Author: Federico Plantera
Despite the war, despite the devastation. We saw it last year already, through the eyes and voices of e-Governance Academy’s team in Ukraine – digital transformation never stopped in the country. If anything, it picked up pace. In fact, in many ways, digital tools helped Ukrainians work and access public services despite the ongoing Russian […]
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Our journey to bring to the spotlight country cases of digital transformation from Africa does not stop. One occasion was not enough – the all-African panel featuring changemakers from the continent at the latest e-Governance Conference. After taking a trip to Uganda, we now head to The Gambia, to see how the country laid the […]
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The all-African panel that took place at the e-Governance Conference 2023 brought into the spotlight country cases of digital transformation from the continent. An enlightening sessions, where everyone attending – both online and offline – got a unique chance to hear, at a glance, the most salient developments in digital taking place in Uganda […]
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The Tallinn Summer School of Cyber Diplomacy returns for its fourth edition, keeping up the pace with global developments in diplomacy and cybersecurity. But it’s not just about the mainstreaming of cyber diplomacy as a foreign policy topic, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In both war and peace times, it has become evident how […]
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The upcoming book by e-Governance Academy, “Twenty Years of Building Digital Societies”, brings into focus the role that digitalization played in Estonia, in the countries eGA has collaborated with – and what such expertise adds to the digital development strategies of countries worldwide. Vision, sustainability, people, security. We take the long view here, in a publication […]
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For the first time, the 2023 e-Governance Conference is set to feature an all-African panel showcasing case studies from the continent. Exactly: both moderator and speakers will present examples of inter-sector cooperation from Namibia, Uganda, and the West African region. Collaborative partnerships for digital policy implementation are core to their experience, and there we stand […]
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Keywords: e-Governance Conference, Podcast
The ongoing conversation and development around artificial intelligence are bringing data policy back into the spotlight, as we will explore in a dedicated session at the e-Governance Conference 2023. Perhaps it’s also a signal, an indicator of how much work and care is needed before AI starts convincingly scaling to the public sector. Because while […]
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Not just talks and panels, at the upcoming 2023 e-Governance Conference. As always, we didn’t forget about the practical side of things – workshops. One of them will focus on the design of public digital services. Designing and re-imagining public services takes effort and knowledge, but it becomes less intimidating when expert show how much […]
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We are well over one year into Russia’s ongoing threat to Ukrainian state sovereignty. And from terrain to the digital sphere, it is now clearer than ever before that the aggression has been total. If, in the beginning, the war seemed to take on a more traditional, kinetic shape, cyberattacks have intensified with the […]
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Nothing about us, without us. From foundational principle of representative democracy, to inclusive approach to service design. The journey of this quote is long and spans across centuries, but gains renewed relevance today – when digitalization is ubiquitous, and public services must be designed for all, not just the ‘most’. Margus J. Klaar is a […]
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A review of technological change in the past 20 years, applications and narratives, sweet birthday wishes. We have it all in this week’s episode of the Digital Government Podcast, where we head to distinguished technology experts of e-Governance Academy (eGA) for another expert chat dedicated to eGA’s 20 years anniversary. Programme Director Heiko Vainsalu meets […]
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Costa Rica is all but new on the world map of countries that took digital transformation as a priority. Over there, in Central America, this relatively small nation started investing in digital-related development and education already more than 20 years ago. Almost similarly to Estonia – and as similarly, they have come to create a […]
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Keywords: Cyber resilience, e-Governance Conference
Preparations for the 9th e-Governance Conference are well under way, for what has come to be one of the highest level e-governance events globally. In the past few years, we addressed ever-so-salient topics such as resilience and crisis management, with the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine inevitably driving the agenda. In the 2023 edition […]
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Digital development has gone fast in the past two decades. Largely on its own momentum, as tools and their applications come to impact both more deeply and extensively different spheres of life. Also, due to unprecedented events and circumstances – see, the pandemic – that sped up digital adoption. The more and more topical […]
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The last time we started with a question “Is i-voting here to stay?”; this one around, we move on from a strong statement. One week ago, national elections were held in Estonia, and more than a few important records have been set. Among these, the highest ever overall turnout, and the highest ever amount of […]
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How long do 20 years of cybersecurity actually feel? Quite intense and intensive, for sure. It’s unlikely that anyone thought that with internet and ICTs would come no risks, no maliciousness, no actors aiming to exploit vulnerabilities of digital systems. Two of e-Governance Academy’s own cybersecurity experts are here to remind us how far we’ve […]
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The title of this blog & podcast may sound like a paradox, but there is much, much more to it. In this episode of the Digital Government Podcast, we return to the Asian islands – southeast in the continent – to address public service development in Timor-Leste. Piret Saartee, a Senior Expert on Smart […]
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Making the national cyberspace more secure does not pertain only to protecting it from cyber attacks. It is a day-to-day job, a commitment to small best practices too that do make a difference – and help prevent disruptions in our work activities, and the functioning of the public sector. Epp Maaten, Team Lead on Cybersecurity, […]
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That’s right. e-Governance Academy is turning 20 years old this year! Two decades of digital transformation; of understanding societies through the lens of technology; of advising governments worldwide on how to reap the benefits of digital development. And who better than Hannes Astok, Executive Director at eGA, to draw a bit of a retrospective. In […]
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Another year has passed. Another year in which e-Governance Academy has been involved in digital transformation projects worldwide. Most might have expected calmer waters after exiting the emergency situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, with 2022 came a number of events that saw our experts at the centre of the international scene. Executive Director […]
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Based on essentially all wiki facts and general information, Brazil and Estonia could not be more different. Geographically, culturally, and socially. And still, as we luckily very often saw happen in the past years, these too have a joint meeting point – digital transformation. Interest in Estonia’s digital journey remains constant among policy and changemakers from the […]
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Keywords: digital transformation, e-Governance, e-government, e-Services, Estonia, Innovation, Podcast
It was just June that we were talking about improving cybersecurity capacity in the Western Balkans area. And a few months later, between August and September, the countries of Albania and Montenegro respectively suffered disruptive cyber attacks. Merle Maigre, Programme Director on Cybersecurity at eGA, joins us again to take stock of the situation. […]
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Digital citizens in a digital Europe? We are not quite there yet, but significant steps forward have been made in recent years with eIDAS. And progress doesn’t stop at the borders of political Europe, as a bilateral agreement between the Union and Ukraine is set to enhance the mutual recognition of trust services. We hear […]
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We could never say it enough – digital identity is a must-have to make societies more digital. It has been around for some time already, so it is natural that types and approaches to its development vary, between contexts and country specificities. To explore these, Mark Erlich is the speaker of choice for a […]
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In Borneo Island, Malaysia, the largest of the 13 states making up the country has an ambitious plan – to turn the region into a digital economy powerhouse of the area. Through the works of the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) as its implementing agency, government in the region is driving initiative to give the state a […]
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Our interviews with Chief Information Officers continue, and after Siim Sikkut (former CIO of Estonia) and Barry Lowry (CIO of Ireland), we are excited to feature Yolanda Martinez on this podcast episode. Martinez held the national CIO and Digital Strategy Coordination posts in Mexico for a total of six years – five for the […]
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If countries’ national security is indivisible on a global level, as in actions and consequences are interlinked for everyone, governments have then two good places to start. Firstly, international cooperation, creating a strong government-to-government community. Secondly, seeing public expenditure in this area as an investment, and not just a cost. The Western Balkan Digital […]
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Let’s face it – we are more used to talk about the results achieved through digital transformation, its success stories and business cases, rather than drawbacks or failures. Despite, in any case, a growing trend of re-humanizing digitalization processes, with private change-makers and CIOs increasingly talking about drawbacks and lessons learnt too. But some needs […]
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Implementing new technology, both in the public and private sectors, is often regarded as a matter of developing products and services. In addition to code itself, design thinking has recently come to play an important role in identifying users’ needs and process challenges. But some argue that tech is not just a product – […]
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In the Western Balkans, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and governments are on a quest to increase civic engagement in the digital agenda. Take all the initials of this task, ICEDA, and you have the ongoing project that e-Governance Academy is currently involved in within the region. Recently, stakeholders took the chance to visit Tallinn […]
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This year’s e-Governance Conference has been a key moment of observation and learning to walk the path of digital transformation. Plenty of interesting sessions and contents for all tastes – from AI to cyber-resilience, to digital sovereignty and proactive services. For one session, though, we went for the helicopter view (quite literally). How does […]
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The wait could not have been faster. Just one week to go to e-Governance Conference 2022, to discuss resilient and seamless governance with high-level government representatives, experts, and academics. So let us do the honours with an introduction, and a look forward, from Estonia. Luukas Ilves, freshly appointed Chief Information Officer of the Government of […]
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Siim Sikkut barely needs any introduction. 17 years in the civil service, of which five as Chief Information Officer of the Government of Estonia. Throughout this time, many of our readers and listeners have had the chance to meet him, or hear from his team about what a constant process of digital transformation looks like. […]
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Less than a month to go to the 2022 e-Governance Conference. To mark this countdown milestone, we called back a known voice of the Digital Government Podcast and the Conference, introducing the ever-more-pressing theme of digital sovereignty. Taking the floor is Paul Timmers, a scholar at various European universities and former director at the European […]
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For this episode of the Digital Government Podcast, we figuratively fly with our microphones to Africa. Specifically, to Kenya and Nigeria – where winners of the first Africa D4D Journalism Competition are based. 175 journalists from 35 countries participated, signalling a great response to the call submissions made by the African Union – European […]
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Organizing and presenting information, as well as finding it when citizens need, must be up there in governments’ agendas. Not only because we should be able to access it in the most effective and efficient way, but also because the systems where this is stored and listed are often very complex. Perhaps overly complex? […]
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The seamlessness of the governance is one of the focuses of the e-Governance Conference this year. We welcome you to investigate the seamless options of citizen engagement in policy design and participatory practices. Giovanni Allegretti, senior researcher and coordinator of the PhD “Democracy in the 21st century” at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), has […]
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The e-Governance Conference 2022, this year reaching its 8th edition, welcomes digital leaders and experts over the three years in Tallinn but also online at egovconference.ee. This year the main focus is on the resilience of digital governance in times of crisis and the next step in the path of digitalization – seamlessness. Hannes […]
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Perhaps one of the strongest displays of resistance is, also, to ensure that what should be working in normal times does so as well during exceptional circumstances. This is of course a euphemism, referring to what Ukraine is undergoing with Russian forces on its territory. In this episode of the Digital Government Podcast, we […]
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Something might have caught many observers by surprise in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. After a solid history of cyberthreats that could be linked back to the Federation’s territory, cyberwarfare seems to not be playing a major role in the attackers’ plans this time. As it did instead in 2007, during the first cyberwar […]
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This week, the world looks quite different from what it used to. Yet again we’re here to say this, and see the dramatic consequences of what unfolds, for the second time in the span of two years. Yet again, as spring approaches, we’re here to talk about a tragedy taking shape just before our […]
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It seems almost physiological that the latest tech buzzwords, with time, undergo some sort of resizing. Technology advances, consulting firms and market actors take the leap envisioning how the latest development could change everything, and then we notice how such upheavals are slower to unfold than expected – or they even underachieve, compared to the […]
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In the title ‘Freedom of expression in the digital age. A lost battle for truth?’, we put the question mark to not sound too gloomy, or pessimistic. The battle for truth is inextricably tied to that for freedom of expression. But of course, with freedoms and their protection, always come responsibilities too. The […]
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Of the many things that have been put to test by the COVID-19 pandemic, politicians and decision makers’ ability to face an unprecedented crisis situation is arguably among the most salient. Effective leadership took shape not only through the actual preventive and limiting measures pursued, but also the ways these have been communicated. The […]
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More and more Estonian residents have decided to participate in the recent local elections in October 2021 simply using internet and their own digital ID. To be precise, more than ever. From the comfort of home, the office, or even a holiday destination. Priit Vinkel, Senior Expert of Smart Governance at e-Governance Academy, […]
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We are wondering whether we are already taking sides, by using buzzword to describe the way that latest tech developments are often portrayed in media articles, tweets, or even vision papers and strategies. In this episode of the Digital Government podcast, Heiko Vainsalu, a Senior Expert on Technology at e-Governance Academy will debunk the most […]
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This year’s e-Governance Conference – A Digital Decade in One Year – looks at the implications of the accelerated digital transformation resulting from the pandemic. The programme creates space to explore the new normal in which we find ourselves today and the next normal that we are entering. In the build-up to the Conference, our […]
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Other than national healthcare systems, patients, and patience, the COVID-19 pandemic has also tested the degree of collaboration between countries in overcoming the crisis. With the vaccines developed and immunisation campaigns being rolled out, governments and international organisations are now seeking a way to harmonise how to exit the crisis with vaccine certificates. […]
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Digital technologies have become ever more embedded in our everyday lives, introducing topical questions over their fair and ethical use. Openness and transparency in service delivery enable such requests. But, also, these trigger a change in values and attitudes that intensify pressure on governments and companies to be more accountable for the impact of […]
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By now, we have become familiar with how the relationship between big tech firms and governments has largely been portrayed in the media. So often it looks like a clash between opposing factions – the first standing on its ground to keep the market as free as possible, with the latter proposing laws […]
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Keywords: Digital rights, Podcast
This blog post refers to the podcast “Digital trends to watch out for in 2021” with Linnar Viik and Federico Plantera. Listen to the first episode of Digital Government podcast in 2021! Taking stock of more than twenty years of digital transformation, in the public sector and beyond, industry experts were making predictions on up-and-coming […]
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| The project is responsive to the following SDGs of the United Nations: 5 – 8 – 9 – 16 | What do a small north-eastern European country and the massive continent of Africa have in common? Originally, very little. At first glance, even less. And still, these two dimensions introduced through only a few […]
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Keywords: Benin, data exchange, digital transformation, e-Services, Estonia, Interoperability, Podcast
In parallel with a crisis of public health, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused great damage also to the national economy of most countries. Regardless of how hard these have been hit in terms of casualties and infection rates, lockdown measures have been enforced to different degrees almost everywhere in Europe and around the world. As a […]
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| The project is responsive to the following SDGs of the United Nations: 17 | It is probably since the discovery of fire that we learnt a crucial lesson – technology brings benefits, but also risks. Far be it from us to carry out an exegesis of all human explorations and inventions, it […]
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Keywords: küberturvalisus/cybersecurity, Podcast
When it comes to political participation, elections represent something that most countries have in common, but that differentiates them between each other at the same time. All democratic nations set rounds of voting to renew people’s representatives in national assemblies; however, almost all nations vary in the ways elections are carried out. From registration to […]
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Much as in the fight against Covid-19, prevention proves to be a key determinant of our safety on the internet. However, deliberate threats to both citizens and organisations still hide just around the corner. Despite our individual care and attention towards cyber behaviours, malicious actors might intentionally try to hijack personal data or information systems. […]
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Where do we come from? Where do we stand? And where to go from here? Though the feeling might be that of a high-school psychology blog, there is no existentialism in these questions – at least in the current case. In order to formulate with efficacy digital transformation roadmaps for governments, policy makers must first […]
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To many, the road to e-governance may seem rocky. Not only during some client meetings, but also in seminars and just conversations in general, an age-old question is often brought up: “Digitalization, okay, great. But there are too many legal obstacles to implement it in our country.” Today, we get this one off the board […]
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Young people are the most reluctant social group to engage in voting. Research has clearly shown that across the past two decades, starting from seminal works on social capital and democratic participation, citing diverse explanations – from a decline in the perceived value of voting, to general disaffection towards institutions and party systems. In the […]
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In the last few years, the Government of Ukraine has endeavoured incessantly to detach itself from paper-based procedures, to enable and provide e-services, and to reduce corruption with the help of IT-solutions and of the secure data exchange platform ‘Trembita’. How has Ukraine managed so far? What to highlight in terms of successes and setbacks […]
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In today’s episode, Hannes Astok and Linnar Viik shed light on the world’s best driver of digital transformation – the COVID-19 pandemic. They talk about the main obstacles in the way of a defining moment for digital transformation in many countries. We know that paper-based public services are practically useless when whole countries are shut […]
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Since 2014, the yearly appointment with the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the European Commission is a perfect opportunity to assess the state of affairs on digitalization in all Member States. The 2020 issue of the Index, despite relying on data previous to the pandemic outbreak, gives us the possibility to evaluate countries’ […]
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Keywords: DESI, Digital technology, e-Services, Estonia, ICT in Education/e-kool, ICT infrastructure
Nothing is easy when there is a global pandemic in action. We have come to learn this the hard way, all of us, experiencing in first person all the problems and setbacks caused by the Covid-19 crisis. And still, in times where face-to-face contact is forcefully restricted, we can rely on resources for learning, communicating, […]
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| Activities are responsive to the following SDGs of the United Nations: 11 – 16 – 17 | In a democratic society, the quality of the relationship between governments and citizens is a key talking point – and if not, most probably it should. Across the layers of governance, municipalities certainly represent the closest governmental […]
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As social distancing is enforced in most parts of the world, the Covid-19 outbreak has already issued a concerning verdict. We might be living in the information age, but digitalization has yet to reach – whether partly or in full – key components of the way life and service provision are organized. Naturally, healthcare jumps […]
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| Activities are responsive to the following SDGs of the United Nations: 11 – 16 – 17 | “No man is an island”, as English poet John Donne famously wrote. The ties people establish within a community tell us how healthy democratic life is. Be it in a municipality, a region, or a […]
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The turn of the decade brings new trends shaping the way governments deal with innovation. And who better than our own Linnar Viik could shed a light on the underlying dynamics setting the agenda for public digital development in the next ten years? In our latest post, we reviewed four ages of e-governance. The time […]
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Public sectors are not immobile subjects whose ways and processes are set in stone. Indexes and rankings help us portray a state-of-the-art situation but, sometimes, we need to zoom out. Is it possible to identify general macro-trends in the past thirty years of governmental digital transformation? And what do they tell us about foreseeable […]
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Keywords: digital transformation, e-Governance
| The project is responsive to the following SDGs of the United Nations: 5 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 16 – 17 | There seems to be shared consensus over the necessity for governments to keep up the pace with digital transformation. It is one of the positive, external pressures triggered by living in the age of the information society. Citizens’ expectations for efficient […]
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Keywords: digital transformation, e-Governance
| The project is responsive to the following SDGs of the United Nations: 8– 9– 16– 17 | Technological development offers a unique opportunity to public actors in the developing world. It provides useful tools for a sustainable, all-encompassing strategy to improve population management and the local business environment. It’s not unusual, then, that e-governance-inspired […]
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Keywords: digital transformation, e-Governance