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According to Killu Vantsi, legal migration adviser at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, “The workforce in the globalized world is very mobile. The rules for visas and work permits are based on the classic work situation, where you live and work in one place, but these regulations have not adapted with the developments in the employment field. So it’s time we consider this.” Estonia is about to launch its first Digital Nomad Visa in 2019 and the ground is ready for a growing number of “location independent workers”.
As reported by Peter Beech in the Guardian, Telliskivi Creative City in Tallinn is a hub which hosts 250 companies, and a co-working space, featuring all the biggest Estonian startups like TransferWise, Taxify, Pipedrive and Funderbeam on its wall of fame. Karoli Hindrinks, CEO and Founder of Jobbatical (an online platform that puts international jobseekers in contact with companies), who started discussing the possibility to launch the Digital Nomad Visa with the Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid states that: “Borders are not reflections of policy and politicians, but rather they are a reflection of the borders in our heads.”
This article was originally published in The Guardian. Read the full article here
No innovation without pain
Taavi Kotka, former CIO of the Estonian Government and one of the “fathers” of the digital society, was interviewed by the British Journal of Healthcare Computing. Kotka explained how the digital transformation of the country did not depend only on technology, but was a painful political decision to be taken: “Estonians are very rational people. We didn’t ask [if they wanted ID cards]. We just forced it. Innovation through pain has always been a key element of change. If the engineers say you have to do it this way – it’s not a question for debate.”
This article was originally published in Healthcare IT News Australia. Read the full article here.
Estonia ranked 6th in the Automation Readiness Index
A study on the changes over the next 20-30 years concerning the augmentation and substitution of human activity is expected with the adoption of more advanced technologies in all areas of the economy. An Economist Intelligence Unit study published in early 2017 found, for example, that 3% of businesses globally are deploying AI in their internal processes or products now, and 75% expect to be “actively implementing” it within three years. Many companies feel they have no choice, lest they are outpaced by rivals that master such techniques.
Automation is augmenting the work of scientists and moves them from being purely data generators to being data analyzers and decision-makers. According to Siim Sikkut, Government CIO of Estonia, many of Estonian enterprises can still get by using relatively inexpensive labour, so incentives for the deployment of advanced technology are not strong.
This article was originally published in The Economist. Read the full article here.
