An Estonian Survey of Information Society Projects: Inflection Points II
Tarmo Kalvet, project manager, Archimedes Foundation, Estonia
Merik Meriste, senior researcher, University of Tartu, Estonia
Marek Tiits, project manager, Archimedes Foundation, Estonia, Baltic IT Review 4 '2000
This article provides a continuation of the analysis of developments in Estonian information society projects [1]. The analysis is based on materials and experiences that were gained under the framework of the EC initiative "European Survey of Information Society II".
<big>Introduction </big>
The European Survey of Information Society project (ESIS II) is a coordinated survey which was initiated by and is supported by the Information Society Promotion Office. The aim is to build up an inventory of projects and to collect data about various developmental activities that have been undertaken by public authorities or private actors in Europe, whether at the pan-European, national, regional or local level. Other aims include monitoring and analyzing regulatory developments in the field of telecommunications and the Information Society, as well as establishing a systematic map of entities which are creating the relevant infrastructure, along with services and applications.
On the basis of this analysis of IS projects in Estonia and on a survey of the situation in general (more data can be found at we can outline the following important inflection points in the development of the Estonian Information Society:
1) The necessary level of ICT infrastructure has been developed, and quite an appropriate foundation has been set up for successful development in the future. The quality of the ICT infrastructure varies significantly in the public, private and NGO sector, and this can have a crucial impact on further systematic developments (in the context of our small country in particular);
2) The central issue for Estonia now is to achieve more efficient application of ICT, by means of systematic development of ICT strategies for regions and organizations, by supplying human-oriented, ICT-supported services, and by expanding the regional development of the informational infrastructure;
3) Private sector activities in ICT applications are first and foremost supported by the ongoing development of E-commerce. This, in turn, has a positive influence on individuals and their understanding (and support?) of Information Society developments.
<big>The point of view of global development </big>
Foreign experts say that Estonia has made remarkable progress in ICT development, placing the country among the world’s leaders in terms of a number of indicators in this area (see the ESIS report "IS promotional activities", September 2000, at
At the same time, people are increasingly realizing that in addition to technological developments and the formation of the informational infrastructure, there are changes in social, economic and political relations which must be considered. These changes and the relevant processes of development must be analyzed systematically when developing public policies.
Political priorities in the development of the Information Society include guaranteeing equal access to technologies and providing an elementary level of education to users. The mass media, as well as a number of studies, have focused attention on the need to develop user-friendly information environments in support of the everyday lives of citizens. There is one specific aspect in Estonia which is worth mentioning here – the level of the ICT infrastructure and related applications in Estonia’s society has reached the level of the world’s leading countries in a short period of time. In addition to the purely technological aspects of development, therefore, there is an urgent need for human-oriented ICT applications, taking into full account the aspect of information ecology. This could be a developmental process of remarkable economic advantage because of the compactness of the national and organizational infrastructures which are characteristic of Estonia.
IT experts estimate that in the year 2010, between 90% and 95% of all information that is circulating in global networks will involve communications among computers with the aim of dealing with issues that have been assigned to them by human beings. The remaining share of information circulation will involve direct human action. This means that there is a danger of technological determinism or dictatorship – praising bites and signs, but leaving in the background the simplicity, suitability and meaning of applications.
<big>Possible development scenarios, 2005-2010 </big>
The Estonian Institute for Future Studies has released an "Estonia 2010" forecast in which it focuses on various scenarios concerning development in the country. Both likely and less likely scenarios are described in the document, and these provide a fully acceptable and suitable basis for this discussion. The possible scenarios in "Estonia 2010" are based on two major factors – the type of geo-economic integration that will occur in Estonia and the attitudes of society toward global development that is based on information technologies. The latter factor will be considered more closely in this paper. Although independent and conflicting factors can have a critical influence on development, the actions which are taken by the state are of great importance.
The LEADER scenario is based on the idea that the state will be active in building up Information Society structures, concentrating its public policies on the most promising and/or value adding sectors. The scenario is predicated on the idea that society will be open and that Estonia will be establishing the image of a successful country. The purpose is to make Estonia one of the countries in the world which are known for their level of technological development and their economic success. The leader role means the ambition to be first in line when it comes to the application of new technologies in business relations, the public sector and in the overall living environment (E-commerce, E-banking, innovations in the educational system, etc.).
The FOLLOWER scenario, by contrast, has Estonia proceeding on the basis of laissez-faire policies. The structures of society will emerge only as needs dictate. There will be inertia and cautious self-protective interests among economic structures, and this, along with the external environment of national and regional development organizations in the countries of the Baltic Sea Region, will mean that social relations cannot be at the top of the world in terms of technological standards or additional produced value. Legislative structures and information technology applications from developed countries will be copied, changed only when other countries have already changed them. Estonia will not accept the alternations which suit it best, nor will it apply the latest technologies. Estonia will use (and perhaps produce) the world’s leading products, and the models of western society will be applied, but Estonia will not be a provider of or testing ground for new solutions. Additional value from the creation of new solutions cannot be considered here. Of course, the application of tested solutions contains much smaller risk of heading off in the wrong direction, but this process would also not protect us from unexpected market changes. Estonia would remain in the conservative position of a late consumer in the IT field, and this would not lead to economic growth and better quality of life.
In the ABSENTEE scenario, Estonia would abstain from revolutionary applications of the technology revolution, as well as from the use of new products and ideologies for a long period of time.
A more detailed description of these scenarios can be found in the document "Territorial and economic planning in Estonia, 2010", in Estonian with a review in English (
<big>Proposals on supporting the development of the Information Society in Estonia </big>
The following is based on the ESIS II Information Society Projects database ( other information sources, and other analyses from the ESIS II project team ( as collected during the course of mapping key trends in the development of Estonia’s Information Society. Ideas for proposals have originated from problems that were observed while analyzing projects and their shortcomings. The purpose here is to guarantee a better basis for the further development of the Estonian Information Society. The presentation is divided up according to traditional institutional structures (Parliament and government, ministries and authorities, local governments) and key domains (universities, enterprises). The most important existing shortcomings in these various areas are explained as background for the proposals that are being made.
<big>Parliament and government</big>
Given the short history of Estonia’s current system of public administration, the rapid changes which have occurred in legislation, the institutional reforms which have been implemented, and the low competitiveness of the public sector when it comes to the labor force (especially in the IT sector), it is easy to understand that there are various problems in this sector. The result of these wider-scale developments has been a low level of trust in the administrative apparatus and, by extension, a low level of state legitimacy. A number of these problems could be solved through skillful information policy implementation, however. The following proposals are worthy of attention at the national level:
• Information policies must be revised and there must be in-depth updating of educational and innovation policies, all with the aim of directing the formation of Information Society support structures and coordinating the focused development of an integrated, top-level information technology infrastructure in the country;
• A Freedom of Information Act must be approved and enforced, thus creating more favorable conditions for the involvement of the public in political life;
• Strategic research and analysis on the Information Society must be an additional component in the aforementioned support structures;
• There must be active policies to guarantee free competition in the national telecommunications market, beginning on January 1, 2001, and through the persistent enforcement of the Telecommunications Act, among other means;
• The principle of user-friendly and systematic development of the IT infrastructure must be applied – technologies, technological competence and strategic management are all of importance, and there must be a reorganization of the institutional structure of the relevant R&D system.
Proposals from the initiators of the ESIS project emanated from the need for efficient solutions to the following problems:
• Missing strategic information and the superficial nature of analysis in arriving at political decisions may lead to simplified political and technological solutions; the negative impact is all the more pronounced in Estonia, a small and rapidly developing country;
• The lack of competent IT specialists in nearly all domains is becoming a serious and long-term problem in the IT area;
• The cost of public administration has remained high despite the hope that IT applications would lead to cost-cutting opportunities; the relatively weak culture of innovation in the public sector does not favor the implementation of substantial IT applications;
• The level of IT skills and the culture of IT application remain uneven in various sections of the public administration system, despite active in-service training, and this does not favor the systematic use of IT in the public sector (this may well prove to be an important and expensive obstacle against further development).
The proposals emphasize the natural advantages of a small and innovative country. National projects are comparatively easy to implement and cost less, provided that appropriate legislative means and policies are involved. Independent of particular technologies, systematic innovation always requires political decisions, a development IT infrastructure, and all relevant skills and knowledge. The speed at which developmental policies are taken in Estonia remains a problem.
<big>Ministries and other central institutions </big>
Estonia has a relatively non-efficient system of public administration, which inhibits the ability of the state to enforce key legislative acts that relate to the development of the Information Society. In this context, the following proposals are of note:
• A rational and effective organizational and technological infrastructure is needed for enforcement of the Digital Signatures Act. The creation of a user-centered and effective infrastructure is always of key importance when it comes to new technologies of mass consumption. Once organizational and technological infrastructures in place, it is considerably more expensive to reform them in significant ways;
• There must be greater concentration on the principle of knowledge-based work when it comes to reforming public sector institutions and developing more effective work organization and information environments;
• There must be development of integrated electronic document management in administrative domains, and this must be done in concert with strategic principles and the elaboration of standard contracts and procedures;
• There is a need for an in-service training system which is based on the need to organize work that is concentrated on IT and the principle of life-long learning; this must begin with the training of leaders in the areas of knowledge-based economy and management.
There are a number of problems in terms of present developments in this area which should be mentioned:
• There is a comparatively low level of IT culture, and awareness is often missing when it comes to the new opportunities which IT applications can create. This causes many people in the public sector to develop hesitant or negative attitudes toward innovation. Most civil servants today are not taking advantage of all of the possibilities which IT offers when it comes to facilitating everyday tasks;
• Legislation is lagging behind the developmental needs of the Information Society – Estonia’s basic information policy principles and the associated active plan both need updating;
• There is weak support for the implementation of various important Information Society projects, and there is a lack of necessary skills in several important administrative fields.
<big>Local governments and county governments </big>
The following proposals have been made at the level of regional and local governments:
• The Information Society plans of local governments should be established in a consistent way, oriented more toward people and services than toward technologies;
• There is a need for systematic development of infrastructure and training in order to shape an IT culture in Estonia’s regions;
• The initiative to set up public Internet access points must be continued so as to enable access to services;
• The development and wider application of ICT-based services, along with user training, must be supported through regional strategic initiatives;
• Legal supervision and strengthening of copyright protection.
The most important problems at this level, as noted in the ESIS project, include:
• The high cost of infrastructure, which prevents the wide application of Information Society services in more remote regions of the country;
• A lack of the skills which are needed to initiate and to carry out Information Society projects; relatively few services are being offered despite the opportunities which existing technologies afford, and developments in this area could be achieved through the shaping of more positive attitudes and the creation of greater IT competence.
<big>Educational and research institutions </big>
The educational sector is the one which is expected to produce competitive advantage in the knowledge-based society. Estonia has successfully launched a process that is aimed at the mastering of new ICT skills (the national "Tiger Leap" program, for example), but the field is developing so quickly that there is a need for constant evolution, not individual campaigns. At the present level of development, this means that there must be systematic development and innovation when it comes to information technologies in the educational sector, and efficiency must be increased through retraining and vocational training. The main proposals in this area are the following:
• IT strategy principles and information policies must be elaborated at the level of organizations;
• There must be long-term plans to strengthen IT foundations in higher education, and in research and development;
• Much greater attention must be devoted to systematic planning of the IT infrastructure and to the interests of educational institutions in this area (teaching-learning); there must be a guarantee of the sustainability of the EENet, which provides Internet connections for educational and R&D institutions.
ESIS project teams have made these proposals on the basis of the following problems:
• There have been serious strategic problems in educational management – a lack of long-term visions and plans, unclear priorities and aims and unstable budgetary support;
• There has been weak cooperation between research and industry in the development of new products and technologies;
• There is an ongoing lack of competent IT personnel, and technocratic solutions are often implemented on an ad hoc basis; this does not favor the establishment of an efficient environment;
• There have been problems in approving long-term development plans and financing principles for the Internet connections of R&D organizations.
<big>Telecommunications and cable operators </big>
Estonia’s telecommunications networks have undergone rapid changes over the last 10 years and have reached a modern level. This is the area in which Estonia has posted the most outstanding results when it comes to the development of the Information Society at a European level.
Despite this, however, rapid liberalization of telecommunications markets in Europe and the possibilities which new technologies have created mean that there are still changes which need to be made in the sector. If access to the communications infrastructure is to be guaranteed on favorable terms (thus supporting the development of the Information Society), it is important for companies to:
• Be more active in vetting cable distribution legislation, as well as enforcement and market regulation mechanisms;
• Be proactive when it comes to the liberalization of the market and the opportunities which arise under the framework of the Telecommunications Act.
These proposals are based on the following observations:
• Telecommunications service tariffs remain high, service quality can be improved in significant ways, and access in certain regions of the country remains limited;
• Legislation and its enforcement do not necessarily support competition in the cable distribution market;
• The market is not yet sufficiently liberalized – several services, as well as the entry of new companies into the market, are subject to competition restrictions; access to the communications infrastructure for companies with significant market power (including those which provide final consumer connections) must be given at cost-based prices.