Update January 2000: Estonia

From October to December 1999 several events took place, the most significant of which are presented below using sources like news agencies BNS and ETA as well as information gathered from different experts.

1. Events aimed at increasing awareness (workshops, www-services, information exchange)

The international co-ordination committee of the logistics programme TEDIM (Telematics in Foreign Trade Logistics and Delivery Management, 1995 - 2005) held its eighth annual conference in Tallinn on September 28-30, 1999. The aim of the programme is to improve the movement of goods between the Baltic Sea states using electronic data transmission among other means. During the conference, the shortcomings of Estonian legislation were pointed out (the legislation does not support electronic data transmission in logistics) and the decisions adopted during the conference were presented to the government.

The 6th International Exhibition on Medical Equipment and Pharmaceutical Products Medifar'99 with 105 companies participating, took place in Tallinn from September 30 to October 1, 1999. The fair also included a conference "Specialist Doctor in Europe and in Estonia". Among other topics, information technology in medicine was discussed interdisciplinarily.

On October 14, a conference presenting the regional data communications programme "Külatee" (Village Road), took place. The conference included presentations on the developments of Külatee, future trends of data communication, different possibilities of developing data communications in rural areas, technical and organisational solutions, etc. The conference was broadcast live on the Internet.

On October 18-19, an international seminar "From Traditional to Digital Library" was organised by the National Library of Estonia with the support of Nordinfo. Technological and copyright problems in creating digital libraries, in archiving and using information were discussed.

On November 17-19, 1999, five candidate members of the European Union discussed the issues of controlling the borders of the European Union in the seminar "Future External Borders". The central topics of the seminar were adopting the requirements of EU external border control by the candidate countries; implementing the border control methods adopted in EU countries; and training standards for the personnel guarding the borders. The methods for detecting forged documents on the external borders and implementation of the Schengen information system in border control were also discussed. The seminar was initiated by the ICMPD (International Centre for Migration Policy Development).

On November 22-24, 1999, Estonia participated with its own stand in the Information Society Technologies conference and exhibition IST'99, where many of Estonia's leading IT companies presented their products/services and found partners.

On December 16, 1999, a conference "Net Profit: How to Survive in E-Estonia", took place. Leading experts from many fields shared their experiences and motives in investing in Internet companies, gave their opinion on the Internet market and its development during the next 1-2 years as well as gave recommendations on using the Internet in conducting business.

Due to the high popularity and availability of the Internet, many organisations have continued with different Internet services projects:

• Microlink, the biggest IT company of the Baltic countries, introduced an internet portal delfi.ee in November. The portal draws together all internet services provided by Microlink so far;
• in November 1999, Estonia's first internet magazine PYRAMID in PDF format came out;
• The Ministry of Justice improves the work of Enterprises Register, making the handling of the registries completely electronic and publishing parts of the data by the end of 2000 at the latest.
• The Minister for Ethnic Affairs Katrin Saks opened a web site presenting her office;
• Many local governments (Tallinn, Tartu) have published the legal acts adopted by the cities on the Internet;
• The number of users of the Institute of Baltic Studies projects Celex (Database of legal acts of the European Union) and Database of Estonian Legal Acts, is growing constantly.
• The first Internet-based buying and selling interface osta.ee, aimed at the general public, has been implemented.

International organisation Business Software Alliance (BSA) has become active in fighting against widely-spread software piracy in Estonia. BSA has organised training for police officers, educated computer users through the media; and, together with the police, organised raids to different organisations in order to check the legality of the software used by the company.

2. State Information Policy

Estonia has adopted a political document "Principles of Estonian Information Policy" and a specifying "Estonian Information Policy Action Plan" that is constantly being developed. The Action Plan is approved once a year (last time on June 1, 1999).

The Government of Estonia has decided to give preferential treatment to the following areas in 2000 and 2001:

• "Külatee" (Village Road), programme aimed at developing county-level data communication networks;
• Electronic Document Management Programme for governmental institutions;
• actions creating a legal framework, organisational structure and technical environment for the implementation of digital signature;
• Programme for informatizing higher education ("Tiger Leap in Higher Education")

Office of Public Administration (created in the State Chancellery in January 1999, actual work started in November 1999) has the task to co-ordinate the development of public administration in different governmental institutions and to analyse the development of public administration in Estonia.

The first task of the Office is to prepare a Public Administration Reform Programme for the Government. The Programme sets the main principles of the reform policy and it will become the basis of creating a reform strategy and action plan.

The "Principles of the Government's Public Administration Reform Programme", published in December, includes better application of information and communication technologies in the public sector as one of the priority areas.

Estonian political leaders have also expressed their concern about the scarcity of IT specialists. To overcome this problem, an IT college with practical orientation is being founded. The college should begin working in Autumn, 2000. The teaching will be based on the academic potential of Estonia's leading universities. Estonian Telecom has announced its financial support to the college.

On September 30, the State Chancellery in co-operation with the Estonian Information Technology Society organised an international conference on the Y2K computer bug. The topic has also been widely discussed in television and newspapers. The common conclusion is that Estonia is not threatened by the Y2K bug. Nevertheless, several institutions are on higher state of alert before and after the roll-over time period.

The State Chancellery will also open an Estonian National Y2K Information Centre with the following tasks:

• Forward relevant information to the International Y2K Co-operation Centre (IY2KCC)
• Monitor the situation in Estonia and in neighbouring countries, and if necessary, start recovery plans, or inform the relevant institutions about possible disorders in infrastructure;
• To inform media and the public.

On October 14, the Board of Trustees of the University of Tartu Foundation and the Development Foundation of Tallinn Technical University sent a public petition to Prime Minister Mart Laar, calling upon the state to start a long term information society programme. The intellectuals of the universities see the initiation of the programme as being necessary in order to support IT development projects in Estonia. The programme is estimated to cost ca. EUR 6 million. The petition was signed by the Chairman of the University of Tartu Foundation Vahur Kraft, Chairman of the Development Foundation of Tallinn Technical University Toomas Luman, Rector of the University of Tartu Jaak Aaviksoo and Rector of Tallinn Technical University Olev Aarna.

On November 17, 20 regional co-ordinators of the Tiger Leap programme sent a public reference to the President, the Parliament and the Government, expressing their concern about the Tiger Leap programme. Despite the fact that the Tiger Leap has equipped most general education schools with computers over the last three years, efficient use of information technology has still not completely begun. The Government is expected to make education policy decisions that would solve problems connected with teaching IT in schools, training of teachers and data communication and altogether help to modernise the educational system.

3. Research activities

Since 1990, the "Estonian Human Development Report", compiled by UNDP, has been a significant document in analysing the development trends of the society and offering solutions to problems. The new, 1999 report, states that Estonia faces many serious social challenges that need continuous attention and actions by politicians. Among these challenges are growing economic stratification and unequal distribution of income, structural and long-term unemployment, structural poverty, regional imbalance, gender inequality and signs about the increase of crime and drug abuse. In the chapter "Estonia in the Internet World" the developing information society is being analysed.

In October, Estonian banks published the number of their clients using the Internet for bank transactions:

• Hansabank – 74 796 Internet bank clients; Union Bank of Estonia - 25 064 clients; Optiva Bank – 5970 clients. Altogether the Estonian banks had over 105,000 Internet bank clients in October 1999. This is 15,000 more than three months ago. BMF Gallup Media published results of the survey "Internet usage among Estonian population". According to the survey. 21 per cent of the population has used the Internet during the last six months. This Spring, the figure was 16 per cent. Internet connection type, Internet and e-mail usage and the frequency of use were also analysed.

  Different analyses predict rapid growth of electronic trade: Microlink estimates the turnover of local e-commerce to increase from EUR 0.4-0.6 million in 1999 to EUR 6.5 million in 2000.

4. Establishment of expert groups

In September, Minister of Education Tõnis Lukas created a working group dealing with the creation of the IT college. Members of the working group include Deputy Director of Microlink Jaak Anton, Science and Development Vice Rector of Tallinn Pedagogical University Peeter Normak, Telenetworks Development Director of Estonian Telephone Rain Rebane, President of Estonian Computer Association Kaido Saarma, Chairman of the Board of Baltic Computer Systems Ants Sild, Head of the Computing Centre of Tallinn Technical University Tanel Tammet, Head of the Computing Centre of the University of Tartu Peep Uba, and counsellor to the Prime Minister Linnar Viik.

The Public Administration Reform Committee chaired by Prime Minister Mart Laar decided to include several prominent persons into the process of PA reform. Lawyer Jüri Raidla, Head of the Department of Public Administration and Social Policy of the University of Tartu Tiina Randma, Rector of the University of Tartu Jaak Aaviksoo, Viljandi County Governor Helir-Valdor Seeder, Director of the State Chancellery Tiit Laja, Chairman of the Board of computer company Microlink, economic counsellor to the Prime Minister Heldur Meerits, investment banker Rain Lõhmus, President of Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Toomas Luman, Head of the Open Estonia Foundation Mall Hellam, former Minister for Regional Affairs Peep Aru and publisher Hans H. Luik participate in the work of an Advisory Council.

In September, Minister of Education Tõnis Lukas formed an Advisory Council to the Minister to analyse the main issues in the field of education. The members are appointed by the Parliament’s Cultural Affairs Committee, Education Forum and by the Minister of Education. The Council deals with solving strategic issues. Taking into account the level of computerisation in Estonian schools and the emerging information society, the Council includes many IT specialists.

5. Calls for proposals

In October, the Open Estonia Foundation announced a competition to create homepages for non-profit organisations, on-line databases and reference materials. The aim of the project was to improve the use of the Internet as a media channel and information source by non-profit organisations offering social services.

Home pages of 82 non-profit organisations and 39 on-line reference material collections took part in the competition. The winners were announced in December:

• Union of Parents with hearing impaired children;
• "Green Gate" of Estonian Nature Fund;
• Weekend Estonia;
• Database of Estonian Cultural Events;
• Ida-Virumaa Panoramic Gallery.

In October, creation of a common telemedicine network BITNET (Baltic International Telemedicine Network) between the hospitals of the Baltic States, University of Uppsala and Telia Publicom was announced. The aim of the project is to improve diagnostics and treatment of patients and foster international co-operation. Planned duration of the project is two years and it takes around EUR 1 million to implement the project in Estonia. In Estonia, the project is financed by the Baltic Sea IT Fund in Sweden.

In November, Microsoft and Estonian Informatics Centre signed an agreement in which the Estonian Government promises to legalise all its Microsoft software and guarantees legal use of software in governmental institutions in the future.