Estonia is leading in eGovernment

Estonia has made it clear; the country is open for business. Estonia is offering anybody to become an “e-Estonian”. Once your identity is established, you will have the access to banking, education, and government services, amongst other benefits of being a citizen. You can securely store and share documents, digitally sign contracts, and register your business. Short of voting, you’ll be able to do everything as any native Estonian. According to the information, the Estonian government was able to shorten their weekly meeting from 4-5 hours to 30-90 minutes, by using the e-Cabinet. Any decision is sent directly to the interested parties the moment the decision has been made.

It is worthwhile to visit the official website and read about the future. Warning: While visiting the website, you might see strange associations between words and pictures. The artistic directors chose a sheep herder that is checking his iPad to demonstrate the value of e-Government; a smiling man, in a Winnie the Poo costume while getting ticketed from a police officer, is promoting e-Police; an elderly man falling from a scooter is the poster-child for e-Health; (and my favourite) three, almost naked, men in a sauna pointing at a monitor with caption – ‘Technology creates fertile soil for development’.

This sets Estonia in a stark contrast with Hungary. This week, we saw the introduction, of a revenue starved Hungarian government, of the Internet tax. The mass demonstration followed, forced the government to first create a cap for the amount charged and later the complete withdrawal of the proposal. Message to the Hungarian government; take notes from the Estonians. “Technology creates fertile soil for development.”