The latest podcast episode delves into global digital infrastructures and the implementation of a unified EU digital wallet initiative. How countries like New Zealand admire and seek to emulate Estonia’s digital advancements to potentially transform their own digital landscapes by 2040. Yogesh Hirdaramani, a senior reporter from GovInsider, discussed various global initiatives in digital public infrastructure like  Singapore's Singpass platform and payment platforms in India.Michael Andrew...

In this podcast episode, we delve into the topics of digital democracy, gov tech and digital visionaries. More than 80 countries and more than half of the world´s population will go voting this year. But why has Estonia, since 2005, been one of the only countries with nationwide I-voting?Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Former President of Estonia, shares the reasons for the start of digital transformation in Estonia in the 1990s and his thoughts about the future of e-Estonia.Andrew Smith, product...

We start the new podcast season with a little twist of the format. With our hosts, Digital Transformation Advisers Erika Piirmets and Carmen Raal, the talk still revolves around digitalisation. Still, we'll bring you more practical international examples worldwide and exciting news from govtech and innovation. Listen to the episode and hear: Skaidra Puodžiūnas, director of Government Relations at the Council of Canadian Innovators, reflects on what she learned from Estonia and how innovation...

In the first episode of 2024, we're thrilled to have Andres Raieste,  Senior Vice President of the Public Sector from Nortal, as we dive into the world of digital government services. Andres, with his background in shaping Estonia's digital government initiatives, offers insights into this field. We explore the journey from traditional to digital services, the nuances of digital identity, and the future of interoperable systems in governance. We delve into the challenges of digitalisation,...

We end this year’s podcast season with a bang – as we bid farewell to 2023,  it’s time to reflect e-Estonia’s journey of the digitalisation landscape. We’ve outlined categories and nominees across various fields and the time has come to reveal the winners of each category. Trends, milestones and lessons learned both from the public and private sectors.  The special guest Sandra Särav, the Deputy Secretary General for Economy and Innovation at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and...

Dive into Estonia's digital transformation with a green twist in this podcast episode. Kädi Ristkok from Cleantech Estonia and Kaidi-Kerli Kärner from PwC discuss how Estonia, as a tech-savvy nation, unifies its digital governance with ambitious environmental goals, setting a new standard in sustainable development. From innovative case studies to insightful discussions on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, we explore Estonia's journey towards a digital and eco-friendly...

Our latest podcast episode, as well as the month of October, is dedicated to cybersecurity and raising awareness of cybersecurity. And who would be a better expert to tackle this vast and complex topic than Gert Auväärt, the head of the Cyber Security Centre at the Information System Authority. With extensive international experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he also served as the Deputy Head of the Estonian Permanent Mission to the UN in 2018, successfully advancing Estonia’s...

In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss various aspects of digital transformation, particularly in the context of Estonia's experience. They explore digitalisation's efficiency and cost-saving potential, the challenges of measuring its impact, and the importance of focusing on quantitative and qualitative assessments. Helping to navigate this broad topic is Kristjan Vassil, a professor of Technology Studies at the University of Tartu. He holds a doctoral degree in political science from...

Estonian and Ukranian tech partnership dates back to 2016 when Estonia helped Ukraine to pave the way for the architecture of digital government. Today, the collaboration is stronger than before, and, what's more significant, Estonia is learning from Ukraine by using the state app Diia as a base of mRiik. We discussed the strong tech collaboration between the two countries with Estonia's CIO Luukas Ilves, the project manager of mRiik Nikolai Kornõšev and Mstyslav Banik, the head of the...

Our latest podcast tackles a timely and groundbreaking topic of personalised medicine with Piret Hirv, the manager of the Connected Health Cluster. Piret, with her background as a trained nurse and experience in the Ministry of Social Affairs, brings valuable insights into the importance of private and public partnerships, the future of behavioural health, and the current status of personalised medical services in Estonia.

 With experts from TEHIK, Katre Pruul, manager of cross-border data exchange and Tõnis Jaagus, head of the health division, our podcast hosts explore the benefits of patient portals and their impact on healthcare, discussing how these digital tools empower patients and revolutionise how they engage with healthcare providers. They also take a closer look at the future of e-health and how digital health portals are paving the way for a more patient-centric approach to healthcare. 

Estonia is the first and still the only country with nationwide internet elections. The latest general elections in the first week of March saw a record in casting votes online compared to physical votes -... people voted through their computers. As the rest of the world is slow in joining the revolution, we invited Mihkel Solvak to explain all the nitty-gritty behind internet voting, its impact and usage of it and also but also narrower technical aspects like how vote verification impacts...

The government is lagging behind the private sector in its use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the latest podcast episode, we discuss the reasons behind it and the challenges and opportunities for the public sector with the leading AI expert and researcher, Colin van Noordt. Colin works as a programme director for AI at the digital transformation consultancy Digital Nation and is a PhD Researcher at the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance at Tallinn University of...

The 3rd season of our podcast series "The Art of Digitalisation" premiers with the boss of digital Estonia - Mr Luukas Kristjan Ilves, who serves as the Government Chief Officer. His work is not building but managing a digital country Estonia, mapping the visions, strategies, and tactics necessary for Estonia's digital transformation and resilience. Coming from the private sector, he has some very bold ideas in his pockets, which he'll share exclusively with our listeners.

It's hard to find a more perfect guest for the end-of-the-year podcast than the former president of Estonia, Mrs Kersti Kaljulaid. She's a global advocate and recognized thought leader on a wide range of topics, including (cyber) security, artificial intelligence, mental health, and the well-being of women and children. But this conversation focuses on green transition, greentech and, as Mrs Kaljulaid put it so nicely - why this "little lab of digital development" called Estonia is still...

In this episode, Erika Piirmets and Carmen Raal explore how countries solve the issue of digital identity, how they can learn from each other and what's the future of digital identity. Their guest is a former government Chief Legal Officer (GLO) and CEO of Proud Engineers Laura Kask. She has been responsible for the legislative framework of the Estonian information society and created the legal architecture for the first data embassy in the world. Today she is helping other governments and...

The guest of our latest podcast episode is Kalev Pihl, CEO of SK ID Solutions and one of the key figures behind the Estonian ID-card project. He has played a crucial role in its planning and also has had a significant influence on the outcomes that are available today.

Sustainability, tokens, and the well-being of nature and the world were some of the topics Carmen Raal and Erika Piirmets touched upon with their guest Merit Valdsalu, founder and CEO of Single.Earth. A company with a mission to transform how we approach consumption and how to integrate nature protection into the economy.

Our monthly podcast "The Art of Digitalisation" has been taken over by our Digital Transformation Advisers Carmen Raal and Erika Piirmets. Their first guest is Dr Dominik Panosch - the recent world record holder in founding the fastest company in just 15 min 33 sec. 

Sandra Särav is a force to be reckoned with. Sandra has worked as the Public Policy Manager at Bolt (the Estonian unicorn mobility startup), becoming the latter's Head of Sustainability before being snatched up by Facebook, where she also served as the Public Policy Manager for the CEE region.  Luckily for our state, Sandra is one of our top civil servants with a bright future. In the most recent episode of the e-Estonia podcast “The Art of Digitalisation,” Sandra Särav talks to the host...

Mari-Liis Kukk is the Head of the Innovation Department at the Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority. She describes herself as a long-time fan of the world of finance, being into novel ways of making financial services work and ensuring more efficient experiences for everyone involved. In the most recent episode of the e-Estonia podcast “The Art of Digitalisation,” Mari-Liis Kukk talks to the host Florian Marcus about: Whether Estonia has overregulated the crowdfunding and...

Taavi Tamkivi is the founder and CEO of a startup called Salv that aims to kill an industry valued at a trillion dollars a year.   Salv is an anti-money laundering platform that helps financial institutions, banks, etc., to be compliant and catch fraudsters simultaneously. Taavi likes to say that he is no longer building a product but a community of crime-fighters. Almost like a Marvel universe.

Merle Maigre works as the Senior Cyber Security Expert at e-Governance Academy.  In our podcast, Merle talks to Florian Marcus about: Resilience in cyberspace;Why the war in Ukraine is a 21st century war;The importance of backing up your family photos and data embassies;The lessons learned from the 2007 Russian cyberattacks on Estonian public and private websites;e-Governance Academy's digital transformation projects in the Balkans, Tonga, Kyiv, Armenia, Moldova, and many other places;The...

Tanel Sepp is the Ambassador at Large and Director-General for the Cyber Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia. He has been in the Estonian Foreign Service for 19 years - having served from Brussels to Kabul, Washington D.C. to Ethiopia. In this episode, he talks to our host Florian Marcus about the balkanization of the Internet, how he helped the Estonian troops to vote in Afghanistan and how half of them still preferred to do it online, and also...