Economics, Estonia, Legislation, Technology

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 05:49

Digital revolution, augmenting e-residency to be in focus for Estonia

BC, Tallinn, 15.11.2017.Print version
An information and communications technology (ICT) development program that was approved by the governmental committee on economic development on November 14th focuses on digital revolution in industry and construction and expanding the e-residency project, Estonia's Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Urve Palo said, cites LETA/BNS.

She said that the plan drawn up at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications also sets a goal to bring to Estonia 2,000 IT specialists with the help of the e-Estonia program.

 

Palo said that the aim of the program for the empowerment of e-Estonia that will launch next year is to speed up the development of digital economy, bring 2,000 IT specialists to Estonia and advance ICT related research development, spokespeople for the ministry said.

 

"Although Estonia is known for broad use of national e-services, digitalization of the industry and digital construction have not been properly addressed so far. That has been highlighted both by different experts of the government as well as by a think-tank made up of IT experts from the private sector, in collaboration with whom the development program was drawn up," Palo said.

 

"The value-added of the manufacturing industry in Estonia is lower almost by half than the average European indicator, 55 percent, and this gap will not disappear just so easily. The state must lend its support to digitalization of the industry," the minister said.

 

"By means of digitalization of the industry and the economy, luring IT specialists to Estonia and investments in e-residency we can eventually create new high-paid jobs in Estonia. In addition we will create a favorable ground for the emergence of new businesses offering such jobs. The outcomes of the ICT development program can be assessed by the significant amount of tax revenue to be added by it over the next three years," Palo said.

 

The total size of the ICT development program is 28 million euros, of which 8 million euros will be invested in 2018 and 10 million euros in each of the two following years. The main goals are to bring to Estonia by 2020 20,000 businesses of e-residents that will bring more than 86 million euros to Estonia per year combined. It is also planned to bring to Estonia 2,000 highly paid IT specialists, to move forward vigorously with the digitalization of industry and construction, and to augment projects in research development having the biggest potential, such as those in the fields of data mining and cyber defense, for instance.






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