Tallinn e-Governance Conference focuses on impact of egov

The Tallinn e-Governance Conference held on 30 and 31 May within the scope of the ICT Week focuses on the impact of e-governance on the economy and society. 340 representatives of the public and private sectors from more than 50 countries will attend the two-day conference. The most exotic countries represented are the Faeroe Islands, Mauritius, Seychelles, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Australia and Namibia.

The participants in the event organised by the e-Governance Academy will discuss the key factors of creating an efficient e-state and the challenges in assessing the impact of e-governance.

Executive Director of the e-Governance Academy Arvo Ott said that people have often asked him what the benefits of e-governance are and how much does it cost, and these two questions were therefore chosen as the topics of the conference. “The heads of state who visit Estonia often think that only wealthier societies can afford to use ICT in governance and provision of public services,” said Mr Ott. “Actually, small budgets do not prevent the achievement of good results. This is confirmed by Estonia’s own experience as well as the development report of the World Bank. The benefits of e-governance have so far been assessed with indirect methods, but we can also speak about practical examples at the conference.”

President of the Republic of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves will open the conference with an address. During the debate on the first day, former EU Commission vice-president Siim Kallas and Member of French Parliament Frédéric Lefebvre will discuss whether and when Europe could become an e-continent, and how this would help increase economic growth in the region.

The conference will showcase e-governance experience from all over the world and offers the attendees the opportunity to hear the introduction of the development report of the World Bank, and the ministers of France, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius and Faeroe Islands will speak about the experience of their countries in the creation of public e-services and the lessons learnt from Estonia. The attendees will also hear how Estonia measures the benefits gained from the functioning of e-governance for the economy and society, and how the Tax and Customs Board plans to support business and economic growth with its e-services.

On the second day of the conference, cyber security expert Raul Rikk will speak about the cyber security index of countries developed in the e-Governance Academy, which measures the level of cyber security in different countries and is a tool for increasing cyber security. There will also be four workshops, where the participants can share their experience in the cyber security of states, the lessons of small states, island countries and EU Eastern Partnership countries, and change management.

The speakers at the Tallinn e-Governance Conference are: French Minister of State for Digital Affairs Axelle Lemaire, Deputy Head of Government Administration of Kyrgyz Republic Zhyldyzbek Isakulov, Minister of Finance of Faeroe Islands Kristina Háfoss, IT Minister of Mauritius Etienne Sinatambou, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marina Kaljurand, Research Fellow of CITIS Kristjan Vassil, Director General of the Tax and Customs Board Marek Helm, former EU Commission vVice-President Siim Kallas, Member of French Parliament Frédéric Lefebvre, Lead ICT Specialist at the World Bank Juan Navas-Sabater, expert of e-Governance Academy Raul Rikk, Head of Public Policy for Facebook Jakub Turowski and others.

Further information, the programme and live broadcast of the discussions are available online at http://tallinnconference.ee/.

You can also have your say on Twitter #egov2016.

The Tallinn e-Governance Conference is being organised by the e-Governance Academy in association with the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Microsoft, USAID, the Estonian Centre of Eastern Partnership and Tallinn University of Technology.

The Tallinn e-Governance Conference is part of the events of the ICT Week.

Anu Vahtra-Hellat
Communication Manager
e-Governance Academy
+372 517 7671