Blockchain technology has found plenty of advocates in the world of finance, banking and trade. But, it’s in the unlikely field of democracy where it may soon be making its presence felt most acutely.
Indeed, governments around the world have been keen to implement e-governance systems for many years now – to reduce costs, boost efficiency and bring their operations up to date.
Read more: Blockchain and e-governance: from Estonia to BITNATION
Estonia is trying to convince European ministers to agree on the “once only” principle. That means that if one member state has information about a citizen, another member state should not ask for it again, the country’s chief information officer told EURACTIV Slovakia.
Read more: Estonia’s top tech official: EU states should integrate their digital systems
The active use of digital technologies by Estonia allows the country to save about 2 percent of its GDP on an annual basis, according to Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas.
"Digital solutions, such as the e-Tax Board, e-School, eHealth, etc., help save about two percent of Estonian GDP every year," Ratas said during his US visit, as quoted by the prime ministerial press service.
Read more: Digital Technologies Allow Estonia to Save 2% of GDP Annually - Prime Minister
A delegation from the German Health Insurance Alliance (VDEK) paid a visit to the Estonian Health Insurance Fund this week in order to receive an overview of Estonia's e-health system and IT solutions.
The German delegation met with the board of the Estonian Health Insurance Fund, Minister of Health and Labour Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) and Deputy Secretary General on E-services Development and Innovation Ain Aaviksoo.
Read more: EE: German health insurance alliance given overview of Estonian e-health system
According to a Japanese e-government ranking survey, Estonia has the fifth best e-government system in the world.
The 2017 survey, compiled by the Waseda University Institute of e-Government in Japan, evaluates 10 main indicators and 35 subindicators.
In Estonia’s case, the report notes most of the indicators are above average among OECD countries, except for the use of emerging technologies for government. This indicator evaluates the use of cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things.
Read more: Survey: Estonia fifth in the world in e-government