TOP ESTONIAN ENTERPRISES

Photo: Toomas Tuul
Nominees for the
Innovator 2009
These companies which have achiev ed economic success with
the help of the outstanding innovations to thereby motivate the
Estonian entrepreneurs in their companies to start, support and
carry out the innovative activities are recognised.
EMT AS
EMT is the subsidiary of AS Eesti Telekom which
started its activities in the year 1991. The sector
of activities of EMT is the establishing and management
of the mobile communication networks
and systems and the production,
distribution and sale of the related services. In
2008 AS EMT redeveloped 3G network which enables
the fast review of the data communication,
videocall and teleclips and live shows in the mobile.
The number of contractual clients as at the
end of 2008 was 487 thousand, the calling cards
with prepayment made total of 292 thousand.
EMT submitted the innovative service of EMT –
internet calls of EMT to the competition of innovator.
The internet calls of EMT are the uptodate
communication environment offered by EMT
(such as Skype or MSN) which enables to use
several services such as call, videocall, express
messages and status information regardless of
the geographical location over the public internet
and save the expenses. The solution is
based on EMT mobile number and also Elion’s
phone number can be connected with the solution
which enables to optimise the expenses.
In the viewpoint of innovation this is an essential
step where the provider of communication service
goes beyond the frames of classical business
model and makes the first step towards
the multifunctional solution where the use of
the service is not dependent on the equipment
with which it is turned to the service, as both the
mobile, desk phone and computer can be used
on the same bases and with the same price:
• The system always looks for the cheapest
tariff for the client using the service (e.g.
when calling from abroad from mobile to
mobile the call is with the cost of local call of
the package of short numbers inside the
company; when calling from mobile to desk
phone with the cost of local call between the
desk phones);
• The business clients having joined the system
communicate with each other free of
charge (the monthly fee of 99 kroons is paid
for the service).
In the viewpoint of EMT the service has the impact
of improving the clients’ loyalty. The service
is useful for EMT clients and foremost abroad
where it is possible to call and receive calls free
of charge or with the local price of using WiFi
(WiFi is often chargeable abroad, but still
cheaper than the mobile call).
NOW! INNOVATIONS OÜ
The company was established in 2003, the activities
were started in 2006. The main activity of
the company is the development of the management
systems of digital permits and selling
of licences in different countries. Foremost this
means the development and sale of digital
parking organisation systems. The sales of the
company was 4 million kroons in 2008, 5 persons
were employed.
In 2008 the Belgian holding company Mobilefor
was sold to the Belgian largest telecom operator
Belgacom Group. 10% of the local
operator company MobileNOW! LLC was acquired
in USA.
The company submitted the parking system
ParkNOW! ParkNOW! to the innovator competition
which is the diverse digital system enabling
both mobile parking and other digital solutions
of payment for parking, incl RFID, NFD, Internet:
• RFID (Radio Frequency Identification): by
using RFID-stickers on the car, the entering
and exiting of the car from the parking area is
automatically fixed and the payment for parking
is made automatically from the account of
the mobile phone;
• NFD (Near Field Detection) system: RFID receiver
in the mobile is directed to NFD-sticker
by fixing the beginning and end of parking in
the given parking area, the payment of invoice
is made automatically from the account of the
mobile phone.
The system has been created by considering
both the administration, reporting and analysing
needs of the parking operator (e.g. city) as well
as the comfortable use by the end users. Major
focus has been placed on the flexibility of the
system, i.e. this can be relatively easily, fast and
cheap implemented in any business, legal or
technical environment. E.g. the physical activities
(installation of parking automats, collection
of coins etc.) will be changed digital, at the
same time in the poorer countries the parking
regulation can be started without major investments.
This is the main product of the company
and provides 99% of the company’s sales. At the
moment there is business in already 7 countries
and the negotiations are held in 20 countries. As
to the number of users ParkNOW! has risen
among 5 world leading mobile parking systems
within three years. In addition to the increase in
the satisfaction of the consumers ParkNOW!
contributes to the environmental thriftiness (the
providers of parking service require no expensive
additional investments for the acquisition
of parking systems or additional human resources
for the service control). •
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