Estonia — Estonia

🎙️e-Estonia podcast: “The digital pathfinders: Estonia and Ukraine’s strong tech partnership”

We are honoured to have Estonian Government CIO Luukas Kristjan Ilves, the project manager of mRiik Nikolai Kornõšev and Mstyslav Banik, the head of the eServices development in the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, to discuss the deep collaboration between Estonia and Ukraine, the future interoperability of the countries and the EU and the challenges of a digital nation.

E-society

Estonia reigns supreme as the leader in investment promotion

For the fourth year in a row, Estonia takes first place in Emerging Europe’s ranking of investment promotion agencies, thanks to its innovative use of digital tools, AI and precise communication.

Business Innovation Start-ups

Estonian HealthTech startup Certific makes lives better and simpler for patients and physicians

Estonian healthcare startup Certific is expanding its services with the launch of a digital communication and engagement platform for primary care, making healthcare more accessible than ever.

health Innovation People

Estonia has its first Two Michelin Stars restaurant

Estonia is becoming the newest Nordic foodie destination as 180° restaurant became the country’s first Two Michelin Stars experience restaurant, closely followed by the One Michelin Star restaurant Noa Chef’s Hall. Moreover, Estonia boasts an impressive array of 34 Michelin Guide recommended restaurants across the country.

Culture Food People

How Estonian researchers combat climate change through plant-based proteins

Estonian researchers at the Centre of Food and Fermentation Technologies are spearheading the development of plant-based proteins as a sustainable, healthier, and more ethical alternative for our diets.

education health Innovation Sustainability Technology

The full list of Estonian unicorns

Estonia is a world leader in unicorns per capita. Here is a full list of 10 magnified unicorns born in Estonia or founded by Estonians.

Business Innovation People Start-ups Technology

Estonian startups rocketing 49% higher in revenue

Estonian startups rocketed 49% higher in revenue in 2022, marking a groundbreaking year and scoring a record-high €1,3B in new investments.

Business Innovation People Start-ups

Estonia makes history with i-voting majority and record female presence in new parliament

Estonian Parliament elections 2023 have set 4 new milestones: the first mainly online voting in the world, Estonia’s record-high number of voters, personal votes, and female representatives in the new parliament.

Business E-society People

When scientists turn chocolate into medicine

Sugar and fat are killing us, so an Estonian chocolate maker uses science to make treats healthier.

Food Innovation

Estonia leaps to first place in individual tax competitiveness

Estonia had the best tax code in the OECD for the last nine years, according to the freshly published Tax Competitiveness Index. In 2022 the country also appeared as the leader in the individual taxes category.

Business

Estonian startup Bercman brings crosswalks to the Age of IoT

Estonian startups Bercman Technologies and 1oT joined their knowledge to modernize data transmission of smart infrastructure. Bercman’s IoT-based smart crosswalks, now with hassle-free and fast installable eSIM cards, are increasing traffic safety and supporting smart vehicles’ further use in city transportation.

E-society Innovation Start-ups Technology

How do we protect electronic identity in the digital age?

One of my favourite topics to discuss in my briefings is electronic identity (eID). And for a particular reason – eID is one of the foundations Estonia laid for the digital services in the early 2000s. From declaring the taxes and registering a business to applying for a benefit or i-Voting, all are tied to the strongest form of authentication, proving it’s the Erika I say it is behind the transactions.

E-society

€100 million magnet factory will be built in Narva

Neo Performance Materials (NPM) which owns Estonia-based rare earth metals maker Silmet will construct a magnet factory and R&D center in Narva. Projects budget is set to reach €100M.

Innovation Nature People Sustainability

The booming Estonian cleantech ecosystem

There is no stopping the cleantech sector. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that the global size of the sector will rise to $870 billion by 2030, surpassing the oil market’s value. Without a doubt, Estonia’s cleantech sector is playing a major role in this, partly thanks to Cleantech Estonia.

Nature Start-ups Sustainability

MICHELIN Guide: Top 5 Restaurants in Tallinn’s Old Town

As picking the right place for celebrating your company’s present or future success in Estonia may be difficult without a guide, we are giving you an overview of some of the Michelin Inspectors’ favourite restaurants in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn.

Culture Food People

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas: “You cannot be bullied if you have strong friends”

Kaja Kallas became Estonian Prime Minister of the so – called “Sunrise Government” in January of 2021, in the middle of one of the biggest crises in world history. The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, security situation in the region was worsening, and the results of climate change were becoming everyday issues. Meanwhile, as in many other countries, Estonian politics had ceased debating decisive solutions and begun a reality TV level of “playing the (wo)man, not the ball”.

Business E-society People

Tax Competitiveness Index 2022: Estonia has the world’s best tax system

For the ninth year in a row, Estonia has the best tax code in the OECD, according to the freshly published Tax Competitiveness Index 2022. Estonia’s transparent and simple tax system attracts investments with no corporate income tax, no capital tax, no property transfer taxes.

E-society

Estonia makes its debut at Madrid Fashion Week

Fashion and travel go hand-in-hand. The novelty of a new city or an unfamiliar environment can stimulate the imagination. Such was the case of Spanish fashion designer Juan Duyos. He marked 25 years on the runway with a collection inspired by a midsummer trip to Estonia.

Design

🎙️e-Estonia podcast: Lauri Almann, Co-founder of CybExer Technologies: “We can’t have digital benefits without security”

Florian Marcus got Lauri Almann, the co-founder of CybExer Technologies, behind the mic to share insights into current threats and trends.

E-society

Estonian startup Klaus raises €12 million to scale its AI-based customer support platform

Founded by Estonian fifth unicorn Pipedrive alumni, Estonian startup Klaus is on track to address the customer support industry needs worldwide

Innovation

5 tips on how to prepare for autumn mentally and digitally

While we are forced to spend more and more time online, it is increasingly more challenging to unplug. Since digital wellbeing is considerably affecting our physical and mental health, I looked at some ways we could protect it behind the computer.

E-society health People

Unicorn Veriff makes trust scalable online

Kaarel Kotkas (27) is a prime example of a young entrepreneur who, regardless of great success, stands with two feet firmly on the ground. He founded Veriff as a 20-year-old and it has always seemed that he is genuinely trying to find a solution to a problem and is not in it just for the money.

E-society Innovation People Start-ups

Estonia – a fully digitised nation

The former president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves discusses the benefits of full governmental digitisation in his country with a world-renowned journalist Charlie Rose. We transcribed the interview below: Charlie Rose If you look at Estonia today, I mean, the government is online. Toomas Hendrik Ilves Well, there are three things you cannot do inread more

E-society People

Estonia leads the way in financial innovation

197 FinTechs ranging from innovative startups like Salv to Blockchain leader Guardtime make Estonia a global centre of excellence for FinTech and a home already to three FinTech unicorns.

Business Innovation People Start-ups

e-Residency alumni take Estonian tech savvy to the global stage

Hailed as the world’s first government startup, e-Residency has created a global community that’s reshaping our understanding of how nation states can, and should, improve their user experience. The possibilities, say two former managing directors, are endless.

Business E-society People Start-ups

An Estonian startup was created from scratch in world record breaking 15 minutes at London Tech Week

The Republic of Estonia beat its own record for the time taken to set up a business virtually, demonstrating the ease by which entrepreneurs can benefit from the country’s pioneering e-Residency programme. The new world record is 15 minutes and 33 seconds.

Business E-society People Start-ups

Estonia outranks most of the world in Global Cybersecurity Index

As war thunders in Europe, so are threats in cyberspace on the rise. Nations worldwide are ramping up their cyber security capabilities. According to National Cyber Security Index (NCSI), Estonia does better in cyber security than most of the world. Estonia’s index 90,91 is 48 percentage points above the world’s average and 17 points betterread more

E-society Innovation Technology

Grünfin puts the money where the green is

As successive global crises support short-term gains, is there a future in green and sustainable investments? Ms. Karin Nemec, Grünfin’s co-founder, and CEO, is confident that there is because an increasing number of people are asking a simple question: “What kind of world do I create with my money?”

Innovation Nature Sustainability

MICHELIN Stars have come to Estonia!

The MICHELIN Guide – the most internationally renowned and prestigious restaurant recognition system – has arrived in Estonia, the first of the Baltic states. After visits from anonymous inspectors, 31 restaurants in Estonia have earned a place on the MICHELIN Guide. Among those, two received a coveted MICHELIN star.

Business Culture Food Tourism

Estonian adventure

Nicola Monteath takes a trip to Tallinn to explore the burgeoning culinary scene.

Culture Food People Tourism

Estonia is the e-governance leader in Europe

Microsoft created the Digital Futures Index and measured the digitalisation level of 16 European countries, including Estonia. Estonia is leading in e-governance with an above CEE average digitalisation level. Estonia outperforms all countries in the Index regarding digital public services.

🎙️e-Estonia podcast: Merle Maigre, senior expert on cyber security, talks about digital resilience

Merle Maigre works as the Senior Cyber Security Expert at e-Governance Academy. From 2017 to 2018, Merle served as the Director of NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, which is a multinational hub of cyber defense expertise for NATO. She also worked as the Security Policy Adviser to Estonian Presidents Kersti Kaljulaid and Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

E-society

Estonian autonomous vehicle company Auve Tech is poised to usher in the post-car era

Estonia’s hydrogen-powered baby unicorn is introducing its vision of environment-friendly commuting. At Unicorn59, Auve Tech Chairman Taavi Rõivas laid out the company’s ambitious plans for the next phase in urban transportation.

Innovation Sustainability Technology

Estonian-founded Click & Grow’s smart technology covers the planet with plants

Inspired by NASA’s plan to grow food in space, Estonian-founded Click & Grow has reached deserts and skyscrapers of our planet and even the heart of Scandinavia’s most popular furniture manufacturer IKEA. The smart gardens by Click & Grow are reconnecting people with nature.

Business Innovation Nature People Sustainability

Estonia’s Star Trek inspired robot bartender Yanu is serving up the future of AI

Inspired by Star Trek and light-years ahead of its competition, robot bartender Yanu guides us into the future of AI in the service industry, founder and CEO Alan Adojaan confirmed on stage at Unicorn59.

Business Design Innovation Technology

Estonia’s Single.Earth aims to create a fully sustainable economy with a nature-backed currency

This Estonian deep tech startup Single.Earth is disrupting climate action by investing in the forests the world has left, not making up for the ones that have already been destroyed. CEO and co-founder Merit Valdsalu explained at Unicorn59 how the nature-backed economy works.

Innovation Nature People Start-ups Sustainability

Foreign investments to Estonia are growing, interest in investing remains high

In 2021, the Estonian Investment Agency facilitated 194 million euros of foreign direct investment to Estonia, which contributed to the creation of over 1,600 high added value jobs across Estonia. Compared to 2020, the CAPEX figure has risen by nearly a quarter and the number of jobs doubled.

Business Innovation Technology

Why Estonian entrepreneurs are so successful – study explains

With the most start-ups per capita in Europe, Estonia’s leaders are clearly on to something. Here’s what the Tartu University study found.

Innovation People Start-ups

Unicorn59 summarised: To build a unicorn, you have to move to Estonia, the land of unicorns

“To build a unicorn, you have to move to Estonia, the land of unicorns,” suggests Carlos Paniagua, the CTO and founder of Estonia’s freshest unicorn Glia.

Business Innovation Start-ups

Nordea is rapidly expanding its operations in Estonia, enabled by the country’s agile business environment

The Nordic universal bank Nordea has been rapidly expanding its operations in Estonia in the past five years and after the latest expansion is complete, Nordea Estonia’s number of employees will be near 900.

Business People

🎙️ e-Estonia podcast: Tanel Sepp, Ambassador at Large for Cyber Diplomacy: Any diplomat needs to be a digital diplomat

Tanel Sepp is the Ambassador at Large and Director-General for the Cyber Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia. He has been in the Estonian Foreign Service for 19 years – having served from Brussels to Kabul, Washington D.C. to Ethiopia. In this episode, recorded two days before Russiaread more

E-society

Raising a tech-savvy nation: in Estonia, even kindergartens teach robotics

Estonians are taking care that our own Steve Jobs and / or Elon Musk could learn tomorrow’s skills already from early childhood. More than half of schools and a number of kindergartens in Estonia teach children programming and robotics through play, so that they would – without too much effort or screen time – pick up IT skills.

education Innovation People Technology

Estonian food is gaining international attention and recognition

Recently, a quarterly print publication and digital platform The Pro Chef Magazine Middle-East published an article listing their favourite food and beverage brands from Estonia.

Culture Food People Tourism

The e-Governance Conference 2022: focus on resilient and seamless governance

The e-Governance Conference 2022, this year reaching its 8th edition, welcomes digital leaders and experts over the three years in Tallinn and online at egovconference.ee. This year the main focus is on the resilience of digital governance in times of crisis and the next step in the path of digitalization – seamlessness. Hannes Astok, Managingread more

E-society Innovation

Michelin Guide arrives in Estonia

The Michelin Guide, the best-known, most prestigious and most experienced restaurant recognition system, which the Estonian tourism and food sector has been waiting for years, has arrived in Estonia. The best restaurants in Estonia will receive Michelin Star(s) in May, 2022.

Business Culture Food People Tourism

Estonia leads Europe in startups, unicorns and investments per capita

“Estonia once again tops the charts,” states Atomico’s recent report, where Estonia is continuously leading Europe in terms of startups, unicorns and investments per capita.

Business E-society Innovation People Start-ups Technology

From the production lines of the Unicorn Factory: ten success stories from the champion in founding billion-dollar startups

10 unicorns founded by Estonians and / or in Estonia have taken the country to Europe’s (and probably the world’s – depending on the way of counting) top in the number of unicorns per capita. We explore how each unicorn that was born here or has Estonians among its founders, reached the billion-dollar valuation – and how Estonia’s e-society, agile business environment and supporting startup community influenced them on the way.

Business E-society Innovation Start-ups

Estonia gets its tenth unicorn: Glia

Estonia, a world leader in numbers of unicorn companies per capita, got its tenth unicorn Glia: the digital customer service provider raised $45M in Series D funding and exceeds $1B valuation.

Business E-society Innovation Start-ups Technology

VIDEO: Journalists and foodies from UAE discovering the taste of Estonia

Estonians have a deep relationship with their food. It reflects our history by combining cuisines and cultures that have traversed our land. To showcase what our tiny nation has to offer, earlier in the year, Enterprise Estonia invited top journalists and foodies from UAE to discover the tastes of Estonia.

Culture Food Nature People Tourism

Estonian tourism news for March 2022

In addition to domestic tourism, Latvian tourists set an all-time record for overnight stays in January, with 16% more overnight stays in accommodation establishments than in January 2019.

Nature People Tourism

Cyber security education in Estonia: from kindergarten to NATO Cyber Defence Centre

Cyber-attacks against Estonia in 2007 pushed Estonia at the front line of cyber security. One of the results of this cyber-warfare was the wide acknowledgment that cyber security knowledge and skills are part of the information society’s blood circulation.

E-society People Technology

A new arms race: Estonia’s ecosystem of cyber security firms work to combat new risks

These are transformative times for Estonian cyber security companies. For weeks, all eyes in the country have been fixed on the ongoing war in Ukraine, but to listen to Raul Rikk, director of national cyber security for the Estonian government, the threat of cyberattacks has only been growing immensely over the past few years, challengesread more

E-society

Estonia and the world: cyber security 2021 in review

“Last year will go down in history as the year of security vulnerabilities, wherein in the race against time and criminals, we had to learn some painful lessons. However, all experiences are useful and must be shared,” says Gert Auväärt, Director of the Cyber Security Branch of the Information System Authority (RIA) in the latestread more

E-society Technology

Cleveron’s new grocery locker holds both groceries and parcels

Estonia’s parcel locker company Cleveron launched a modular grocery locker Cleveron 503 that can be used for grocery and regular parcel pickup. The Cleveron 503 is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, enables retailers to make their grocery pickup faster, offer convenience while saving on delivery costs and increase their physical footprint without building new stores.

Business Technology

Estonia’s National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai is just around the corner. Welcome!

If you haven’t been able to visit the e-Estonia’s bright blue pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, then now is the best time to do it. Over the month of March there are different events taking place as well as business conferences. And on March 20 Estonia`s National Day introduces you the Estonian culture as well as Estonian flavours. Drop by and get to know more about Estonia – the unicorn factory.

Business Culture Design E-society Food Innovation Technology

🎙️ e-Estonia podcast: Jaanika Merilo, Adviser of Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation: there’s a lot to learn from the digitalisation steps of Ukraine.

We recorded our latest podcast episode just a few days before Russia brutally invaded Ukraine on the 24th of February, and the topic couldn’t have been timelier. Florian Marcus’s guest is Jaanika Merilo, an evangelist of e-government, head of PR and Communication of Funderbeam, advisor to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraineread more

E-society

Finnish deep tech company Unikie: Estonia is a fantastic place for product development

Finnish deep tech company Unikie, which develops software for autonomous vehicles, came to Estonia six months ago and plans to expand to the next Estonian city, Tartu. Managing Director of the Estonian office Ville Ilves said that the decision to expand to Estonia was the right one and recommends that other companies follow suit: “Estonia is a fantastic place for product development!”

Business

Data as an Enabler: Estonia’s AI Task Force pushes for widespread Artificial Intelligence uptake

When Estonia commenced its AI strategy some three years ago, the country had just four public sector projects using AI. As of today that number has grown to 80 projects involving 40 organisations across both the public and private sectors, a trend its AI Task Force would like to continue. Estonia’s AI Task Force isread more

Innovation