15 years after Estonia started to work on e-governnance, time has come for all EU member states, along with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries of Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland to establishes common goals for the development of e-government over the next five years.
“The Tallinn Declaration does not translate into innovation for Estonia, as we have already complied with the guidelines agreed upon today with other European countries,” said the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Urve Palo after the Tallinn Declaration was signed. According to Palo, it is the other EU member states that the Tallinn Declaration will bring about significant changes.
Read more: EU agrees to implement digital-by-default services with Tallinn Declaration
The Digital Expo, held during the Tallinn Digital Summit, has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity in Europe's efforts to realize its digital future.
Along with e-governance and 5G, cybersecurity has become a key word of the expo.
"E-governance will not work unless people have trust in e-services and digital devices. So we need to strengthen cyber security. The safety can only be achieved if we safeguard European cyber security as a whole," said Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas.
Read more: Cybersecurity in Europe's digital future highlighted at Digital Expo in Tallinn
The European Parliament has on Tuesday approved a resolution that creates a financial scheme for local wireless access points in the EU, free of charge and without discriminatory conditions.
The budget of the WiFi4EU scheme is EUR 120 million between 2017-2019. It will support the installation of state-of-the-art Wi-Fi equipment in the centres of community life, such as parks, squares, public building, libraries, health centres, and museums.
Read more: European Parliaments adopts new EU scheme for free Wi-Fi
Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, said on Friday that Europe must use the opportunities created by huge advances in digital technology.
Tusk made the remarks at the Tallinn Digital Summit which was held on Friday by the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), in cooperation with the President of the European Council and the European Commission.
Read more: EU to step up cooperation to embrace digital opportunities
€120m funds under WiFi4EU scheme will be allocated on a first-serve basis to help local public administrations promote access to wireless connectivity in public spaces
European Members of Parliament (MEPs) today approved a “WiFi4EU” scheme to finance free wireless connections in centres of public life, including outdoor spaces accessible to the general public in local villages, town and cities, hospitals, and libraries.
Read more: EU to help fund wireless connectivity for local communities