Opportunities for Cooperation between Estonia and ... - Valitsus

APPENDIX 9
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
The Global Information Technology Report by the World Economic Forum
ranked Estonia and Finland as the two most advanced countries in Europe
in terms of information society policy. According to the UN’s annual Digital
Governance in Municipalities Worldwide Survey, Helsinki is one of the top ten
cities in the world as a provider of high-quality e-government services. Even
so, both countries can learn from each other in this, engage in cooperation and
share its results with others.
International companies have resorted to joint cross-border solutions in their
IT applications ever since the 1980s. At present, routine services in the private
sector, such as ticket sales, hotel bookings, receipt of orders for goods or
the retaining of services takes place mostly over the Internet. Several states
have already prepared information society, e-administration and e-government
development plans in order to upgrade the procedures applied in the public
sector and central government. The most advanced countries have achieved
much in this respect.
According to the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), central
government information technology systems account for more than one third
of the European IT market and, together with local government systems, for
40%. Since 2002, public sector investments in information technology have
outpaced corresponding investments in other sectors.
As the importance of cross-border cooperation between various authorities
within the European Union will only increase, Estonia and Finland could
consider the development of a joint e-government. In real terms, it would
mean that joint interests of the two countries and the experiences gained by
the neighbouring country would be taken into account when developing the
national e-government. Standards and technological solutions should, from
the outset, be developed with a view to mutual compatibility and shared use.
Aside from the fact that these IT solutions will improve administrative efficiency
in Estonia and Finland, local IT companies could perhaps, thanks to first-hand
experience from practical cooperation, perform well when participating in
Europe-wide projects.
To develop the information society, the provision of diversified and highstandard
college-level education in information and communications
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