Archive - 2009

The CEO of Estonian Development Fund, Ott Pärna,made a proposal to make Estonia the world's most user-friendly Internet country at the conference of Year of Innovation.

By calling this undertaking X-VIEW, the leader of of Estonian Development Fund proposed to continue developing the e-state story from the perspective of the client and thus become the first actual country in the Internet. Pärna set his goal to "being to world's most comfortable country in the Internet by 2012" and "being the world's biggest country in the Internet by 2013".

According to Pärna, countries in the Internet and other digital environments are still only developing their identity and so far no-one has had a big breakthrough. "Estonia has quite a lot of technically unique infrastructure beginning from the X-road, which allows integrated use of various databases and ending with the ID-card and digital signature system. All of this allows us to be a few steps ahead and a slightly more innovative in comparison with other countries.

However, we are strong mainly in the back office. At the same time, when it comes to usability, we are rather stagnant; we have created numerous amounts of web pages which are often technically bumpy and service components which have compatibility difficulties - both on governmental and local level. These services and pages pose navigation difficulties even to users whose computer knowledge level is high above average. „ A recent and rather colourful experience by Üllar Jaaksoo, a college and the project director of IT academy, who failed in acquiring a fishing license in the .ee labyrinth, is a fitting example of the problem," said Pärna.

The two main goals of X-VIEW

First, to achieve a situation where most of the state and local government services have a much more similar appearance and usability level. At the same time, all of the services should be reachable from one user-friendly web portal ( see UK's example: http://www.direct.gov.uk/).

 The decrease of costs, time and nerves of people all speak in the favour of creating a similar interface platforms and using the "all from one place" approach.

Thus a significant cost-reduction is achieved by developing service and client view platforms - the same concept is not bought over and over again and also the buyer of the development becomes more competent in the field. In addition, of course the improvement of quality is also achieved; updating the whole system becomes faster, the client support service and system integration with other, both private sector and international Internet environments, will improve.
 

The second goal is to be the "biggest country in the Internet" by 2013 ". It is possible to give different definitions to what it means. At the same time, all countries are the same size in Internet. Every country appears exactly as big as the user's monitor. In other words, despite the fact that when it comes to territory, we are a small country, at least in the Internet we have the same possibilities as the big countries.
It is estimated that today about 2/3 of decisions are made based on the information from the Internet.

Thus the role of Internet in encouraging both tourists and investors keeps growing. Whoever is more innovative, clear and organized, wins. If we had a truly favourable enterprise and tax environment, no-one would forbid us to give out Estonian ID-cards (not citizenship) to the entrepreneurs of the word and no-one would deny them the possibility to set up enterprises, holding companies or funds over the Internet. Something that one can currently do in Luxembourg for a big sum of money and using a fax machine, we could provide by using a much more modern method - doing it completely digitally.

You are most welcome to offer ideas and cooperate with us. X-VIEW is an idea and proposal bank for all the organizations of public, third and private sector who feel the need and willingness to make Estonia the first Internet country of the world!

Further information:
Ott Pärna, CEO of Estonian Development Fund, phone: (+372) 517 8111
Hannes Astok, Member of Parliament and the CEO of Year of Innovation, phone: (+372) 509 1366
Üllar Jaaksoo, Project Director of International IT Academy, phone: (+372) 550 5245
Kristjan Rebane, expert of information society at the Development Fund, phone: (+372) 6161 1063

Postimees:  Europe's incapability to use it's research results for improving it's business and social welfare is called the European Paradox

The world knows many technological discoveries which have been made Europe or by Europeans but have been taken into business use in America. The electromagnetic waves (Maxwell) were discovered and the radar was developed in Europe, but the microwave oven was built and commercialized in the United States. Similarly, Tim Berners-Lee's idea of the the world wide web was developed in CERN, Switzerland whereas one of the first internet-companies, Netscape, was founded in the United States.

Nevertheless, in Estonia we are sincerely speaking about having to reach Europe's education and science levels and see Europe as our role model. See someone who paradoxically is unable to use its scientific achievements for improving economy and solve social issues? What is really behind the European Paradox? I will hereby present my theory but at the same time I will not go further into the fact that in reality the level of European science and investments to research are smaller than in the United States.

My thoughts on the subject.

Traditionally, science has based on clear mono-disciplines, be it physics, mathematics, chemistry, geology, history or theology. Based on my experience from England I claim that the older the university the more orthodox it is - hundreds of years of narrow scientific fields, history and Nobel prizes make them authoritative but also not very flexible. The universities of newer times cannot boast with Nobel prize winners but they put much more emphasis on interdisciplinarity. This, by the way, has helped them to acquire money from companies both for teaching and research and it is interesting to point out that these types of universities are also more popular with foreign students.

The society and economics are by nature complicated and based on problems which are linked with different sciences both in everyday life and also, for example, in governing a country. The companies are looking for possibilities to do business and make money by solving these problems by using clever solutions. The shortage of fossil fuels leads to bringing new energy types, sources and equipment to the market To do so, the companies mix together the achievements from different scientific and technological fields. As the rich world is growing old, it's creating new challenges for the social and healthcare systems but by doing so it creates possibilities for companies to create clever but at the same time multifaceted products, services or solutions.

As long as the scientist and the leader of the country, entrepreneur and citizen see the world with a different pair of glasses, it is extremely unlikely that the money and manpower invested in science and higher education will benefit the society in the best possible way.

Instead of a fiber glass cable, the European science and enterprises are connected by a curved leaky pipe which has knots in it, in some countries less( e.g. UK, Finland, Sweden, Denmark ), in others more (mainly in Central and Eastern-European countries and in South-European countries).

The future of the higher education and science of Estonia and a more significant contribution to society depend on whether we are able to give a new understandable and problem-oriented face the mono-disciplinary and narrow science and education. Exactly because of this, research and teaching should be done by using the interdisciplinary methods. This does not exclude the continuation of the traditional science disciplines, but we must find a way to link them with specific challenges which need solving and are understood by the society. As an example, we can use the water problem about which I have already written about in Postimees. The availability, quality, transport etc. will pose big scientific, technological and ecological problems in the near future. These problems are connected with political and economical challenges which will then lead to philosophical, religious, and ethical problems. These problems should be researched and taught in cooperation of scientists and professors of different fields. This would mean bigger closeness between different faculties and schools, or their unfication.

I propose we take a new look at the old idea of the Estonian University. Not for making a decision immediately and not for choosing the administration and the principal university city, but for meaningful discussions and analyses.

The main goal of the discussion should be finding an answer to the question what the Estonian science and higher education environment should be like to offer effective solutions to complex challenges posed by the society (not just for increasing the efficiency!).

At first, discussion about whether the form of the university should be physical or virtual, it's administrative structure and financing models should be left on the background. Same applies for the name, even though a cleverly chosen name might catch the attenion of the world even before the university is opened. This happened to Aalto University which was created by uniting three universities of Helsinki and which was well-known in the world already before it was opened in early 2010!

Meditating on the subject, I think that the Estonian University (why not named after von Baer, an important figure in the history and the person on the 2-Kroon note) could consist of a small number of multi-disciplinary institutes which would help us sell the Estonian higher education better on an international level. An attempt should be made, ignoring the ownership form, to cluster all existing chairs and faculties, centres, institutes and universities of Estonia under multi-polar institutes at least at the post graduate level.

It is important to ensure that the successful centres of today, e.g. the Viljandi Culture Academy would keep their personal identity as a part of the Estonian University and keep expanding and linking it with other areas, at the same time avoiding overlapping each other. The Estonian University must be a sum of different identities and fields, not a mixture of students and scientists who all have more or less the same qualities. Emphasis must be put on creativity, openness to the world and on ambitions of being the best. In addition, there should be a considerable amount of world class scientists and at least 10 per cent of foreign students instead of the current 1.4 per cent.

Ideally, the institutes created on the basis problem-solving should match with the country's strategical areas in expansion. This way a basis uniting higher education, science and enterprise could be formed and this would help us lead the Estonian economy to the future. Monitoring done by the Development Fund show that the possible central fields could be sustainable energy and environment, health and well-being products and services, international sales and management, challenges and possibilities of multiculturalism, cyber-applications and digital media.

If we find an a wise solution to the European Paradox - doing so is so characteristic to Estonians - and put it into use, then I dare to bet that the society, economy and higher education and science will co-exist in sync. This way Estonia will transform from an exporting donor country to an appealing and popular country for talented people.

Nevertheless, the discussion about the future of the higher education should be expanded and made more ambitious. If the  National University of Singapur (NUS) managed to become one of the top 50universities of the world in 30 years, our goal should be set to reach top 100. But this is only a formal goal. The real task of higher education is training talented people who are capable of moulding the future and solving problems posed by society and economy.

The article is based on the presentation given at the conference "Estonia in the European Higher Education environment - what next?".

ott.parna[A]arengufond.ee, CEO of the Estonian Development Fund.

If we want to achieve new growth, making things a little better is not enough. Neither will introducing euro nor a few supplementary programmes suffice. Our whole society needs to take a long leap forward!

The post-crisis GDP level we are slipping to is the doping-free (read: loan-free) ceiling of our current collective capacity - as entrepreneurs, politicians, officials, education leaders and media managers, as well as the entire society. "We need to wake up and do something fundamentally different," the recognised IT management professor Carlota Perez said once so pertinently when commenting on the success options of the countries battling with the crisis.

In order to move forward, we need a Big Plan - a shared long-sighted vision for the practical future of the Estonian economy and a coherent action plan for its implementation.

The successful Estonia of the future will definitely be creative, appreciative of knowledge and exporting much more sophisticated products and services than today, and doing so on a larger scale. But what kind of knowledge are we talking about, who will be the buyer and where and at which capacity will the products and services be produced, etc? The crisis is the time for a new kind of beginning for both entrepreneurs and the state.

We need to do our best for Estonia could be perceived as a small and smart Scandinavian country that has decided, by acting wisely, to exit the crisis among frontrunners. So that The Economist wouldn't ironically describe us and the other Baltic countries now in slump as suffering from the Baltic blues.

We are not starting out from scratch. Firstly, the percentage of resourceful people in Estonia is close to that of the Scandinavian countries, higher than in the countries sharing the same fate, and also higher than in the southern Europe. Secondly, the Development Fund has carried out a number of foresight projects during its slightly more than two years of existence. These have helped us to gain in-depth insight into the problems of the Estonian economy, perceive global trends and thus identify growth potential in different sectors.

Over a thousand entrepreneurs, decision-makers and thinkers from Estonia and elsewhere have been involved in analysing Estonia's options. About a hundred brainstorming sessions have been held. As a strategic initiative, we have started the Estonian IT Academy project, aimed at taking Estonia's higher IT education to an international level, and launched the Estonian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association together with 25 market players.

Within 14 months five venture capital investments have been made. Four new investments are being prepared while five new ambitious projects are maturing in our international business incubator SeedBooster.

All this has given us enough reason and the certainty to initiate the Estonia's Growth Vision 2018 project, which would give rise to clearly targeted coherent growth programmes to be collectively and effectively implemented. If a small country wants to be in the global picture in certain niches, it has no other option than to specialise.
The Development Fund can, must and wants to be the leader in that process. But we cannot and must not do it alone. There is no institution in this small country that possesses the potential to single-handedly work through all the options and propose and implement the best decisions for Estonia.

Therefore, I call on you, just as I proposed in my speech to the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament), to jointly draft the Growth Vision for Estonia 2018 and set out in that direction. In fact, we have no other choice. Also in search of a new growth story are the pragmatic Singapore, the welfare state Finland, as well as Ireland, once a role model for many, let alone larger countries.

I am appealing to all Estonian leaders: by the next summer, let us discuss the choices that Estonia has and establish a new meaningful landmark. Then we can collectively put it to practice. This is the only way that gives us grounds to expect a new sustainable success story for Estonia that will bring well-being to our people. And so one day The Economist could be inspired to write laudatory feature stories - The Rolling Estonians are back and stronger than ever!

ott.parna[A]arengufond.ee, CEO of the Estonian Development Fund

Column in Postimees: the problem of university education is over-specializing or in other words: the CEO of Estonian Development Fund, Ott Pärna, hopes that the university where his daughter who started school today, hopes to study one day, will be much more open to the world, more international and multifaceted.

It doesn't matter if you answered correctly or not. The idea of the question lies deeper. The question rises from the fact-based basic and high school education (a lot of facts are taught but not how to link them together) and from the growing over-specialization of the university education. Specialists of very narrow fields are produced all over the world and there are too few people who see the big picture and are competent in solving modern day multifaceted problems. The modern name for these people is generalists.

It might come a surprise that in 2004 the ten most needed positions of 2020 did not yet exist. We prepare today's students for jobs which don't exist yet and for solving problems which today are not considered problems by use technologies which are not yet used.

With the lead of the Estonian Development Fund we are putting together a new growth vision for Estonia - an answer to the question about what the competitive Estonian economy should look like in ten years and what we have to do to achieve it. Every research, monitoring or analysis on this topic takes us back to education. Today our economy is in a state where we lack well-defined sectors or fields which would lead us to (new) growth. One can agree with the claim made by Villy Zirnask that in Estonia today, in most sectors there are some minor imaginary strong qualities and a load of real weaknesses (EPL 18.08).

Nevertheless, here and there one can see the passion for creating new success stories and these initiatives must be supported. These initiatives have two things in common. All of them presume multiplication or even ten times increase of their current value in order to achieve macro economical effect in Estonia. This leads us to Estonian education, which has to support these big changes - if we really want them - at least partially. In order to achieve something big, at least some part of the people with world class competence must be brought in from outside of Estonia, though. For example, when developing it's pharmacy industry, Singapore brought eight of the ten key specialists from other countries, mainly from North-America and Europe.

One of these challenges is named "Estonian IT Academy" and it is a cooperation project between the four rectors of universities providing IT-education and the leaders of Information Technology and Telecommunication Association. As a matter of fact, what is done at the industrial and graphic design department of Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) goes well with our goals. EKA, join us!

The goal of this undertaking is to take the Estonian higher IT-education to a significant international level in current situation where we lack about a thousand IT experts; and because of the low birth rate of the 90s, in the near future,there will be about 50 per cent less students in the universities. To succeed, we need 500-1000 foreign students instead of the 50 we have today.

IT, by nature, has multifaceted connections and with increasing its efficiency, it can offer product and service development possibilities for many fields. Mark C. Taylor, professor of Columbia University, goes even further in his reformative article in the New York Times, and suggests that universities eliminate faculties altogether and move to programs which are based on problem-solving and which appear, evolve and disappear organically. We can use the topic of water as an example. The availability, quality, transport etc. of water will pose big scientific and ecological problems in the future. These problems are connected with political and economical challenges which lead also to philosophical, religious and ethical problems. These and other similar problems cannot be solved by using one science vertically. Instead, many it must be done horizontally using different disciplines. The field of cyber-security, which is familiar to us, is multifaceted in a similar way.

The main reason why one Aalto University was created from Helsinki Technical University, Economics and Business University and Art and Design Academy, lies in the fact that the Finns are oriented on problem-solving and innovativeness. The soon-to-be opened and world's sixth most wealthy King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has the same ambitions. There are no academic faculties in that university. Studying and research work will be done in four research institutes which concentrate on biosciences, material sciences, energy and environment and computer sciences and mathematics, respectively.

Today my oldest daughter begins her studies in a school which has a relatively high level. I do hope, though, that she'll graduate from a school different from the one where she begins her studies at, and the university she'll try to enrol one day, will be more open to the world, more international and multifaceted.

To make a change such as this, twelve years is actually an optimal time period. One can see that the innovative countries are moving in this direction. We have no excuses for being less ambitious! The success of Estonia lies in the versatility and the level of education of the future decision-makers.

The Estonian IT Academy is the umbrella name given to a joint initiative aimed at elevating Estonia’s higher education in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) to a new level so that it would be capable of an international breakthrough.

This entails world-class higher ICT education, which would:
- be interdisciplinary;
- appeal to talented Estonian and foreign students;
- attract top professors and researchers;
- contribute to international ICT or ICT-based business conducted by Estonian companies;
- prompt a new wave of foreign investments channelled into Estonia.

When pursuing the objective, Estonia will benefit from its international reputation as a successful IT country capable of implementing and developing new information and communication technologies. This is a foundation which makes it significantly easier to resume building up reliability as a significant provider of higher ICT education.

This initiative stemmed from the conclusions of the Estonian Development Fund’s EST_IT@2018 foresight project. ICT implementation has contributed to almost 50% of the productivity growth witnessed by the Western economies. Estonia possesses sufficient untapped potential for benefiting even more from ICT.

Regrettably, the shortage of thousands of ICT specialists does not enable to utilise the ICT potential in Estonia. Therefore, ICT companies find it impossible to expand their business activities in Estonia. The current economic crisis and an overall increase in unemployment have not brought any relief: according to employment agencies, there is a persistently high demand for ICT specialists and every tenth available job is being offered namely to computer specialists.

Problems are deepening in the medium-long term: the supply of highly qualified IT specialists will decrease further in the coming years due to unfavourable demographic trends persisting in Estonia. In 2014, the number of high school graduates will plummet by nearly a half from the current 12,000. The ensuing relevance to higher ICT education would be a decline to just five hundred students enrolled in computer sciences programmes compared to the one thousand students currently commencing their studies in this area. Should the efficiency of the education process remain unchanged, the number of ICT graduates would drop from some 350 today to just 190 a year.

Considering the deepening shortage of ICT specialists, the common goal of the signatories is to make sure that – regardless of the unfavourable demographics – the number of students commencing studies in the field of ICT in Estonia would remain AT LEAST at the current level and that most of the students would complete their studies on schedule.

A possible solution is to become significantly more active in bringing foreign students and lecturers to Estonia. In order to achieve that, needless duplication in Estonia's higher ICT education must be avoided and all efforts should be pooled towards co-operation outside Estonia. A purposeful engagement of foreign students from target countries relevant to us will also underpin the efforts of Estonian companies seeking to operate in these markets and increase their export revenues.

Within the framework of the co-operation agreement, we have decided to prepare a business plan by spring 2010 at the latest. We will try out different possibilities, agree on necessary steps and then mobilise resources into carrying out the vision.

We hope that the experience drawn from this pilot project will be of use in a broader context and contribute to finding effective and fast ways of making Estonia's higher education international.

We are inviting all interested parties to contribute to the success of the Estonian IT Academy!

The memorandum has been signed digitally by:

Taavi Kotka from the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Peep Sürje from Tallinn University of Technology, Alar Karis from University of Tartu, Rein Raud from Tallinn University, Kalle Tammemäe from the Estonian Information Technology College, Ott Pärna from the Estonian Development Fund.

Background slides by Ott Pärna on the cooperation agreement as the basis for the Estonian IT academy (pdf 2 mb)

Read also the EST_IT@2018 foresight conclusions.

• www.itacademy.ee/en

BBN: So far it’s not even known whether we met Maastricht criteria last year, not mentioning this year, Heido Vitsur, an economy expert at the Estonian Development Fund told ERR News.

“When last year’s gross domestic product is reviewed 0.5 pct smaller then we haven’t met the criteria. We overdramatize things. We must understand that getting euro is likely process, not certain arithmetical game where everyone knows what happens,” Vitsur said.

He said that nothing will happen if we fail to join euro next year.

“We live on just the same. Currently it’s hoped that euro brings more investments. If it is so then our efforts are justified,” he said.

Vitsur said that analysts and investors have different interests and principles, which is why no one knows whether euro will bring big investments at once.

“Euro is beneficial for one, not other,” he said.

Tigerprises.com TigerBriefs: Estonian start-up Fortumo, that offers possibilities to create your own mobile service in 5 minutes and earn money with it, is expanding rapidly.

Thus far the service has been very popular in Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and Asia. But now Fortumo “fever” is drifting towards Western Europe.

The company has entered French, Spanish and Portugese markets and promises to expand into neighbouring countries shortly. “France, Spain and Portugal are mobile-loving countries where SIM penetration exceeds population. At the same time, they are relatively well developed countries, creating good opportunities for internet businesses,” the Marketing Director of Fortumo, Martin Koppel says.

Reminding once again the fascinating qualities of Fortumo: no startup fee, no monthly fee, no need for any skills.

Over 65 000 SMS services has been created with Fortumo thus far and you can see from the following maps where.

Tigerprises.com: Estonian e-health software developer Raintree is anticipating what will be the outcome of Barack Obama’s plan to invest 17 billion dollars into electronic health information technology and records under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Raintree’s software is already related to over one million patients in US and used by over 14 000 medical doctors. The company is present in 49 US states and can rightfully call itself one of the market leaders.

Among market leaders

Contentedly said – the sales continue growing, Raintree is very well known among physiotherapists, but majority of the recent new customers are bariarics surgery clinics, that cure overweightness. Recently Raintree entered into oncology software market and now develops a tool for defining chemotherapy doses. 

“We can’t yet say that our sales are projecting Obama’s iniciatives, since the officials are specifying the terms regarding how the Act money will be allocated,” CEO of Raintree Estonia, Aleksei Udachny says.

“But it sure does make me proud if I enter a clinic in San Francisco or New York, Manhattan and see our software running in a computer!”

No marketing costs!

Meanwhile the company continues to work with existing and new clients and develop its software, presicely the patient’s web portal, automatic file administration and e-receipt solution. It’s kind of wonderful that Raintree doesn’t even have to bury money into marketing – one doctor advises another to buy the software, the product is are marketing itself. Believe it or not, but a study made last year showed that only about 4 percent of USA doctors use electronic patient databases, other 96 percent have adherenced themself to the old and already tried paper and pencil.

Terminator terminated the plan

In 2004 Raintree faced some bad luck when the “Terminator” bulldozered over their US ambitions. Raintree was about to have huge stake in the medicin system of California, after winning the procurement for building medicin insurance software that would cover 27 Californian counties. But Arnold Schwarzenegger acceded to become the Governor and conducted a sharp cutback in costs. As for result, Raintree’s mega deal was flushed down the toilet. “One political decision crossed out everything,” Udachny remembers.

Tigerprises.com TigerBriefs: Estonian start-up iComTV has launched it’s next Out-Of-Home (OOH) Media solution – iN-Store TV.

iN-Store TV channel is available in Swedbank offices across Estonia. Swedbank clients are entertained with specially created silent short movies, information and advertising clips. iComTV has provided the technical solution and manages the network and content updates.

Marco Rüütel, the Founder of iCom TV says that the widespread consumer use of digital video and photography has created a false impression that in-store TV could be easily created by regular office personnel. In reality making the right and cost effective choices regarding technical platform and video production requires plenty of professional expertise and experience. That’s the basis of iComTV products and services. “We don’t expect the client to invest into in-house know-how about OOH media and video, that really isn’t their main line of business,” he says.

Read more about iCom TV from this TigerPrises.com post.

BBN: Morningstar, Inc. aprovider of independent investment research, today launched a new Web site to bring free investment funddata and analysis to investors in Estonia, the company announced.

The new Web site, available at www.morningstarestonia.com, offers investors an unparalleled resource for data and analysis on more than 900 open-ended investment funds domiciled or
available for sale in Estonia. The site also includes access to quantitative and qualitative fund ratings assigned by a team of experienced Morningstar fund analysts, and a number of free online tools to make the searching and screening of funds for data and ratings easy and efficient.

“Our continued goal is to provide investors with the data and analysis they need to make betterinformed investment decisions,” said Ketil Myhrvold, chief executive officer for Morningstar Norway. “Our dynamic fund data, coupled with detailed funds analysis from Morningstar teams worldwide, deliver a real advantage to Estonian investors as they tackle their investment decisions. We trust investors will find the new site useful, and we invite their feedback at any time.”