Estonia, one of the smallest states in Europe, can be a model for tech start-ups. This is confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, which dedicates a extensive article to the Baltic republic.
The country, with just 1,29 million inhabitants, has long boasted an excellent reputation: it is in fact here that Skype - to cite the most famous case - was developed.
Innovation in Tallinn does not only translate into about twenty entrepreneurs who design applications for the iPhone, but permeates the whole of society. The head of state, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, elected in 2006, has known programming languages since the age of 13. Assemblies have been held online since 2000. Since 2005, citizens have been able to vote via the Internet. And in 2011, almost a quarter of the votes came from the web.
The tax return has been electronic since 2000, two years later it was the turn of the school report cards, three years after that of the land registry. In 2008 it was the turn of health records and in 2010 of medical prescriptions. Practically everything can be done online, even registering newborns at the registry office.
All this computerization has very evident effects on the bureaucratic apparatus. Only 1,9 percent of the population works in the public.
At the heart of Estonia's technological revolution is the electronic identity card, the key that citizens have to access all the government's online services. The state provides an infrastructure, but authentication is encrypted and cannot be controlled by the government.
“It amazes me that someone says 'I don't want an electronic identity card' because they see Big Brother at risk in it. I would say the problem is the opposite. Big Brother is fought precisely using these weapons.”, declares President Ilves.
It may seem bizarre that a former Soviet territory should have such trust in institutions. But for Ilves, convincing Estonians to use technology wasn't that difficult: “the point is in the psychology of those who have been oppressed. In the eagerness to get rid of everything that was the past, citizens have gladly accepted new solutions”.
However, innovation does not always go hand in hand with a nation's wealth. Tallinn is certainly a leader in the technology sector, but this advantage has not - yet - turned into an economic success. According to data provided by the European Union, the state is one of the poorest in 2012: the per capita GDP is only 68 percent of the average of the member countries.
