IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Estonia climbed two places to 22nd in the Global Information Technology Report 2013 of the World Economic Forum. Lithuania was ranked 32nd and Latvia was ranked 41st, reported ERR.

Estonia was the highest ranked Central and Eastern European country.

The table of rankings for 2013 was topped by Finland, followed by Singapore, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, Denmark, US and Taiwan.

Read more: Global IT report ranks Estonia 22nd, Lithuania 32nd, Latvia 41st

Exporting public e-services can be complicated, since every country is unique in its legislative and institutional environment. Oftentimes, a country’s historical and cultural background makes it difficult to accept changes to the existing services. Still, some ideas are just so appealing that they find their way in. We’ll describe five components of Estonian e-society that have managed to cross borders successfully.

1. m-Parking

   Probably the most widespread technology transfer to come from Estonia, m-Parking in simple words is a system that lets drivers pay for parking using their mobile phones. In Estonia, 90% of parking fees are paid via mobile.

   Read more: Top 5 Technology Transfers from e-Estonia

Estonians are happy to be in a position where many public services that would otherwise consume a lot of time, energy and paper are available electronically — as e-services. A study commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the ICT Demo Center sought to study the impact of e-services. The study concluded that e-services have made public services faster than conventional services and improved their quality

Studies so far have focused on the service user statistics and user satisfaction. However, the aspects behind satisfaction or dissatisfaction, as well as the broader impact of e-solutions on different groups, had not really been analyzed thoroughly.

Read more: EE: Measuring the impact of e-services - case study

While 76% of Estonian entrepreneurs would give 5 or 4 points on the scale of 1-5 to the e-services offered by the state, they also consider the state's e-environments too complicated, LETA/Eesti Päevaleht online reports.

The e-services study, commissioned by the economy and communications ministry, indicated that 96% of entrepreneurs said that the e-services have helped them save time. 93% estimate that officials proceedings have become more comfortable and 87% said that they guarantee better access to information.

Read more: E-services help Estonian entrepreneurs to save time