Dear friends,
I am highly pleased to see all of you in Estonia and I am very happy that the recovery from the covid crises has brought back the good old times, when we could all meet in person, shake hands and speak face-to-face. So… Welcome to the Land of Unicorns! We have now ten of them, but we aim to increase this number.
Estonia has witnessed a tremendous economic transformation in recent decades. Becoming a member of European Union and Eurozone have created a friendly, predictable business environment. On top of that, we are still the society full of business-minded people, who tend to see opportunities, where many others have seen only problems.
Being a small country means that international contacts and exports are essential to our companies. Therefore, I am especially delighted that you all are here. I hope that the coming days will provide you opportunities to make new contacts in Estonia and these contacts will lead to new business ventures together with Estonian companies and businessmen.
…and why not to start a business here – it is easy to manage it even from abroad using the resources available thanks to the e-residency program.
Today, Estonia is the most advanced digital democracy in the world. It is not bragging, when it is true. We have reached an unprecedented level of transparency in governance and built broad trust in governmental institutions.
Our simple tax-system, which OECD’s International Tax Competitiveness Index has repeatedly ranked as the best in the world, our digital services and flexible business environment have created a perfect ecosystem for doing business.
Estonia has been an innovator in almost every aspect of public life. We were the first country to hold a nationwide election online by using blockchain-based safe identification tools and strong cyber security.
We were the first to implement smart parking and sharing economy model in mobility, followed by the first nationwide electric vehicle fast-charging network.
We even established the world’s first national AI/robot law. As a result, Starship Technologies has operated level 4 autonomous delivery robots in public streets of Estonia for over four years and they have now by far taken the lead in that industry.
Recently I visited Texas, USA to open offices of two Estonian start-ups, which are building new solutions in the mobility sector. The better known of the two was Clevon, which builds autonomous cargo vehicles that will be soon widespread all across the world. You might see these vehicles already on streets here in Tallinn.
Estonia is amongst the top 10 innovators in the European Union, surpassing all Eastern-European and Mediterranean countries. As a New Nordic we are northern Europe’s hub for digital business.
I believe it is time to bring the knowhow from the digital sector to more traditional businesses. We all need greater integration between the rapidly growing digital and start-up sectors and industry. Greater synergy between the start-up sector and production companies could give both fields an advantage.
The biggest challenges we, and indeed the rest of the World, are facing at the moment are the spiralling cost of energy and the worsened supply situation. It is difficult for all of us, and yet those who are flexible and capable of quickly reorienting themselves to new supply chains and fuel sources will emerge the victors.
However, we have also the longer-run challenges to cope with. We all have to think of how to enhance the education system and develop new talents needed for the future of business, IT and manufacturing. We have lived with the knowledge that production is moving to Asia, but recent shocks have shown, that this trend might be broken.
This year has demonstrated again that geopolitical disruptions can appear overnight having huge impacts not only on the supply chains, but on the paths we see our industry developing. Tensions in Asia could mean that these disruptions are not over and we might see even de-globalization as many suggested, when COVID broke out.
It must be clear, if we want our businesses to flourish it is of utmost important to use all means possible to HELP Ukraine to win the brutal Russian war of aggression against this brave nation. Because we are all connected, what happens in Ukraine affects all of us. Therefore, we must all do our part to end this. Friendly business environment is peaceful and democratic. I advise all of you to learn from this war one critically important truth - an authoritarian partner cannot be a reliable partner. They would not hesitate to use your economic dependencies on them against you. This is why I advise you all to decouple from authoritarian partners. Estonia has been rather successful in this.
However, I would like to end my speech on a brighter note.
The digital success and almost zero-bureaucracy experience has boosted our economy, but it has also had a broader impact on the society. The expansion of tech sector has transformed Tallinn and many other Estonian cities. Wednesday evenings tend to be relatively quiet, but I suggest you to try out some pubs in the evening, taste beer from local microbreweries and hang out with others from the conference. This is a great place to make new friends.
I wish you a pleasant conference, and lots of nice memories from Estonia!
