Estonia's IT policy

One of the best meetings we had in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, as members of the visiting Foreign and European Affairs Committee of the Maltese House of Representatives, was with officials responsible for the implementation of Estonia's IT policy, which they describe as being intended to create a more service-centred and citizen-friendly state.

This is fitting indeed, as there is far more to ICT than the mere procurement of computer hardware.

The biggest shortcoming we have in Malta is that the strides forward made in e-government have not been compensated for adequately by the desired progress in the research and development sectors, as laid down by the EU's Lisbon Strategy.

But enough said about the local situation, for the time being. The Labour Party hopes to show that it has a vision of its own in this area, as we intend to do when we publish our ICT vision statement once it is approved by the party's national executive.

ICT-related developments in Estonia have been development-driven rather than policy led, thus ensuring that a good level of co-operation between the public and private sectors is secured.

Following the pursuit of the achievement of the Lisbon goals as Estonia's IT policy happens to be doing, its e-policy has set out as priority fields the very same sectors of the e-Europe 2005 action plan - e-services in government, e-learning, e-health and e-business as well as their secure underlying structure.

The recent statement by their Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Andrus Ansip is a lesson for us all: primarily that IT policy will count for little if it remains a stand-alone strategy without any links to other policy fields.

Using IT must not be an objective in itself, but it must also serve as a means to give added value to other spheres of life.

Thus, argues Ansip, the e-dimension has to be integrated into all policy documents and strategies to reap real benefits from IT.

I was particularly struck by what the Estonians are doing by way of e-democracy and actually increasing the efficiency of the public sector.

Regarding e-democracy they are in the process of creating an Internet-based e-voting system while they have also introduced the concept of a paperless Cabinet of Ministers by way of e-Cabinet.

IT is not being used in the public sector merely by introducing computer hardware in most ministries, but they are using it also as a means to increase and improve the quality of leadership and management.

In education, the introduction of Web-based study forms in higher education and lifelong learning rank highly.

Regarding the business and industrial sectors they are embarking on the task of ensuring that development and use of modern ICT solutions will not only be facilitated, but they have also set out to promote ICT-related research and development as well as innovation in the private sector.

The development of e-business will be advanced by promoting the use of ID card, digital signature and authentication methods based on digital information.

Estonia prides itself on having become an e-state. For this reason they have committed themselves to taking the necessary steps to maintain the high international reputation that they have acquired. They are determined to promote and disseminate innovative concepts and standards elaborated in Estonia so as to ensure European-wide use for them.

E-inclusion also ranks highly in Estonian society. It is only in this way that one can frontally address the digital divide by offering access to ICT, particularly to the socially disadvantaged through various public internet access points (PIAPs).

ICT will also be used to increase the employment rate: for the unemployed and people at risk of losing their job, opportunities will be created to study ICT.

In addition, necessary incentives will be created for employers to increase the share of teleworking.

The Estonian authorities are of the opinion that education and R&D must go together, apart from increasing the level of digital literacy that are creating preconditions for improving the quality of technology-oriented higher education.

Nowadays many reference books, study materials and scientific articles are being published in Estonian on the Internet.

To further develop the scientific base necessary for the technological development of IT companies they are proposing the following actions:

¤ promotion of scientific research in the field of IT;

¤ encouraging participation in EU R&D development framework programmes;

¤ elaboration of a national ICT programme as set out in the Estonian research and development strategy - 'Knowledge-based Estonia'; and

¤ intensifying international co-operation not only by shaping and forming the e-Europe current and future action plans but also by fostering participation in EU technology co-operation networks.

Apart from their efforts in business development, I was particularly impressed by their culture-driven endeavours, which include among others, the digitisation of records as well as the collection of digital information with archival value and the drafting of a national programme for the long-term digital preservation of national cultural heritage. In the health sector ICT will considerably facilitate the management and exchange of information related to medicine.

Apart from the implementation of the Digital Health Record, they have introduced a common nation-wide record, which ensures commonly agreed movement of data on a patient's treatment and conducted medical examinations between health care institutions, subject to strict security requirements.

One lesson we should also learn is how the Estonians are promoting their country in the world with the help of modern IT solutions. Websites of the Estonian representations will be further developed and linked with the e-environments providing business and tourism services.

Leo Brincat is the main Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs and IT.

leo.brincat@gov.mt