Blog & podcast
Digitalisation holds a promise of wide-ranging economic and social benefits – from greater efficiency and transparency to more harmonious interactions between the state and its citizens. Estonia is considered to have cracked the code in delivering on this promise, making the country’s experience a compelling case study around the world. To a great extent, Estonia’s […]
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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
The growing adoption of digital technology places greater demands and expectations on the provision of public services. With the proven benefits of digitalisation ranging from increased efficiency to transparency, this has pushed governments into an ongoing game of catch-up to maximise the value of going digital. The sudden onset of COVID-19 immediately moved the […]
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Keywords: e-Services, Podcast
What comes in your mind when you hear someone mentioning the Pacific Islands? Probably sandy beaches, palm trees and sunshine. In this episode of the Digital Government Podcast, we go beyond the tourist attractions and take a look at the digital side of these countries. Today’s guest, Hannes Astok, sheds light on how the governments […]
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Do you know how old is the concept of online voting? It comes back to the 19th century when Thomas Alva Edison introduced it to the US congress. Why then, even two centuries later, are there so few countries that use online voting to ensure equal access for their citizens to express their democratic rights? […]
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Keywords: Elections, Electronic ID, I-voting, Innovation, Podcast, Privacy, The United States of America, Voting
“Corruption as a disease, for which transparency is the cure” is a politically popular analogy, that surely resonates when trying to capture such widespread, global challenge all countries continue to face today. But researchers contend that the actual manifestations of corruption are far too complex to fit into the simple frames built by this parallel. […]
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At the beginning of the year, we summed up our lessons learnt from the digital transformation journeys of various countries. Our team has been on these journeys for the past 18 years and obtained useful lessons that could benefit every country that starts or continues its digital transformation. In this episode, Federico Plantera and Hannes […]
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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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What lessons learned should governments and public officials take away from this year? In this year’s final episode of the Digital Government Podcast, former President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves shares his hopes, fears and criticisms on how governments have coped with the pandemic challenges. As expected from the former President of Estonia, his recipe […]
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In parallel with the long-anticipated and widely followed US Presidential election, 2020 was an important year also for many democracies in Europe. In the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic, electoral management bodies across the world were pushed to re-examine the strategic planning and decision-making process that go into running an election. For many election […]
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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 actor to citizens. Such proximity not only works as the testing ground for state-to-people interactions but also as […]
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In the light of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, today’s Digital Government podcast addresses one of the most sensitive topics – privacy and human rights while governments are combating COVID19 and developing tracking apps. Are our rights and privacy in danger? How can governments address these concerns and what should be a good practice? Listen to […]
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Recent elections in the US and in other countries raised a lot of claims that election results might be manipulated. Our CyberConf2020, to be held online on 24 November, dives deep into the topic of how to secure elections in the digital era. In this episode of Digital Government Podcast, Mr Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former […]
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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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In the Digital Government Podcast Episode, the previous contributors to the report “Freedom on The Net”, Linnar Viik and Katrin Nyman-Metcalf, shed light on this year’s Internet Freedom Index global report. They clarify two different views on freedom of expression, which is one of the cornerstones of Internet freedom, and answer the question of why […]
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At times of COVID-19, cyber hygiene became particularly important. Being more cyber aware and practising healthy cyber hygiene is what will ultimately help you keep your business or administration continuity when you need it. In this blogpost and podcast, our senior cybersecurity expert Merle Maigre shares best practices of cyber hygiene from France, Estonia, the UK that is […]
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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