.
To register you can visit the link: https://apply.gov.ee/
Sustainable Food
We were invited to a private dinner party in honor of the Estonian Prime Minister. When the prime minister arrived, we were amazed by the fact that the motorcade consisted of only one care carrying one unnoticeable bodyguard, even though the dinner is held at the hall of a public museum in the heart of Tallinn. The Prime Minister Jüri Ratas welcomed the guests, indicating the importance of working towards the goals of sustainable development by saying: ‘we can contribute to saving our world through our daily activities’. He added: ‘taking care of the environment and of sustainable foods is one of the ideal ways to achieve that’.
He emphasized the significance of the role of intellectuals, activists and entrepreneurs in raising awareness about achieving the goals of sustainable development. The Prime Minister’s official chef gave a talk about the basics of sustainable food, explaining that all the ingredients of the dinner are from food trash that we normally dispose of or do not use. They were indeed presented in a special way. This comes as no surprise, since we are in Tallinn, home of creativity and inventions.
Mektory: Technology Incubator
Mektory is a part of Tallinn’s University of Technology, and the incubator aims to be a platform for scientists, intellectuals and businessmen to solve problems and create new products and applications. It also works on being an incubator to generate new ideas, developing them from ideas and theoretical studies into the practical and applied side. Linking theory and practice is one of the main factors behind Estonia’s success in technology and innovation. It should be mentioned that the incubator is not only a laboratory for inventions and innovations, but through special policies an entrepreneurial generation is being created by developing the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in youngsters. This is done by engaging school kids through various programs and visits to the incubator, where engineering, technological and scientific concepts are explained to them.
To learn more, visit: https://www.ttu.ee/mektory-eng
Conclusion: Dangers of Artificial Intelligence
The conference was concluded with a talk by programmer and thinker Jaan Tallinn, founder of Skype and Kazaa, who is considered one of the founders of Artificial Intelligence. He and others recently established a centre for the study of the existential risk which artificial intelligence poses to humanity. He indicated that human-based economy will not stand for long and that our responsibility is to be ready for that. Perhaps the most important thing he mentioned was the dangers of advancements in weapons manufacturing, which will make taking lives a quick and cheap process. Tallinn concluded by saying that it is with governments, intellectuals, developers lies the responsibility of posing questions and discussing important issues starting from answering questions such as ‘Who are we?’ ‘What is the world?’ and ‘How much can we hold ground against the ascended economy?’
Lessons to Libya
Estonia is similar to Libya today in that it is a country that went through huge political change. The Estonian case is different in that there was no civil war. It is also similar in the scarcity and limitedness of resources. Estonia managed, in two decades, to overcome all of these challenges to become part of the developed world.
Libya might have a chance to replicate the idea of the e-government to end corruption, bureaucracy, and the inadequacy of government bodies in providing services. It could also be by being inspired to adopt new methods to encourage entrepreneurship and facilitate business transactions or by encouraging creativity by establishing technology incubators. But in my point of view, Estonia presents what is more significant than all of this, which is what decision-makers should focus on to get the country through this rough patch. This can be summarized in three key points:
First: Building Trust
In two decades, the Estonian government succeeded in transitioning from a communist Soviet regime, to building a modern electronic system to facilitate all government procedures, ending bureaucracy and lengthy administrative procedures. By providing public services and seeking development and advancement, the country was able to build strong bonds of trust with its citizens, who willingly provide tax records and register in elections, in addition to their contribution in entrepreneurship and innovation due to what their country provides them with. Building trust is not achieved through measures written in agreements overseas, but it is work, action and results which enable the citizens to see that the government is working with them and for them to build the country.
Second: National Pride
Estonians are not ashamed of their Soviet past, and they see their racial differences as strength not a weakness. They are a mix of Estonians, Russians and Fins, which is apparent in their language. Nevertheless, they have been able to create a unified national identity. In all presentations, everyone was talking proudly about being from Estonia, the small country in terms of size, population and resources; but one which has been able to establish itself through creativity and innovation.
Third: Standing after collapse
Estonia gives a lesson in more than the e-residency project. It gives a lesson in patriotism, which enabled them to piece together what was left of the Soviet period and study the best ways for their country to rise. Thanks to the political will of Estonian decision-makers, the country was able to rise from the ashes to become a pioneer and model in the fields of technology and computing.
This article was originally published in Arabic at the following link: http://www.alwasat.ly/ar/mobile/article?articleid=154327
