The Estonian e-residency programme is opening ID-card collection points in Brazil, South Africa, Singapore and Thailand to accommodate for the increase in the e-residency applicants.
According to the e-residency programme, the new locations are meeting rising demands from local entrepreneurs that are seeking to scale their businesses internationally and expand into the European market.
Read more: Estonia opens new e-resident ID-card collection points in four countries
In 2020, companies set up in Estonia by e-residents delivered nearly €17.5 million in taxes, constituting a one-third increase, compared with 2019.
This result marks a record for the annual direct economic impact of the Estonian e-residency programme that was launched in 2014. Over the course of six years, the e-residency programme has cumulatively bolstered the national budget by approximately €54 million, the programme said in a statement.
Read more: Tax revenue from Estonia’s e-residents’ companies grows steadily
The Estonian e-Governance Academy will lead the electronic governance and cybersecurity sections of a European Union project to support Ukrainian digital transformation and harmonization with the EU Digital Single Market.
This month, the European Union launched the EU4DigitalUA project with a financial contribution of €25 million. The Estonian e-Governance Academy will lead the implementation of the electronic governance and cybersecurity tasks of the project, with a total budget of €9.6 million.
Read more: Estonian e-Governance Academy to lead EU Ukrainian digital transformation project
The Estonian e-Governance Academy and Japanese think tank Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd (MURC) have established a joint venture to provide digital transformation services for governments in Japan and the Asian region. The name of the new enterprise is Digital Governance Academy Asia-Pacific or D-GAP.
The D-GAP will use the knowledge accumulated in Estonia to provide high-quality training, survey and consulting services to meet the diverse needs related to the digital government in Japan and overseas.
Read more: EE: eGA co-founds digital governance academy for Asia-Pacific region
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is planning an independent audit and security analysis on e-elections in Estonia, with a view to introducing security-enhancing innovations ahead of next autumn's local elections.
Part of the issue is confusion over division of responsibilities between at least three bodies: the National Electoral Committee (VKK), the State Information System Authority (RIA) and the ministry itself.
Read more: EE: Economics affairs ministry looking to tighten up e-voting security