Life in Estonia. Spring 2018 by EAS, Enterprise Estonia

cover by Estonian Design Team

Innovation is an ecosystem of attitude, mindset and culture A large part of the modern lifestyle revolves around technology. Apps, gadgets and the amount of information is growing rapidly. It seems that in many places, the tools and the goals get mixedup in a cauldron of complexity. The proliferation of tech-gadgets becomes a goal in its own right. Fortunately, Estonians have proved otherwise − building a digital society is about a culture of openness and trust, rather than gadgetry. Building this mindset takes time. This year Estonia celebrates its 100th birthday. During this period, we Estonians have proven to be rather inventive − even in times of scarcity, we’ve found a way to invent the wheel. In the last 20 years, Estonians fixed their eyes on building a digital society that empowers people to be open and trustworthy while fostering an entrepreneurial spirit. This cultural shift has enabled a whole new set of opportunities to open for both Estonians and foreigners alike.

executive publisher Positive Projects Pärnu mnt 69, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia lifeinestonia@positive.ee

The tools we use change the way you think. Going digital means constantly upgrading individual attitude algorithms on a regular basis. Individual change is hard, but changing the identity of a whole society is harder. However, it is inevitable if we want to remain resilient amid different global trends. “Business as usual” is not an option here and disruption is part of the national curriculum;

editor

all components must learn to adapt to change. The government’s job is to lead this change as well as maintain a healthy balance between the ideal and the real.

Reet Grosberg reetgrosberg@positive.ee

translations Ingrid Hübscher language editor Daniel Warren

A balance between the analogue and the digital is crucial. The digital has created a new domain for innovation and these tools help a lot with managing the complexity of the modern world, but analogue face-to-face community networks are still the key drivers of innovation. This hyperlocal model of life is the status quo in Estonia and we are developing this cultural behaviour even further. Compared to many other places, our society has learned that the benefits of this digital society tend to be quite open to change. These attitudes make Estonia a perfect model to test out and experiment with new ideas.

design & layout Positive Design

In this issue we explain a few of the experiments we have done in Estonia and invite you to come here and test out a few of your own.

Marten Kaevats National Digital Advisor Estonian Government

investinestonia.com

Printed on 100% recycled paper, inspired by green technology.

Photo by Tõnu Tunnel

Estonian Investment Agency supports companies investing and expanding in Estonia. World-class human capital, unique digital capabilities and a competitive business environment make Estonia a smart, agile location for businesses with global ambitions.

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News & events

Cyber hygiene is the cornerstone of cyber security

12 Jaan Tallinn: We need to think what will happen when the goals of humanity and superintelligence don’t match Engineer, investor and futurist Jaan Tallinn, who is also one of the initial creators of Skype and Kazaa talks about the existential threat of superintelligence, the boom and real perspective of blockchain and the business opportunities behind it.

16 Estonia is striving to be center stage in cryptocurrencies and blockchain Everybody has heard about the skyrocketing price of Bitcoin, the underlying technology of which is based on cryptographic components from the blockchain. At a time when most of the world is cautious about cryptocurrencies, Estonia has already fully embraced it. At least the technological part of it.

Like never before, technology advances at a rapid pace. IoT, AI, self-driving cars, android-based humanoid robots are not merely science fiction anymore. Security in the technology field is not just keeping software up to date but also having trained people using computers. Cyber security experts see cyber hygiene as the cornerstone of cyber security.

23 Governments need to deliver on the high expectations of digital citizens The e-Governance Academy (eGA), which celebrated its 15th anniversary recently, has reached every continent and consulted 90 countries. Life in Estonia spoke to one of the founders of the eGA and programme director, Linnar Viik, about the accomplishments and challenges of eGA in Estonia and worldwide.

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32 Trinamic produces little invisible helpers that we can’t do without Trinamic is a German company whose microsystems transform digital information into physical motion − so something to see, feel and touch. The founder Michael Randt sees Trinamic a bit like Estonia − small but very agile.

36 E-Residency: There’s an app for that (launching summer 2018) Estonia launched e-Residency so that anyone in the world can apply to gain access to our country’s e-services, across both the public and private sector. Our new community network will give e-residents more opportunities to connect, learn and grow companies.

Colonel Giles Harris: Estonia is an important NATO ally and a very welcoming nation Commander of the British Forces, Colonel Giles Harris has been in Estonia for a year.

CONTENT

He arrived to deploy four Enhanced Forward Presence battlegroups to the Baltic states and Poland. The Colonel praises the cooperation with Estonian forces that has been battle-tested in Afghanistan and marvels the closeness of Estonian life to nature.

Startup Visa is a ticket to Europe’s liveliest startup community

Smart work clothes help to stay out of trouble

Achingly beautiful tales of Estonians in “The story of a hundred”

Estonian Startup Visa is successfully competing with similar visa programmes in much bigger countries such as Canada, the Netherlands and Italy in attracting global talent. After only a year, Estonian Startup Visa has had a similar number of applications to most other visa programmes in multiple years. What exactly are the requirements for this programme and what is behind its success?

The textile producer Protex is about to create a uniform equipped with speech recognition, GPS positioning, fall-down identification, activity monitor, and many other features. The development of those is based on actual need and implementation and not created just to demonstrate what’s possible.

How to portray a country and its people in one passing moment of time? Half of the answer is − through music. The concert performance “The story of a hundred” will only be staged once. Nonetheless, it has taken several years, hundreds of days and thousands of working hours for photographer Kaupo Kikkas, instrumentalist Erki Pärnoja, theatre director Jaak Prints and the dramaturgist Laur Kaunissaare to prepare.

PORTFOLIO − Stella Soomlais: A master of her own leather guild

Combining sleek Estonian design with sustainable production methods, Stella Soomlais has built a namesake brand that can be recognised from afar. The designs are crafted to minimize the cutting leftovers. With this she is aiming to reach zero waste in production.

Eat like an Estonian

42 Health technology from Tartu: Medically yours As biological creatures, humans are exposed to medical conditions such as stroke, Zika virus and sexually transmitted diseases. Researchers at the University of Tartu Institute of Technology are taking great steps to offer visionary solutions for these global issues, while also pioneering in contemporary health technology areas.

They say that Estonians are the most stationary nation in Europe − thousands of years ago, our forefathers gathered on this land and decided to stay. On the 100th birthday of our country, we look back and appreciate our old recipes and ancient customs. Life in Estonia has chosen some typical Estonian dishes for the readers to try and make.

63 Every watch tells a piece of Estonian history Tõnis Leissoo had a long career in the field of IT, but today he is a full-time watchmaker and designer. Each Estonia1918 timepiece is exclusive, exceptional and dedicated to the greatest Estonians who ever lived.

78 Events calendar: Highlights from April to December

63 50 72

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Tallinn is one of the most innovative cities in Europe! Paris has won the €1 million European Capital of Innovation award for its innovation strategy. Tallinn, Estonia and Tel Aviv, Israel were runners-up, each winning €100,000. The awards, which come from the Horizon 2020 research programme, are to be used to scale up and further expand the cities’ innovation efforts. Tallinn, as one of the most innovatively minded national capitals in Europe, presented itself as ‘The City Where the Future is Now’. The application was based on three main principles: • Tallinn as a true e-society, where everything can be achieved digitally; • Tallinn as a city with a healthy lifestyle, where green and healthy ways of life are human rights; • Tallinn as a ‘let’s do it’ city, where creativity and joint undertakings unite communities.

Tallinn won the award for its initiative in acting as a testing ground for potential breakthrough technologies. The city has promoted the introduction of self-driving cars, parcel delivery robots and ride-sharing. Tallinn has also implemented an innovative e-Residency system, under which foreign entrepreneurs can take up virtual residency and work with local residents and businesses. According to Taavi Aas, the Mayor of Tallinn, the €100,000 prize will be used to support the implementation of new ideas that support the communities in order to improve urban life. The 2017 European Capital of Innovation award competition was launched in March 2017 for

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cities with over 100,000 inhabitants from EU Member States and countries associated with Horizon 2020. Thirty-two cities from seventeen countries applied. The winner and the two runners-up have been selected from ten finalists on the basis of new initiatives launched since the 1st January 2016. The winners were chosen by a panel of independent experts from universities and the business sector. The evaluators were selected from the Horizon 2020 expert database. The award criteria focused on cities that are willing to be test-beds for new citizen-driven initiatives to address specific issues of urban living.

Latitude59 focuses on founders, future & digital society 24 - 25 May @ Tallinn Creative Hub

Investor Day by Invest Estonia Wednesday, 23 May 12:00 @ Ülemiste City The event gathers 150 angels & VCs interested or already investing in the region. Investor Day program will feature practical guidelines to investing in Estonian startups, provocative round tables, an interactive investing game and plenty of opportunities for networking. The day will end with a dinner by Practica Capital just next to the beautiful Kadriorg palace.

Who are these 2000 attendees? • Around half of the attendees come from Estonia, the rest from Finland, Latvia and other neighbouring countries, as well as an increasing number from more exotic locations such as Japan, Turkey, and India.

Estonia’s flagship startup & tech gathering takes place in Tallinn on May 24-25. This year, the conference has three main themes − Founders, Future & Digital Society. The event gathers over 2000 people to a century-old power plant turned into a cultural hub − a truly special venue with a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. Latitude59 is known as one of the highlight events of the year for startup entrepreneurs and investors in the Nordic-Baltic region. Keynote speakers in previous years include DFJ partner Tim Draper, Google VP Vint Cerf, European electric car company Rimac Automobili founder and CEO Mate Rimac, Mistletoe founder Taizo Son, the Estonian founders of Skype and many others. In addition to the conference program, the event hosts several pitch competitions, investor-startup matchmaking, various side events & a bigger-than-ever startup demo area. More info & tickets from latitude59.ee

• One third of the attendees are either founders or startup employees and one fifth regionally active angels & VCs.

Latitude59 conference program will feature 13 tracks, among them discussions and presentations on: • • • • • • •

Big tech, data & the fragile state of democracy AI: moving from the hype to actual business practices Predictions for clean meat & sustainable farming The future of cyber security Company culture Bootstrapping your business Fuelling your growth through an ICO

In addition, Latitude59 will feature 12 personal stories from startup founders around the world. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Photos by Dirk Ewald

15 years of Enterprise Estonia in Hamburg On January 16th, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Enterprise Estonia in Hamburg, the Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas met more than 50 high-ranking business representatives − the heads of the companies operating in Estonia with German capital, including Kühne + Nagel, Arvato, Axinom, Lufthansa and Axel Springer, as well as entrepreneurs considering expanding to Estonia − on a New Year’s Dinner in Hamburg to discuss ways of boosting economic cooperation between Estonia and Germany, in order to support investments into Estonia as well as the creation of jobs. The annual meeting was organised by Enterprise Estonia and took place in Germany for the first time this year. Germany has become Estonia’s fourth largest economic partner in the world. More than 650 companies with German capital are already active in this northern Baltic country. Estonia’s IT sector has been hailed as the flagship

Jüri Ratas

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industry of the country; other significant industries are wood and metal processing, mechanical engineering, the furniture industry, electronics and ship and yacht building. A significant part of the successful cooperation can be attributed to Enterprise Estonia, specifically the German branch of Enterprise Estonia in Hamburg. ‘I am proud to say that more than ¼ of the investors have contacted Enterprise Estonia in Germany in certain stages of their projects.’ said Riina Leminsky, Director of Enterprise Estonia in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Alo Ivask, the Chairman of the Board of Enterprise Estonia said the investment potential in both countries was still far from being fully utilised and encouraged hesitant companies to seize the opportunity and make good use of the services offered by Enterprise Estonia. Between 350 and 400 business contacts as well as at least ten business delegations per year present a wide field of opportunities.

Martin Kolbe, CIO of Kühne + Nagel (AG & Co) KG

During the New Year´s dinner, Prime Minister Ratas took time for lively conversations with virtually all invited representatives of companies. ‘We may be small, but we are flexible and base our actions on relevant feedback,’ Ratas explained and added that ‘any feedback from business partners is very valuable, so that we can make the business conditions in and with Estonia even more competitive in the future.’ He stressed that the Estonian government was well aware of the increasing shortage of skilled labour force in several economic sectors: ‘We will shortly be discussing in the cabinet how we can integrate foreign labour

Speaking of future developments, the Prime Minister added: ‘Our next project is called Reporting 3.0, which will enable small and medium-sized companies to submit their tax returns completely automatically without a tax advisor.’ Before meeting the representatives of German undertakings in Hamburg, Prime Minister Ratas emphasized that the intensification of economic cooperation with Germany will help to raise the turnover of our companies and the people’s quality of life − goals that this meeting hopefully brings us closer to.

even more efficiently.’

‘Let´s look at Germany as a container ship and Estonia as a yacht: the container ship is big and powerful, the yacht, however, small and flexible and therefore easier to steer. Both ships have their advantages and disadvantages. Ideally they would team up and gain the maximum added value for both. My everyday work entails looking for appropriate solutions, in order for both “ships“ to cooperate in harmony. And the routes that I find will be used both ways.’ Riina Leminsky Director of Enterprise Estonia in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

‘When we were looking for a country to create a nearshore IT centre, we turned to Enterprise Estonia for assistance. From the beginning, we knew we were in good hands. Thanks to their support, we made many fruitful contacts with organizations and companies with whom we could talk openly about our experiences. This ensured us solid footing when we decided to build an IT nearshore centre in Estonia.’

Damir Tomicic, CFO & Co-Founder of Axinom GmbH ‘What’s important from the investor’s perspective is well-functioning infrastructure, government support and, most of all, trust in the market and in local business partners. Over the past few years, we have built very close and trusting relationships thanks to Enterprise Estonia. Moreover, the support provided by the Enterprise Development Programme (www.axinom.com/investing-in-the-future) has given us additional impetus to invest in Estonia on a massive scale this year. I would also like to emphasize Enterprise Estonia’s support for our work with universities and schools in Tallinn and Tartu. We have already gained several promising new employees and forged long-term partnerships with institutions and professors. Axinom has become a permanent companion of education in Estonia, and we are counting on finding new talent this way.’

Tom Bangemann, Senior Vice President of The Hackett Group

Riina Leminsky

‘Congratulations to Enterprise Estonia − you’ve done an excellent job! So well, in fact, that now there are too few Estonians and too much work. But this is a good problem to be dealing with, one that many countries would find enviable. And perhaps Enterprise Estonia can help solve it. I would certainly place my trust in the agency to do so!’ LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Estonia and South Korea are forming a digital dream team Estonia and South Korea are moving closer together digitally, despite being half a world away physically. President Kersti Kaljulaid has officially opened the first e-Residency Collection Centre in Seoul, while agreeing on new trade and technology links with South Korea. The Estonian Police and Border Guard Boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first e-Residency Collection Centre will enable Korean entrepreneurs to more easily enter the EU market without leaving the country. If successful, the project can be expanded in future to more locations around the world where there is currently demand for e-Residency, but difficulty reaching an existing pick-up location. President Kaljulaid met with the Governor of Gyeonggi province, Nam Kyung-Pil, and his officials to agree on the cooperation.

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In support of this new opportunity, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid also agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding to promote inter-regional cooperation in technology and business between the Republic of Estonia and Gyeonggi Province, which is home to Pangyo Techno Valley. The agreement includes cooperation to connect entrepreneurs, develop blockchain technology, and provide employment opportunities for each other’s specialists in IT and other industries with the support of Work in Estonia.

tries have developed a strong friendship based on the mutual values of enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and the love of technology. We are already world leaders together in innovation and partners in the D5 group of advanced digital nations, but the world is changing fast and we can still benefit so much more from each other. That’s why we are now deepening our friendship and becoming business partners too.’

During her visit to South Korea, President Kaljulaid also met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a meeting in which they agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in various areas, including cyber defence and startup businesses.

‘While supporting entrepreneurs, the state must also embrace innovation and adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. The Estonian Police and Border Guard has shown a great example of this by opening their first e-Residency Collection Centre, which will help scale up our country globally by better serving entrepreneurs in Korea and around the world in the digital era.’

Speaking at the official opening of the e-Residency Collection Centre in Seoul, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid explained: ‘Our coun-

Entrepreneurs in Gyeonggi will now be encouraged to enter the European market through e-Residency, while Estonian and e-resident

entrepreneurs will be encouraged to enter the Asian market with the help of Gyeonggi. In addition, the private sector in Estonia and Gyeonggi will be encouraged to conduct exchanges. Estonia is the first country in the world to launch e-Residency, a secure digital identity that provides access to e-services in the country, such as those provided for international service providers. This enables e-residents to establish and manage a trusted EU company entirely online. Until now, e-residents have had to collect their digital ID cards from an Estonian Embassy, which meant Korean entrepreneurs had to travel abroad to receive their digital ID cards. There are now almost 30 000 e-residents from 143 countries and South Korea now has one of the highest rates of applications since the new centre was opened.

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By Holger Roonemaa

Even though the current level of artificial intelligence does not pose any real threats to humankind, we need to insure ourselves for the time when superintelligence will take decision-making away from us, says engineer, investor and futurist Jaan Tallinn. One of the initial creators of Skype and the legendary file sharing program Kazaa talks about the existential threat of superintelligence, the boom and real perspective of blockchain and the business opportunities behind it.

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Photo by Annika Haas

Jaan Tallinn: We need to think what will happen when the goals of humanity and superintelligence donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t match

Jaan Tallinn, b 1972 Founding engineer of Skype and Kazaa Co-founder of The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at University of Cambridge, UK Co-founder of The Future of Life Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts Avid investor in AI start-ups

There are two significant tasks that AI is interested in pursuing. First, to maximize its computing power. Second to colonize the galaxy, because that’s where the majority of computing resources are.

I feel that there was a sort of explosion a couple of years ago after which the whole topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) suddenly sprang into a wider audience’s consciousness. All of a sudden we had Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and we started talking about self-driving cars. Jaan Tallinn, how did it happen? There were two different explosions. One of AI itself and the other of AI’s risks. I believe that a lot of the latter had to do with the works of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, who unfortunately passed away just today (the interview was done on the 14th of March_ed.). Most importantly, the former was the revolution of deep learning. All of a sudden we had graphics processing units that were very capable for deep learning.

Can you explain what AI actually means and how we will feel it in our everyday lives? The problem of AI is that it means so many different things for different people. Often it makes more sense to talk about it without ever mentioning the term itself. There is a huge difference if we talk about AI that is less intelligent than humans or the superintelligence that outsmarts humans. Then there is narrow AI, which means that it is smarter than us but only in one narrow field. Some AI practitioners never see further than that what already exists.

Let’s talk about the threats of AI. It is a field where science fiction meets real life and as a result a lot of myths are created. What should we really be worried about and prepare for? If we talk about short term threats, one of the most important questions is what will happen to democracy. We have a situation where a small group of actors can manipulate the majority as they please. It is a huge issue. Having said that, personally I am more involved with long-term problems. For the last 100 000 years we have lived in the environment where the main force that defines the future of the living world was humankind. As a result, we have developed lots of habits and intuitions that we are stuck with. But when we reach superintelligence, it will not be humans who are in control anymore. Having said that, we are hopefully still far away from superintelligence. We need to make it the goal of AI to sustain that narrow range of environmental parameters that enable continued biological life on the planet. By default, it wouldn’t be in AI’s interest. It is not probable that the existence of atmosphere would suit the needs of AI. There are two significant tasks that AI is interested in pursuing. First, to maximize its computing power. Second to colonize the galaxy, because that’s where the majority of computing resources are. If it is AI’s goal to get as quick and easy access to the rest of the universe, it would make sense that AI manipulates the environment of the Earth in a way that would make the planet uninhabitable for all biological forms. It might sound absurd and sci-fi but if you go through all the steps of the argument one by one, it would be difficult to counter that argument.

We still haven’t reached superintelligent AI. When could that happen? It depends. As I said, in some narrow fields it already exists. For example, in certain games. But it is not generally superintelligent AI. Some of the most impressive news last year was about the creation of AlphaZero, which is able to learn how to play different games independently and was able to defeat the world champion programs in a very short time.

Does it mean that we are trying to build AI to be of assistance to us, but in fact it will destroy the physical environment we need to live? Yes, at least we can’t rule it out. Of course it makes sense to develop AI that would be of help to us and we need to act so that it could be useful for us. The question is: what will happen when our goals and the goals of superintelligence do not align? LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

If it is AI’s goal to get as quick and easy access to the rest of the universe, it would make sense that AI manipulates the environment of the Earth in a way that would make the planet uninhabitable for all biological forms. There are so many stakeholders in AI. For one, states such as the US, China or Russia, then there are giant corporations like Amazon or Google, and finally non-state players such as even ISIS. What can be done to counter these existential threats?

More interesting is what will happen in the long term. Someone said that AI that can rearrange atoms at will will not sit there and wait for you to buy things from it. The moment superintelligent AI emerges, the human economy will end. I don’t see a reason why it should continue.

This is exactly the essence of the discussions now among the AI safety community. But there are no answers. A friend counted that currently there are nine people with a PhD who are employed full time to work on AI security. It is not a lot. We certainly need more top scientists to deal with the issue of what the future of humankind might depend on.

You are an active investor yourself. Not long ago an AI startup where you had invested, Geometric Intelligence, was bought by Uber. The AI startup scene must be overcrowded?

What are the possible solutions? It is hard to see that any regulation or agreement would help. It only takes one foul player, a kind of Mr. Blofield from a James Bond movie... My approach is kind of on a meta-level. I am trying to grow and support the ecosystem of organizations that tackle existential risks. Currently, I support around ten different organizations that have different approaches to minimize long-term risks. They also sort of absorb people who are interested in the topic and want to contribute.

There are much more startups that say they are in AI than there are reasonable ideas. AI is a buzzword. Most of the companies that say they are in AI in reality don’t need AI at all. All they need to use are some simple statistical methods, such as linear regression. Virtually all companies that use or develop AI in a commercial sense are dealing with it in a practical way, not fundamental. They adopt any AI fundamental research and develop it to solve one specific problem. In the context of such AI, I am not worried at all about security. Practical AI is always one or two generations behind fundamental research. If we know that we still don’t have any big mess on the far frontier, it makes sense to presume that AI that is based on technology that is a generation or two behind, also doesn’t pose a threat.

Seems like an “end of the world” talk we’re having.

A huge exception should be the military?

I don’t want to say that such an end is inevitable. My good colleague Max Tegmark, with whom we established the Future of Life Institute, compares it with buying home insurance. When you buy a house it makes sense to also sign up for insurance, even though you don’t plan for the house to burn down. But as long as you can’t rule it out completely, it would be responsible to prepare.

That is true. The Future of Life Institute published a slaughter bots video some months ago. It demonstrates how cheap, extremely intelligent and very small killer machines will be developed. As a result, nation-states will not have a monopoly on power anymore. A lot of players will be able to buy cheap small killer drones. It will create a similar problem to what we see now in cyber defense. A huge attack will occur that will bring a lot of casualties and we won’t know who was behind it − just as we still don’t know who was behind the cyber-attacks that took down British hospitals. States need to give a lot of thought to avoiding such a scenario as well as developing a defense system as a priority. It is an incredibly difficult riddle to solve.

What you are saying is that we have reached a critical stage in the development of civilization. Potentially, yes. But there is also a chance that nothing will happen. Another century will pass and a new generation will follow another just as it has for thousands of years. The thing is that we can’t be sure of that anymore. At the same time there is a huge economic and business potential in AI. I invested some years ago in Amazon. It was before they announced their AWS (Amazon Web Services, cloud computing) business. When they eventually published their revenue numbers from that part of the business, the stock price jumped, because there is such strong demand for extra computing power. There is a lot of financial value in technology that helps grow computing power. But this is short-term talk again.

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You said that there are far too many companies that just say they use AI. What kind of advice would you give to investors to understand which businesses are bluffing and which not? They use AI only nominally. Investors should learn the difference between simple statistics and deep learning. If they can do that, there is a good chance they can also evaluate why the company needs AI in the first place. There is no other general recipe. In a way, it is a race between two counterparts because the interests of investors and those of the companies are clearly not matching. The investors need to separate the wheat from the chaff. The companies, on the other hand, want to appear more like the wheat.

Several years ago you predicted that the market cap of cryptocurrencies would reach a trillion dollars. It was well on its way to reach that milestone last year before dropping down again. Leaving the market value aside, what kind of perspective do you have on blockchain?

Photo by Annika Haas

We certainly need more top scientists to deal with the issue of what the future of humankind might depend on, AI security.

It reached somewhere around 800 billion USD last year, I predicted that by 2019 it will be a trillion. I still think that it can be. The thing is that there is a lot of crap among the gems in cryptocurrency. The comparison with the dotcom boom of the early 2000s is completely fair. At that time, whenever a business wrote in a press release that they use a web portal or something, the stock went up. Blockchain has now similarly been made a marketing tool. As businesses eventually found a good use for the internet, I am sure that blockchain will sooner or later do the same.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bitcoin was created on the wave of distrust − distrust of national currencies, state institutions, banks and corporations. Bitcoin was supposed to be bulletproof for trust issues. Is it? [The creator of Bitcoin] Satoshi Nakamato embedded a headline about the bailout of banks in the genesis block of Bitcoin. But that he released Bitcoin at exactly that time is a coincidence because surely he had been developing Bitcoin already for some time before the financial crash. Even if the crash hadn’t happened, he would have released it. It was a computer science innovation, rather than an act of protest.

The issue of trust and technology is really interesting. You said that the greatest short term risk is that of democracy, which also relates directly to trust. Is it because of technology that democracy has become so fragile? I’m not sure if tech has made democracy fragile, but it definitely has changed the context in which democracy functions.

Isn’t the real underlying problem the growing knowledge gap? The number of people who understand the basics of how critically important new technology works is so small and the gap seems to be growing. People don’t understand AI, they don’t understand blockchain, but still go along with the investment rush. Welcome to the world of exponential growth. If you look at the history of world GDP over hundreds of years, you see that for a long time nothing happens and then suddenly everything happens. In a lot of spheres the growth accelerates and it will be increasingly difficult for individuals to keep up with the pace.

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Estonia is striving to be center stage in cryptocurrencies and blockchain Blockchain is the fad of the moment. Everybody you know has heard about the skyrocketing price of Bitcoin, the underlying technology of which is based on cryptographic components from the blockchain. At a time when most of the world is cautious about cryptocurrencies, Estonia has already fully embraced it. At least the technological part of it.

By Ronald Liive

The Estonian national digital identification system already started using a variation of blockchain in 2008. In 2016, the Estonian government was looking for new and innovative ways to secure the health records for its 1.3 million residents. It turned to blockchain. Now all of our health records, which have been fully digitized for quite a while now, are safely guarded by the same technology used by Bitcoin.

E-Residency is looking towards ICOs There are many more examples of blockchain being used in the public and private sector in Estonia. If you have a great interest in starting a * new cryptocurrency or to raise funds for your next world-changing idea * then look no further than the famous e-Residency program.

Although the team behind e-Residency has been working on a few different cryptocurrency ideas none of them are ready for prime time at the moment. One of the most promising ideas involves the aforementioned trusted ICOs. Right now there are a lot of scam artists who start an ICO just to steal people’s hard earned money and run off with it. Trusted ICOs means that the people behind the initial coin offerings have been fully vetted by the Estonian government and hold e-Residency status, which means their backgrounds have been checked by the Police and Border Guard Board. This gives a sense of security to potential investors that the people running the ICO have no known ties to terrorism, money-laundering and other illegal activities.

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____ -° ( ) -' ( __--____ )( ) * ' „/ * -' --'‚‚ --'* ‚‚ ||||| ( ) '- ----' . * ( ) -'- )_( '- -'- | ˆˆˆ ( ) | )_( /----\ ˆˆˆˆ * ˆˆˆˆˆ The head of public relations at e-Residency, Arnaud Castaignet tells us ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ ˆˆ ˆ ||||||||| ¦n¦n¦n¦ ˘˘ )__( ˆˆˆˆˆˆ * -----˘ ˆˆ ˆˆˆ //::::::::://°°° that they know people in the administration who are working to make ˆˆˆˆˆˆ ||||||||| |u¦u¦u| ˘˘ )__(( ; ||||||||| О° |||||||||ˆˆˆˆˆˆ -–— — – ˘˘˘ °°° —– - ..... ˆˆˆ ˆˆ -–— – * Estonia a very crypto-friendly jurisdiction for trusted ICOs. -– ˘˘˘˘˘ -|||||| ||||||||| [ -_ -_] ˘˘˘˘˘˘˘ ||||||||| |||||||||||||||ˆˆˆˆˆˆ —– – --- °°°° -–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ º )__( – – -– ˆˆˆˆˆˆ -ºº ˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘ — – -–— – ˆ ˆˆˆˆ ||||||||| )__( [_] -ººº :::: |||||| ||||||||| |||||| O|||| ˆˆˆˆˆˆ – -– ˘˘˘˘˘˘˘ – — – --–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ ººººº -____ ˘˘˘˘ – — – -–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ ____ -,,, ˘˘˘˘ ||||||||| | ___| )__( — – -–— ˆˆ ˆˆˆ |||||| ||||O| |||||||||||||||ˆˆˆˆˆˆ -– – ¥¥¥¥¥¥ ```` º º :::: -– ____ – ,,, — – -–— ____ ˆˆˆˆˆˆ ººº -```` — – -–— )__( -] O – ///////// |||||| ||||||||| |||||||||||||||ˆˆˆˆˆˆ º º ____ ,,, -—– – -- :::: -–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ – ____ ```` ++++ ººº r -– ˆ ˆˆˆˆ -O ,,, – °_--_-—_ — – -–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ º º _| ____ )__( ++++ |||||| ||||||||| (|| ||) ||||||||| -||||||||| ||O ```` ° /\\\\ – -– ˆˆˆˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ____ – ººº r ,,, — – --–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ -++++ ˘ ||) -| ____ °°°--_---_```` – º º ____ — – -–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ -)__( ,,, []]]]] |||||| ||||||||| (|| ||||||||| |||||O |||||| — – -–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ ººº ++++ – ° ° :::: MMMMNNMM ```` -— – -–— ˆˆˆˆˆˆ _ - __ _ _ ººº ˘ · ˆ ˆˆˆˆ `´´`´ -----------------(ˆ¯ˆ / – °ˇ°Ł o )' (' << ==> < -- -- -> Õ o --_--_-__-- ºº о ˆ˚˚ˆ ºr - - - °-°°- - - - - -º -º- -º- - º- - - - -º// \\ _-___-____-r __\\ ˘ · // < -- -- -> ±± º _---- _---__ / _____ Ґ Ґ O ____________________________ _ -|| º º °' °' ´) (O ` ´ °ro о O ( | | | | | º) -- · · · || --__r ° rº _____ / / ´` -–- -) (–- -) (–- -/) * ..... ** Ö .... ( ..... ...... (oooo) (____( ' ' ' ' ' ' [ ]))) ....... ooo ........**** *** `´ `´ r °°° °°° °°° `´ `´

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LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 48

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All Estonian health records, which have been fully digitized for quite a while now, are safely guarded by the same technology used by Bitcoin.

The team behind e-Residency, which is backed by the Estonian government, has been hard at work looking for opportunities to ensure the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies and ICOs (initial coin offerings), which * have had their fair share of scammers exploiting them.

Kusaka: ‘For startups planning ICOs who are really and seriously considering their business with a longer vision in this space, we recommend Estonia.’ ‘To our tremendous surprise, the first thing we discovered was that there were many aspects of Estonia’s business environment that crypto entrepreneurs already hugely favored, from 100% online cross-border management to a 0% corporate tax on undistributed profits. In addition, our secure digital identities can be used as part of the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures that would otherwise cost companies both more time and more money when they need to verify identities of investors and customers,’ says Castaignet.

Blockhive never even considered another country for their business / Again, this is just one[o] of the ideas they are working on but there are __ __ companies embracing it. One of them is Blockhive which is / ( _already ___ )

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mostly based in Estonia but has roots in Japan. Another part of the team works from Vietnam. Blockhive’s co-founder Hikaru Kusaka tells Life in Estonia that they never even considered another EU member .. state to launch their global business. ˇ Kusaka says they chose Estonia because they saw that the future of society is here. *

Blockhive has been in the blockchain space since 2013 and they have different ventures going on right now. Back in November 2017 they started a cryptocurrency mine at PAKRI Science and Industrial City, which is about 50 kilometers away from Tallinn. They are also behind a smart wallet app called “eesty”, which can be used to store, hold and send cryptocurrencies. Aside from all of that the company is creating practical and innovative solutions for traditional companies in the form of partnerships, Blockhive also incubates projects that have the potential to benefit from blockchain technology. For businesses planning an ICO, Kusaka recommends an environment like Estonia where regulators and innovators can communicate closely with each other to bring ideas together to build a better society. ‘Recently I’ve heard that many startups planning ICOs chose to be based in the Isle of Man or Seychelles. Perhaps it is because of tax advantages and no strict regulations in regard to cryptocurrencies and ICOs. But if the companies are really and seriously considering their business with a longer vision in this space, we recommend Estonia.’

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|\ /|\\/| [)|––] * ‘We have |/|\\ a clear О we are here in Estonia. No other country /\| reason why ; |––](] — (but Estonia )( # ) |/\|\|//| – |–](][) has done more— to use blockchain in their e-government -– * — * * ( )( ) |\|/\\|\| -– system which dramatically — changes citizens’ daily lives,’ Kusaka states. ](][)|– -– -( )( ) |\\ /\ /| — – ºº -о [)|––] – —— — -— — r oooo( # )( ) – |/\\| \\| — — -— |––](] oooo — — – -— — – — — — ( )( ) # |\ /|\\/| — -— – |–](][) oooo /\\\\°O — — -ro oooo — — – — — ( )( ) -|/|\\ /\| | – — oooo o HIII ](][)|– -— – =»=»=»=»=» =»=»=»=»=»=»=»=»=»=»=»=» ------------------' -- > ff --º° ºººº - º- - - - - - - - - - - - - ---ººººººº°º )°{}»__«[ -- °\....................................| º °°ººººººººººº°° º º º º º .. º º° ˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘˘ ~~ ~ - ' _________________ ºº º ºº º° ~˜˜ ˜~ -' º° -Ґ --- ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

According to Blockhive’s co-founder, their experience in Estonia has been great so far and they have made a lot of powerful partnerships with local startups as well as a law firm and an energy company.

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There are many aspects of Estonia’s business environment that crypto entrepreneurs already hugely favor, from 100% online cross-border management to a 0% corporate tax on undistributed profits. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Estonia has a strong track record of successful companies and a government that thinks like a startup.

Change Bank has a new look at old solutions Another international company that has chosen Estonia to be their base is Change Bank. The mission of Change Bank is to make money simple. ‘We believe that everyone everywhere should have the power to easily manage their own finances. Combining a multi-currency wallet, global payment card, and a financial services marketplace, we’re bringing all personal finance services to one smooth application,’ says the founder and CEO of Change Bank, Kristjan Kangro.

‘Back in October, we had 4 people in a 15-square-metre windowless office in Singapore and a vision to change the financial system. Today, our team has close to 20 members, and we are constantly growing. We’re expecting to launch our mobile wallet in a few months, and in parallel working towards making our payment cards available this year.’ Kangro sees Estonia as a great option for companies who want to offer their product in the EU market.

The company was founded in Singapore two years ago to build the first challenger bank in Southeast Asia. After raising over 17.5 million US dollars last year, the company decided to increase the scope of their vision and create a global financial institution instead of focusing on the Southeast Asian region.

‘Estonia has a strong track record of successful companies and a government that thinks like a startup. Smaller countries are generally more agile and nimble, have shorter feedback loops between startups and regulators, and changes can be implemented quicker than in larger countries.’

Kangro says the team saw that the 500-million-person EU market would be a more favorable start for a global fintech company than Singapore’s 5 million person market.

Quick and decisive decisions from the regulator

‘Estonia’s world-famous startup ecosystem, abundance of tech talent, and the fact that most of us are Estonians meant Estonia was the obvious choice to set up our headquarters. As we are operating in a highly regulated financial sector there is an obvious need for close communication with the regulator. A small, interconnected and tech-savvy country has a real advantage here. We have had good access to the Estonian FSA through its FinTech initiative and we are looking forward to cooperating even more closely in our next licensing phase,’ says Kangro. Only six months after raising a whopping amount of money with a token sale, a lot has happened with Change Bank. Kangro has ambitious goals for his company, the team is aiming high and expecting to be one of the leading Fintech companies in Europe within the next few years.

LI FE I N ESTON IA N o 48

A sign of nimble and fast thinking comes from the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) known as Finantsinspektsioon, which recently published a comprehensive legal framework overview of ICOs in Estonia. EFSA is of the opinion that tokens (which are issued during ICOs), depending on their structure, might be considered securities according to the definition set forth in the current Securities Market Act as well as in the Law of Obligations Act. Then again, they see that every ICO is unique and should be assessed by its own characteristics.

More information about EFSAs overview can be found on their website at www.fi.ee

Cyber hygiene is the cornerstone of cyber security By Ronald Liive

Photo by Andres Raudjalg

Like never before, technology advances at a rapid pace. The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), self-driving cars, android-based humanoid robots are not merely science fiction anymore. With new technologies there need to be improvements made to cyber security as well. Security in the technology field is not just keeping software up to date but having trained people using computers. Cyber security experts see cyber hygiene as the cornerstone of cyber security.

Klaid MĂ¤gi

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You can always have the latest and greatest security patches and software installed on your machines but when the person using them has not had the proper training and opens every spam email they get then you basically have no security at all. Having trained employees is the most cost effective way of keeping your business up and running 24/7 without the extra need for expensive soft- and/ or hardware cyber security solutions.

Estonian businesses and government offices have been trained in cyber hygiene The private and public sector in Estonia have started to understand it. About a year ago, thousands of government officials had to go through a web-based test that gave them a score on their knowledge of cyber hygiene. In the age of technological advancements, cyber hygiene is something so essential that even everyday Facebook users need to know it like the back of their hands. The development of the test in question was initiated years ago by the Estonian Ministry of Defence, they were also the first client to use the test on their employees. The company behind the test is called CybExer Technologies and by now they have lots of clients in Estonia and elsewhere starting from the Tartu municipality and ending with the Latvian Ministry of Defence. Most of us don’t even think twice when we are handed a USB thumb drive and are told that there is something of our interest on it. The same applies to emails. A lot of internet users open up every spam email they receive and don’t see it as a risk. The test presents the user with different scenarios, after reading it the user needs to answer some questions and in the end they are

given a rating of their knowledge in cyber hygiene. The parts that need some improvement are marked in red. Klaid Mägi, the Executive Vice President at CybExer, joined the company in February, and due to his previous position as the head of the Incident Response Department (CERT-EE) at the Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) he knows many examples of bad cyber hygiene where a wrong click on a website or an email could have a big impact. Unfortunately, Mägi is not allowed to give any examples of incidents that have occurred but he can affirm that lack of knowledge in cyber security has cost time and taxpayer money. ‘We sometimes feel embarrassed because the test seems to be too basic but just as the Emergency Service still have to explain to people the necessity of smoke detectors, we have to ensure that the basic truths of cyber behaviour are clear. Estonians use ID-cards daily and, by nature, the ID-card requires two-factor authentication. Our experience shows that even heavy ID-card users don’t know what the two-factor authentication is and don’t use it elsewhere,’ says Mägi. During our interview, Mägi is using his personal laptop which has a protective film on the screen which makes it possible to see what’s on the screen only when directly looking at it. When you are at an angle you see a blacked out screen. This is also part of good cyber hygiene. The same can be said about laptops, tablets and smartphones that have been encrypted. ‘To advance cyber security as an industry we ask our clients to make their incidents public, only then can others learn from the mistakes. If we just say that cyber threats are real and you need to protect against them then nobody listens. You need to give them examples so they can imagine being in that kind of terrible position.’

Photo by Andres Raudjalg

In the age of technological advancements, cyber hygiene is something so essential that even everyday Facebook users need to know it like the back of their hands.

LI FE I N ESTON IA N o 48

Photo by Ardo Kaljuvee

Toomas Danneberg

Photo by Kristian Kruuser

Cyber security in business is one of the strategic areas of modern companies, without which it is not possible to survive in an increasingly digitized world. Next generation of business leaders are taught the basics of cyber hygiene Last autumn, the Estonian Business School (EBS) in collaboration with Estonian cyber security companies BHC Laboratory and CybExer Technologies added cyber hygiene as part of EBS’s curriculum for MBA in Digital Society. The new curriculum educates the managers and leaders of the world of tomorrow. Last July, when the curriculum was announced, Toomas Danneberg, Vice Rector for International Collaboration at EBS, said that the role of a university is to keep up to date, and to be a step ahead of what is happening in the business sector. ‘Cyber security in business has been a distant, complicated and technical topic, which is why businesses are now sensing their vulnerability. Cyber security in business is one of the strategic areas of modern companies, without which it is not possible to survive in an increasingly digitized world. Our duty is to give leaders the knowledge and experience they need, and we are happy to say that we are able to achieve this with internationally recognised partners from Estonia,’ Danneberg says.

The collaboration is built on three levels. First, BHC and CybExer support the new curriculum. Secondly, EBS will be promoting the cyber hygiene e-learning test environment platform that has been developed by CybExer, in an international network of universities offering business study modules. And thirdly, the partners are collaborating on a cyber defence training simulation for the business sector. The aim is that EBS’s international partners, companies and corporations could test their capabilities in handling actual cyberattacks. This development is based on an internationally acclaimed cyber war learning platform developed by BHC and intended for governments, security authorities and organisations. Just recently, Danneberg participated as an observer at Strategic Decision Making Exercise on Hybrid/Cyber Threats in Vienna. The exercise was carried out in cooperation with the Defence Ministry of Austria, European Defence Agency and other public and private sector organisations. Altogether, observers from 21 countries participated, including from EBS and the representatives of our partner in Vienna − WU Executive Academy. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Secure and fast customer onboarding experience If you are running an online business you need to have a quick and easy way to securely onboard your customers. One of the most innovative solutions comes from a company founded two years ago in Estonia − Veriff. At first, Veriff had only one main purpose, to make it possible to open a bank account from behind your computer without visiting the bank office. That functionality has been available to Estonians for a while now. The service works by scanning both your face and identification card using video. According to the company, it’s harder to defraud video than uploaded photos.

Veriff has made a couple of changes to expand its business and now offers identity verification services for websites or mobile applications to verify driving licenses, passports or ID-cards. For the past three months, Veriff’s team has been located in the United States to take part in the American seed accelerator Y Combinator. According to Kaarel Kotkas, the founder and CEO, big news is coming from Veriff in the first half of 2018. veriff.me

The best protection against cyberattacks are people who have knowledge of cyber hygiene, starting from the bottom and ending with the CEOs. Cyber security as a web-based game If the CybExer test is meant for the everyday computer user, also known as the end user, then there is another Estonian company focusing on developing game-based online cyber security training for developers, devops and security experts. RangeForce is a company that simulates cyber battles to train IT professionals on cyber security. The company was founded in 2015 and the headquarters is located in New York but the development is run from Tallinn. RangeForce sees every IT professional as a defender in a cyberattack. Training people is done in a simulator where the user can have handson experience wherever possible to measure the results. As the solution is web-based there is no need to download any additional software. One of the biggest clients of the company is Barclays bank, which used their service “Global Siege” to test employee skills across the globe. The simulations took participants from across the globe through three challenging rounds with the aim of advancing their skill sets through practical, real-life scenarios.

LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 48

The qualification round began gently with multiple attempts permitted over a two-week period. The second round saw qualifying participants defending the IT systems of a fictional country called Utopia. Twenty-eight of the best defenders were selected for the final round, which took place simultaneously around the globe over four hours. Last year RangeForce’s CEO Taavi Must was recognised as one of the Financial Times’ New Europe 100: eastern Europe’s emerging technology stars. Last summer, RangeForce made it to the top 10 of NATO’s Communications and Information Agency’s inaugural Defence Innovation Challenge. The challenge was aimed at accelerating transformational, state-of-theart technology solutions from small business and academia in support of NATO C4ISR and cyber capabilities. Although there are companies working against cyberattacks and educating people on cyber hygiene the potential risks are not going away anytime soon. Just like in the physical world, we always need to protect our belongings from people who would like to illegally possess them. The best protection against cyberattacks are people who have knowledge of cyber hygiene, starting from the bottom and ending with the CEOs and other managerial staff.

Photo by Atko Januson

Governments need to deliver on the high expectations of digital citizens By Maris Hellrand

LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

The e-Governance Academy (eGA), which celebrated its 15th anniversary recently, has reached every continent and consulted 90 countries.

Life in Estonia spoke to one of the founders of the eGA and programme director, Linnar Viik.

E-gov is not so much a question of technology, there are many other crucial aspects − legislation, belief, trust, convincing.

Estonia has gained an outstanding international reputation as a beacon of e-government. What is the actual state of Estonian e-government? Where is the e-gov ship right now, where is it heading? Using the ship metaphor, I would say the ship of e-gov is sailing well and has survived many harsh North-Eastern storms. It has been caught by ice a few times, which has stalled the progress a bit, and it’s not moving terribly fast, but overall well on the way. It has turned out that contrary to our fear of being too small for all the substantial investments, our smallness gives us the advantage as we manage to involve people and the whole society − something that is much more complicated in larger countries. Now, in addition to advising even smaller states than Estonia − Cape Verde, Mauritius, East Caribbean countries − which can learn from us how to achieve good results with very little means, we are also consulting much larger and wealthier countries with more resources, like Ukraine.

When working with different countries surely the first task is to establish the foundation for the e-government. Often technology is held as the crucial ingredient. What was the foundation for e-governance in Estonia? First and foremost − access to the internet was available to everyone, young people through the Tigerleap programme, the public sector,

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small businesses through investments from the Nordic countries, and public internet access points. The number of internet users was growing faster in Estonia in the 1990s than in Latvia and Lithuania although we started out at the same point. If you have users, you have motivation to offer services. And these were offered not just by the government but also by private businesses − first media and banks. Banks were highly influential in giving businesses and private customers the experience of how convenient internet services were − being able to do banking from wherever and whenever. The government was only the next step. Government offices had been using IT internally but the biggest breakthrough was made at the turn of the century, when we made decisions about how government was to fund IT and different government bodies had to create their IT strategies. Only then the government realized that people are actually on the internet and maybe the government should offer services there. It started with very simple low formality things like people could send e-mails to offices and somebody would actually deal with it. The introduction of the digital ID card enabled development to gear up. The turn of the century was the only possible time window to do it. Estonia had issued the passports to everyone right after independence in 1991, all of which were due to expire now, after 10 years. So it was possible to issue new documents to a large majority of citizens within a very short time − to give this new infrastructure, new technology, to the whole of society. The

implementation of the new ID card required a strong political will. So this is also something we can share with other countries today: e-gov is not so much a question of technology, there are many other crucial aspects − legislation, belief, trust, convincing. What has Estonia gained from the e-government services so far? Are savings in the public sector enough to motivate the investment? This is a wrong but a very good question nevertheless. In 2018, IT is not about saving costs. This was the aim in 1995, in 2000 and even 2005. Saving money and offering faster processes. No longer. Today it’s all about amplification − the digital services enable a business or a citizen to realize its idea faster, bring it to market and create more value. E-government is no longer about making the administration more effective but rather it is about creating new jobs, new businesses. The active usage of digital signature saves a person one week a year − 2% of active work time. Adding other digital services we can say that each person in Estonia has gained 2 weeks of time by not having to deal with bureaucracy. Whatever someone does with that time is up to him − work more or take a holiday. The budget of Estonia for IT and e-government per year is 100 million euros, roughly 1% of the state budget. This is the optimal amount to maintain and develop. Compared to many

Photo by Atko Januson

developed countries we annually invest about 5 times less in public IT per capita, nevertheless we belong to the top 5 functioning e-government models that is constantly changing and developing in close cooperation with the public and private sectors. This public-private partnership is quite unique and is constantly offering the private sector companies international scaling opportunities. Of all the IT procurements in developed countries about one third come from the public sector. A third of the market is a very important power. The question is if the government is able to order products that create innovation. If the government asks for new solutions, it gives companies additional stimuli for innovation. This approach helps to grow the competitiveness of these companies in a global market. Estoniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advantage has been that it can make quick developments in 1-2 years that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t age before they are ready. The development cycle of technology requires constant innovation, which means ever-shorter projects.

What are the main challenges for the Estonian public IT development today?

The focus and future of e-government for the coming years would be how to best use the data and create new added value based on the data.

The greatest challenges today are not related to Estonia and the Estonian e-government. The biggest challenge is the fact that we are not an autarchic island but a member of the EU and Eurozone. We cannot come up with solutions that fit just Estonia while acting within the EU single market with the free movement of goods, people, services and capital. Especially as Estonia is one of the strongest advocates of the free movement of data within the European single market we need to find interoperability and agreement with other member states. E-government has become a cross-border issue. We have a few examples of things that can be done quickly and others that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. A good example is the digital cooperation between Estonia and Finland. Here we have two countries that are connected through very deep and lively economic, trade and cultural cooperation, whose labour markets are literally combined with people moving between the countries all the time. Here we have had a chance to move sector by sector and implement interoperability of the information systems of these two countries. With Finland we have connected the operations of the social security, tax office, labour and certification, health platforms. So, for example, the diagnosis and prescriptions of doctors are recognized and can be moved digitally cross-border. At the same time, the European-wide acceptance of the digital signature is moving very slowly. It is very difficult to achieve that a document signed digitally in Estonia would be recognized in another EU country. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Tallinn e-Governance Conference 2018 29 - 30 May @ Radisson Blu Sky Hotel (Rävala pst 3) Digital citizens − expectations towards the digital environment, digital rights and freedoms, personalised public services and the role of business sector in creating and supporting digital citizens. Speakers: President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid; director of e-Governance Lab Beth Simone Noveck; Associate-Partner of McKinsey Niels Godfredsen, Global Head of Digital at Kantar Public Guénaëlle Gault. More information and live stream of the event: tallinnconference.ee

We need to create new e-government services in Estonia while making sure that they would work across Europe or at least with our most important trade partners. We have been developing new e-government services for 1 million people but actually we should and could do it for many more, and in doing so enable the strong amplifying effect for our own businesses and citizens as well. Another great challenge has to do with the fact that the world has moved into mobile platforms. In the classical browser-based solutions the government had the technological control over the product offered to the consumer, now with the mobile it is considerably more complicated. We have two main platforms, neither of which is Estonian or European − so we have no control over them and yet have to trust them. We have to overcome the illusion that everything can be done in mobile just like on the internet. This is not possible. For the government it is complicated to create and maintain solutions that work equally well on all different platforms. Therefore, the criticism comes that the e-government doesn’t “look good” and the user experience doesn’t meet expectations. So the challenge is to reach the next level of user experience across platforms.

What is the user experience that the Estonians expect from their e-government? What future services could you imagine? What we see is that the governments and large companies have more and more digital data. Today we are able to use only a fraction

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Adding other digital services we can say that each person in Estonia has gained 2 weeks of time by not having to deal with bureaucracy.

of this data. This applies not only to Estonia and not only to the government but companies as well. Not only IT companies but also agriculture, production, logistics, construction − any sector really is facing the challenge of how to best use the data and create new added value based on the data. This will be the focus and future of e-government for the coming years. How to create services from data, and how to create services that will free the citizens from routine participation and duties in interaction with the government? The expectation stems from our tax declaration as it already works today − the deductions appear in the prefilled declaration automatically, quite often to our pleasant surprise as we might have already forgotten about a tax-deductible donation that we did last year. We have lost the habit of collecting and archiving documents and paperwork for tax purposes. The way to go is, for example − if a person changes workplace or moves to another town, all his data should move digitally. If I were to move to Tartu, the system could automatically offer me a selection of three family doctors for my family instead of having to think about it myself and start looking for a new family doctor. Or it could automatically offer a selection of three kindergartens for my child − the government knows that I have children of kindergarten age, so it could always be a step ahead in offering these services without me making an effort. I could still have a choice but am free from the routine task of thinking about it and searching. A similar approach should work for renewal of documents like driver’s licence, ID card, passport − the government should remind the citizen that it’s time to do it and offer the most convenient way to do it. So far

we haven’t been able to see the value of this user-centred approach. And what are the digital citizens expecting worldwide? In many countries there is an understanding that as the citizen’s interactions with the government are very limited anyway, it’s a good idea to let the citizen take initiative on these few occasions, so the government is not a paternalistic body that does everything for the citizen. In my view, it’s actually more paternalistic to expect from the citizen to approach the government and ask for these basic services. We really need to take a fresh look at the expectations of the digital citizens towards the government and find ways that a digital government can best meet these. Worldwide, people are on the internet while governments are not, or if they are then most of the time in an uncomfortable manner. The digital government cannot be a digital copy of the analogue government − this is the worst possible way. There is a widespread understanding today among governments that the digital government is not just a way to save administrative costs but rather serves as a powerful amplifier for citizens and businesses by freeing resources spent on bureaucracy and administration. Estonia serves as a great example with working solutions and results. What we can offer to others is not copying our solutions or technology but rather a very comprehensive analysis of the state-of-play of a country in this field, help set a realistic goal and show how to achieve it based on the public and political culture of the country.

Photo by Atko Januson

Colonel Giles Harris: Estonia is an important NATO ally and a very welcoming nation By Neeme Raud

Commander of the British Forces, Colonel Giles Harris has been in Estonia for a year. He arrived after NATOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic decision at the 2016 Warsaw Summit to deploy four Enhanced Forward Presence battlegroups to the Baltic states and Poland. The anchor-ally in Estonia with about 850 troops is the UK. The Colonel praises the cooperation with Estonian forces that has been battle-tested in Afghanistan and marvels the closeness of Estonian life to nature. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Colonel Harris, let me start with a recollection − my first interaction with the British troops was several years ago when I was flying, as a correspondent, from the Brize Norton Royal Air Force base in the UK to Afghanistan to bring Estonian troops home. It was the end of our involvement in Afghanistan. What has stayed with me is the memory of the utmost professionalism of the British personnel during this final mission, and the praise for the cooperation I heard in Afghanistan from our soldiers. We felt quite strongly about our cooperation. I was in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2009 and I think that the bond we formed there was very powerful, it was really felt as a very meaningful connection. We have had cooperation with Estonians also in Iraq and in Africa. So, we have this shared operations history.

Yet, some people are still wondering why you are here. The majority sees you as a defence force. But there are other views. What is your mission here in your view? It is clearly a deterrence mission. In official terms: a defensive de-escalatory deterrence posture. That has been well communicated. And, when we are going to look at the relatively small numbers of forces in the Baltics you realize that is absolutely the case. But that said, the basis of any credible deterrence is demonstrating the ability to follow through on your promise. So, once we are here in relatively small numbers in a sort of de-escalatory posture with 850ish British troops, and about 1200 with our other allies, we are here to train to fight. That is ultimately the point of having deterrence: to demonstrate what you are prepared to do. We have a dual life that we live here. Of course, we enjoy staying here, life is very relaxed, it is a very normalised, natural training experience. But we do not lose sight of how high the stakes are and what are we’re trained to do. It is something very serious.

And now you are here in Estonia. And now we’re in Estonia as a part of this is lovely continuum we have in our military cooperation. I think, we felt it especially this year during the centenary of your independence. On the Independence Day on Liberty Square where we marched alongside, our guys were really proud. They were learning about Estonian history before coming out here and they are doing it also here. But when we march in the streets with people waving and cheering, then you really get a tangible feel how much our presence here really means.

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What are those high stakes? The uncertainty in the region is clear. The Warsaw Summit was very clear about that. NATO’s deployment in very short order from the Warsaw Summit reflects the aggressive behaviour in Georgia, Ukraine, the Crimea and elsewhere. I think that was a very proportionate, very sensible step for the alliance to take. Just to make sure there is no doubt about the resolve and the unity of NATO in the face of undeniably uncertain times. I think that is why we are here − just to make sure there is no doubt really. And I think, there is a strong argument that doing nothing is actually escalatory.

In other words, if needed, you are ready to act? Absolutely. And we are equipped to. That is why we have this capable battle group. In terms of scale â&#x2C6;&#x2019; clearly, you do the math â&#x2C6;&#x2019; we are not here to face off enemy forces to the East tank for tank and soldier for soldier. It is really what we represent in terms of being here and how we combine with follow-on forces, that is the key message.

I remember that at the Warsaw Summit, the Estonians felt content that the British troops would be the anchors of the NATO mission in Estonia. Somehow it seems, that the cooperation between Estonia and the UK has been the closest in NATO? Well, I am not going to get into competition between NATO members, or who has the closest alliance. But we are very proud of how close we work with the Estonians. I hope that the feeling is mutual. I have been really impressed by the ability of the Estonians. And to think, it was not so long ago that you were building consensus here to spend that sort of money that we were going to use on building the barracks in Tapa and set up the conditions for deployment. But it has been fantastic. Which is why our military cooperation is such a meaningful thing.

How do you find Estonian forces?

Estonian defence forces are rather young. But for you, the Brits, as you have said, it has been a great learning exercise here. It is, yes. It is an environmental exercise really. We call it combat teaming. You take a little piece of every capability and put it together in a small team to deal with the physical and geographical challenges or with the particular enemy. Or to get through water, disperse, operate in small bands. You need a little bit of everything. We have been training for that elsewhere as well. I think some of the training we have done in the jungle has been helpful here. Talk about the cold jungle of Estonia! Last summer we found a lot of our jungle tactics helpful, especially in the close-up encounters in the forest. Yes, it is very challenging. But of course, soldiers like nothing better than to have an experience that is different from other soldiers. That makes soldiers tick. And coming back from Estonia, our soldiers are going to have that. Regardless of how conceptual or distant this mission would feel for some, it is nevertheless very real. They know that. But also, they have been to this cool country that not many people have operated in before. And they have learned these new skills. In all those ways it has proven to be a really popular mission here.

Independence Day parade 2018

Photo by Ralph Merry

I remember them from Afghanistan. And I remember how brave they were. That really is the most powerful quality you can have as a solider. Now we are on your home ground and are taught a lot: how to move and fight in forests, how to operate in the cold, how to operate in the wet, in the bogs. We clearly have a very prominent armoured capability. But we also must make sure that we can fight on our feet as well. And sometimes very closely in the woods. Yes, the training here has been very challenging. But when we come together with Estonians, it is an equal match. Your heritage of fighting in forests is one we are very keen to learn.

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Photo by Jon Naulls

The UK and Estonia have a century long history of working together in the defense. In November 1918, to support the independence of the Baltic states, a Royal Navy Squadron was deployed to the region. In 2007, the Royal Navy handed over to the Estonian Navy its former mine hunter that was then named after the Royal Navy Commander Admiral Sir Walter Henry Cowan who led the British naval forces in the Baltic in their intervention in the Russian Civil War, providing naval support to Estonia during the Estonian War of Independence. Presently it is the flagship of Estonia’s mine hunting fleet.

We would like to get our guys to do a bit more of exploring Estonia also. Our first year has been mostly about finding our feet, understanding our part in your plan and training for that. But I think this coming summer and the next winter we would do a lot more out and about. The winter sports especially. In our first winter here, our focus has been on training for cold weather warfare. Now that we have done that once, I think next year we have more time to get out in Estonia, to do some skiing, other winter sports. And in summer, of course, the midsummer festival was very popular. So, we have tasted a little bit of everything, and now that we have been here for a year we really want to get our guys and girls out to enjoy it more.

The troops are based in Tapa. This small town has awakened after becoming an international military centre, it has tremendously changed. We are your guests here. We are trying to feel comfortable and to relax a bit more. I think that is the phase we are in right now. The name of our magazine is ‘Life in Estonia’. How has life in Estonia been for you?

People are very friendly, very welcoming to us and I think that is getting better and better.

For me personally, it is good. I think, you have to go out to the countryside. Nature is really close here and that is fantastic! My favourite part of the week is driving my three children out of town, getting to the forest. Especially with the snow. And the national park of Lahemaa, going for bog walks − there are many choices. I am also a keen fisherman, so I enjoy ice-fishing.

We’re trying to demonstrate our cultural affiliation also. I think that’s almost as important a part of deterrence as anything. Unequivocal sense of friendship.

Your capital Tallinn is also a really interesting city. One must come here to understand the blend of old and new, its rich and varied history. I am learning new things pretty much every day.

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I think we actually are quite similar − Estonians and Brits. We watch the same TV shows, we are quite reserved to begin with. But once we break through that, we have a lot of fun. In a way that is a microcosm of the operation: we are doing business as required, and in a very professional manner, but after every week and month that goes by, you feel the boundaries getting broken down.

When you arrived, many Estonians said that the NATO troops have arrived. But then â&#x2C6;&#x2019; we are also NATO. This is a new way of thinking for many Estonians: that we are in the same camp, in the same organisation.

look how big this organisation is and how complex it is. And it works. And under a quite a lot of scrutiny and quite a lot of pressure.

And finally, what could be the headline for your year in Estonia? I could not agree more. And to be honest, it is the message we must send to our own folk back home as well. This is a regional effort. Estonia is doing its fair share along with the Latvians, Lithuanians and the Poles. The host nations, as they are called, are doing the heavy lifting in many ways. Estonia is spending 2% of the national GDP for defence and, on top of that, more (spending) for this mission to happen, and that is a heavy commitment. When you replicate that all the way down the Baltics, you see that it is a collective effort. A battle group is a significant capability for a nation to provide and it is a big commitment by the UK. But it is still a very small part of this wider fabric of deterrence. I do see ourselves as equal partners to all nations committed in the Baltics. We cooperate very closely with Estonia to do that. But we are all NATO and I do not think any of us thinks that we are just one bit of NATO and Estonia is another bit of NATO. The NATO presence is effectively bolstered in this part of the world by the multinational flavour to really amplify the sense of unity. That is the way I see it.

I want to say success, but it is always a dangerous thing to say. I have been very proud of what we have done, there is no doubt about that. I am excited about what we have achieved and what is to come.

And what is to come? You never know what is around the corner. But I think what is to come is ever-increasing capability, ever-increasing strength, ever-increasing integration, ever-increasing deterrence. If you look back again from Warsaw to now, the path we have set continues and we should be very optimistic. And we should all feel like one. I almost did not want to say it because it is taken for granted, it is one badge we all have. We are allies and it has been a perfect example of unity.

Scottish Festival in Haapsalu You often hear people talking about London, Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen being a bit more assured because of what Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are doing with us here. I think the standout of this operation here so far is the speed with which the decision was made and the speed with which it was enacted. Clearly there is a lot to learn. But it is literally day by day, week by week, month by month; we are ticking off the list, ticking off the things that we have done and still need to do.

Photo by Atko Januson

People are often very quick to criticize NATO because you are trying to get 29 member-states to agree. But here we are. And if you look down at the map of the Baltics and count the flags here, you will already see the commitment that exists. And then, when you look at the capabilities that are generated by our exercising together, you see that it all works. Yes, there are a lot of challenges. But those challenges exist in any larger organisation. But

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Trinamic produces little invisible helpers that we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do without Photo by Atko Januson

By Maris Hellrand

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Trinamic is a bit like Estonia − small but very agile.

An unusual inhabitant has joined the Estonian startup hub LIFT99 at the Telliskivi Creative City, a former soviet space tech factory turned Hipsterville of Tallinn. Trinamic is a German company whose microsystems transform digital information into physical motion − so something to see, feel and touch.

The founder of Trinamic Michael Randt told Life in Estonia that he fell in love with LIFT99 immediately: ‘We felt at home here. I don’t want us to be at an isolated outpost. I want our engineers from Germany to like to come here. They really love to spend time here.’ And hopefully sharing the office space with start-uppers will lead to new synergies and create new little things that change our daily life like magic. Randt has a long track record of doing business in Estonia: ‘The cooperation with Estonia goes back to 2005. Estonian companies were helping us to develop our products. It was a very positive experience as we didn’t need to micromanage the Estonian engineers; they were delivering. Coming from Hamburg with the Hanseatic background, we found that again in Estonia. We could make deals with them by handshake − no huge contract work with lawyers but rather from engineer to engineer. Deadlines were kept, problems solved. This cooperation evolved over the years, so in 2017 we came to the point that we needed our own team here. We didn’t want to create just an extended workbench but rather our own centre of excellence. There are skills in Estonia that we don’t have − communication and networking, software. Starting a company in Estonia is very easy, the very positive experience with the Estonian engineers an added bonus − they are like us, humble and dependable. We like the entrepreneurial attitude here.’ When Michael started his company as an electrical engineer in his kitchen in 1991 the word “startup” wasn’t even invented yet. The “one-manshow” grew and in 1996 they designed the first chip. ‘Today everybody gets in touch with our products in everyday life − when you go to a

cash machine, money comes out. But how? We design small electrical motors that drive these machines. The usage is everywhere: analysing blood, flying drones, 3D printers, the motor that would lock or open the door of an AirBnB, and so on. It’s about automation of the human environment.’ Trinamic is not the only company in this field of course, but nevertheless it’s a technology leader in many applications − 3D printing, medical liquid handling, DNA preparation, prosthetic controllers, and security cameras. Trinamic is a very engineer-driven company. The first EU grant in 1996 was used to develop the first integrated circuit: ‘We just wanted to make our own “lego brick” − a dream of every engineer.’ With the main operations still in Germany, Trinamic expanded to Estonia and to the US in 2017. Michael explains: ‘Our customers are all over the planet. Motors are everywhere. So, we need the best possible locations to operate worldwide.’ While startups often have the reputation of inventing solutions to problems people didn’t even know they had, Trinamic is producing something quite tangible, yet something we take for granted around us. Michael Randt: ‘On one hand, today we have more and more products that engineers invent, like in medical robotics. At the same time, engineers are shifting more and more toward software rather than a deep understanding of motors. This is where we come in, where we bridge it. We transform digital information to perfect physical motion. We control the power that goes to the motor to get a very soft and precise LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

movement. If you move a camera you want it to move very quickly but very smoothly and precisely. You don’t want a noisy printer, nobody likes vibration, and everyone needs efficiency.’ What are the main challenges in achieving these goals? Michael: ‘We are looking for champions. Everybody needs smaller stuff − a blood analyser that used to occupy a whole room now fits on a desktop. The big topic that combines motion and electronics is called mechatronics − mechanics and electronics merging to one building block. Miniaturisation. Our typical customers are engineers who know exactly what they need but recently we are being approached more and more by designers who just have a vision and tell us “this needs to move; can you make it? I want it silent and precise”.’ Michael likes to compare his company to Estonia: ‘We are a relatively small company in the market. Trinamic is a bit like Estonia − small but very agile. Estonia is very down to earth, easy, humble; so is my company. Maybe that’s why we feel connected. A small country needs friends and so does a small company. What is very complicated in Germany is very easy here. Now I have the immediate comparison with the US as well, and setting up business was far easier here. Our challenge is always to keep innovating. Estonia as a country also has to keep pace; it can’t just keep saying “we invented Skype’”. Estonia is doing a very good job with the new generation and bringing them close to entrepreneurship and technology, not everybody wants to be a lawyer.’

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We have an aging society. We will need a lot of little helpers to keep us at the workplace as long as possible.

People want to pay for things that give us many more years on this planet. So instead of a luxury car, health is a new status symbol. Internet of Things IoT has suddenly made hardware sexy again Randt has witnessed a shift in Estonia towards more hardware products: ‘I feel Estonia is a good place for us to be. Everything used to be very software oriented. Now, with IoT many new physical things are being created that have IT content but also need hardware. Our products combine both. Everything fits nicely. People are interested in doing hardware, inventing stuff. Robotics is a very good entry point here. There is something like a hardware renaissance going on right now. In 2016, I spent some months in an accelerator in Silicon Valley. At the time, I was the only one from a hardware company. Everyone was really sceptical until I said it was actually just the IoT. Suddenly they all got excited. That is hot stuff, why didn’t you say so! Hardware became sexy all of a sudden.’

Photos by Atko Januson

Where will the IoT bring us in ten years? What is the impact to our daily lives? Michael Randt: ‘Microelectronics democratises things. A phone gets better every two years − at the same cost. Dental replacement from ceramic or eye surgery used to be very expensive − both these areas have become dramatically cheaper through the development of microelectronics. We have an aging society. We will need a lot of little helpers to keep us at the workplace as long as possible.

How the development of this technology can make life better has many examples, like the low-cost malaria analyser − now we can use high-res camera systems and do early detection at a low cost. The cost to cure the illness is much lower at the early stage and gives everyone a chance. Many of these developments in the medical sphere will radically change our lives. People want to pay for things that give us many more years on this planet. So instead of a luxury car, health is a new status symbol. Also, people want security − be it a surveillance camera, an access system, control of their blood or other systems. People want comfort − nice climate-controlled rooms, building automation, recovery of air, air exchangers to bring the cost of energy down. This is a growing market. More and more clients ask for custom solutions − like electronics that fits into a knee joint. Manufacturing is moving super fast. 3D printing is available everywhere. This is going to change our lives towards more customised products. The aim of this centre of excellence here in Tallinn is to do this kind of customised miniature mechatronics. There’s a lot of knowledge about these things here and we want to tap into this talent pool.’

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E-Residency: There’s an app for that (launching summer 2018) By Adam Rang, Chief Evangelist of e-Residency

Our new community network will give e-residents more opportunities to connect, learn and grow companies.

Estonia launched e-Residency so that anyone in the world can apply to gain access to our country’s e-services, across both the public and private sector. The main reason for doing that so far has been to start and manage a trusted company entirely online and also access the tools needed to grow it globally. That’s improving the lives of people around the world who would otherwise be excluded from entrepreneurship − or at least face higher costs. But what if e-Residency were not just about accessing e-services that help you conduct business globally? What if e-Residency were also about accessing a valuable e-community made up of other global entrepreneurs? E-Residency is in beta mode so we’ve been listening carefully to feedback from e-residents over the past three years and continually exploring how the programme can be improved.

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We’ve also received significant support for improving e-Residency from the Estonian Academy of Arts, which dedicated an Interaction Design Masters course to this topic last year. The students conducted extensive research into how e-residents use the programme, which included interviewing e-residents and mapping out their experiences to find the biggest pain points, challenges and lost opportunities. Members of the e-Residency team met regularly with the students to examine the challenges facing e-residents. Their findings covered issues such as a lack of information (or conflicting information) about how to use e-Residency, the waiting period before receiving a digital ID card, the challenge of choosing the right service providers, and the desire to conduct more business with Estonians and other e-residents.

Based on this collective research, the students then developed a variety of solutions that they had to present at the end of the course. All of us at the e-Residency programme were incredibly impressed with their understanding of the issues facing e-residents and how they could be solved. The students mapped out the experience of e-residents to find where the biggest improvements could be made. There was a clear recurring theme through many of the ideas, which was the need to develop e-Residency as a digital platform that can provide e-residents with increased opportunities to connect with each other as a community, learn how to use the programme and grow their companies globally. Instead of focusing on one solution, we have made the decision to use their collective research and invest in a platform that can support the e-resident community by combining several of the solutions provided by the students, as well as provide us with the possibility of developing it with more features in future. In many ways, the e-resident community is already growing. E-residents are meeting each other right now both online across social media and offline around the world because they feel that they are part of something special and they want to connect with like-minded people who have also signed up. Ernest Hemmingway famously (at least in Estonia) once wrote that “in every port in the world, at least two Estonians can be found.” However, it’s now even easier to find e-residents of our digital nation everywhere you go to.

We want e-Residency to be not just the best way to start and manage a company, but also the best community of choice for location-independent entrepreneurs. Using the community platform will, of course, be optional for e-residents and everyone will be able to choose how much they wish to share with the rest of the community. However, we know many e-residents enjoy contributing to the community and we will design the platform to ensure that they are rewarded for doing so. There is another group of people that we want to directly benefit from the platform − Estonians. E-residents tell us they want more opportunities to connect with Estonians and the feeling is mutual. There are ways we can achieve this objective early on by helping organisations in Estonia that can provide a gateway to entrepreneurs in Estonia − such as co-working spaces and business chambers − join the platform. We will also have a long-term objective of developing ways for more people in every corner of Estonia to use the platform. Thank you to all the e-residents who took part in the study, as well as every student on the Interaction Design course − Ene Allas, Roland Arnoldt, Kaidi Ilves, Mirko Känd, Eerik Kändler, Britta Laumets, Riina Libe, Gloria Paul, Mariin Petoffer, Ene Raja, Raili Randmaa, Hans Tort, Timo Treit, and Kristina Valter. Thank you as well to their teachers, Dan Mikkin, Amid Moradganjeh, and Kristjan Mändmaa. They have all made a significant contribution to the future of our digital nation.

By connecting, e-residents are forming friendships, finding new solutions together, and providing each other with business opportunities. This doesn’t just help them individually, but also helps the entire e-Residency programme because this community adds more value to being an e-resident and helps us all learn more about the best ways to benefit from the programme. We know that many e-residents are already part of various business communities, both online and off, from Facebook groups to Chambers of Commerce, so they see the value of e-Residency as a business community too. Many e-residents are already paying a fair amount of money in membership fees to those networking organisations outside of e-Residency that can connect them with like-minded entrepreneurs. As a result of these considerations, the e-Residency programme is now developing a community platform that is focused on helping e-residents connect with each other, learn about how to use the programme and provide them with more tools and opportunities to grow their companies globally. They will, for example, have the opportunity to post and apply for work opportunities so that we can encourage more business within the network. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Startup Visa is a ticket to Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liveliest startup community By Ann-Marii Nergi

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Estonian Startup Visa is successfully competing with similar visa programmes in much bigger countries such as Canada, the Netherlands and Italy in attracting global talent.

After only a year, Estonian Startup Visa has had a similar number of applications to most other visa programmes in multiple years. So what exactly are the requirements for this programme and what is behind its success? Initiated by the local startup community and the Estonian Ministry of Interior together with Startup Estonia, Estonian Startup Visa allows non-EU nationals to come and work for Estonian startups, relocate their existing startups or found new ones in Estonia. This visa may be issued for up to 365 days and extended for up to 183 days, altogether for 18 months. After that, for a longer stay, it is possible to apply for a temporary residence permit for entrepreneurship which may be issued for up to five years. And the Startup Estonia team also sees that people want to extend their stay. ‘Many are interested to stay longer than the yearand-a-half visa period and many have applied for residence permits,’ says Merilin Lukk, project manager at Startup Visa. ‘We see that a bulk of startup visa alumni have received such a positive experience with Estonia that they have already applied for the residency permit,’ Merilin continues. Before the Startup Visa programme was established, the legislation for foreigners set various requirements that startups generally were not able to fulfil. For example, in order to have a residence permit, a normal company should have at least 65 000 EUR in capital, in order to invest this in business activity in Estonia. Due to the nature of startups, it is not easy to fulfil such requirements in the first few years of business, it is more or less impossible.

To qualify for the Startup Visa, startups must first fill out an application detailing their business and team, which are then evaluated by a Startup Committee, consisting of members of the Estonian startup community. So far, the Committee has given a positive evaluation to 177 applicants that are then given the opportunity to come and develop their scalable business model in Estonia. But beware, the Committee is really insightful and doesn’t fall for the plain visionaries. That’s why more than 200 applicant requests have been denied. ‘The long application form on the Startup Estonia webpage requires a thorough introduction of your business model − the main thing, as is normal for startups, is scalability. The Committee also evaluates the existence of a team, always preferring teams that are already operating. After that, the company must answer questions about near goals, how much money they have raised, if the company has achieved broader attention. It can be said that if the company has done proper preparatory work, assessed their suitability for the application, and filled in the form thoroughly, they are likely to qualify,’ says Merilin Lukk. As a sort of a bonus, entrepreneurs may also bring their families to Estonia. If you are issued a startup visa, a visa may also be issued to your spouse and children under the same conditions. It is possible for the spouse to also work temporarily on the basis of the visa. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Estonian Startup Visa in numbers: has reached 50 countries total amount of applications: 430 Yes: 185 No: 238 Pending: 6

Avery Schrader from Canada Founder of Makery, data-driven tool for strategic campaigns

‘Startup Visa makes life easy!’ I was searching for unique areas of the world that had some kind of startup scene where I could learn from the best. I came across a Forbes article that talked about some place called Estonia being the Silicon Valley of Europe. After a couple of months spent here, the vision of building my own thing became too powerful and I dropped out of university. Makery was founded in December, and I knew I would need some way to stay in the country. The Startup Estonia family has been more than generous in helping me secure the Startup Visa. At Makery we champion online-creators and shift the way people think about influencer marketing from difficult and frustrating to exciting and undeniably powerful. To do that, we are building a truly data-driven tool to allow agencies and brands to find and collaborate with these social media stars unlike ever before. The Startup Visa makes life easy and in Estonia, it’s kind of like a badge of honour to have the Startup Visa. Any events I go to, as soon as people realise I’m from the other side of the pond, they ask about the visa with this look of excitement in their eyes. As if I’m a leprechaun or something.

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Estonia is great, especially in the startup scene. The people are so open to new opportunity here, it’s like they’re all thirsting for the future and pushing as hard as they can to build it. When you’re willing to put yourself out there, people are eager to help or give you opportunity as well. I started a podcast, interviewing the coolest entrepreneurs I can meet. I’ve been able to talk to and learn from founders of Taxify, Wolf3D, Weps and so many people who have experienced everything I hope to do in the future. Investments and exits and failures and successes. It’s really inspiring to be able to get so inside of the community in just a few months. One thing I think Estonia could improve on is to work on its immigration offices and government resources. Things like having many staff members who only speak Estonian/Russian, the lack of a database that stores information well. Those small things all add up and become one big mess.

What is a startup? *Definition by Estonian Aliens Act A startup is a business unit owned by a company registered in Estonia that is commencing operations and whose goal is to develop and launch an innovative and repeatable business model with great global growth potential and which contributes significantly to the development of the business environment in Estonia.

Pavel Kirienko from Russia Co-founder of Zubax Robotics, designer and manufacturer of aerospace hardware

‘Startup Visa gave us access to the European market’

Kwun Lok Ng from Hong Kong Co-founder at Kipwise − a team knowledge sharing tool integrated with Slack that saves shared articles automatically from everyday conversations to help team members learn more efficiently.

‘Estonian winters keep you focused’

‘I had a Ukrainian colleague casually mention the Estonian e-Residency program in early 2015. The program seemed interesting, especially given the fact that at the time I was looking for ways to expand our little business outside of Russia. As our work is related to the aerospace industry, the economic sanctions imposed on Russia around that time made our international collaboration virtually impossible. So we went ahead and applied for e-Residency, and shortly after that we had a brand new legal entity here. The move was a huge success since that meant that we got access to the European market, and our collaboration with North American partners became much easier in the legal sense. Things went well enough, so last summer we decided to relocate the company here physically, which we did in September,” recalls Kirienko.

Kwun Lok Ng has been in Estonia for two years and already holds a temporary residence permit.

‘I applied for a residence permit in October and received the card in February. The process was so smooth, so devoid of bureaucratic stuff, and so uneventful, it was almost a disappointment!’

‘Things are so good here in Tallinn! The tech scene is very active, and the connections here are very close. It is easy to get to know someone relevant in the industry.’

‘I came to Estonia to join another Estonian startup, Jobbatical. I had been working on some side projects during weekends, and found Startup Visa could be useful for me to stay focused on my projects in Estonia. I liked the tech community with a good knowledge flow in Tallinn. That’s why I decided to stay in the city longer and focus on building our own startup.’ ‘Estonian winter is the best time to stay focused,’ says Kwun, referring to the dark winter months with a clever smile.

According to Kirienko, the only thing annoys him here is the contrast with life in Moscow where everything is open 24/7. ‘First world problems, I know.’ startupestonia.ee/visa Startup Visa Programme is coordinated by Startup Estonia, a program under Fund KredEx dedicated to building and strengthening the startup ecosystem in Estonia and creating solid ground for our local startups to take off.

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Health technology from Tartu: Medically yours By Sven Paulus

As biological creatures, humans are exposed to medical conditions such as stroke, Zika virus and sexually transmitted diseases. Researchers at the University of Tartu Institute of Technology are taking great steps to offer visionary solutions for these global issues, while also pioneering in contemporary health technology areas.

According to the World Health Organization, 15 million people suffer stroke worldwide annually. Of these, five million die and five million are disabled, unfortunately permanently. Statistics say that only ca 20% of people get help at the right time. ‘If we could make this number even a little bigger, very many people would survive and live on with normal health much longer,’ says Alvo Aabloo, the institute’s professor behind the R&D of artificial muscles.

His most sparkling project in collaboration with Philips, is developing artificial muscles to be used as a remedy for strokes. The revolutionary medical tool would either get rid of the blood clot mechanically or dissolve it with a drug load. After extensive research in labs, artificial muscles are very close to being applied in various areas. ‘In the world, these are already used for loudspeakers and harvesting wave energy from the ocean,’ Aabloo says.

Alvo Aabloo

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Mars house

This distinguished scientist has been deeply into robotics in the past, helping to create the shape changing Fits.me robot for online shoppers. This Estonian startup was sold in 2015 to the Japanese e-commerce and internet company Rakuten. ‘The greatest benefit was that, on the basis of this project, a totally new generation of engineers and engineering knowledge emerged,’ comments Aabloo on the first lesson learned from the project. The second lesson was how to communicate with business culture. For Aabloo, all the legal conditions as well as what the company expected from the researchers was very instructive. ‘There are very few companies in Estonia that are able to invest so much for so long, while also involving multinational companies,’ he says.

Fits.me robot

Another success story was his involvement in the “Mars house” or SHEE project. The self-deployable habitat for extreme environments could be used as a Moon base, but is also suited for disaster areas or in extreme conditions on our planet. The Institute of Technology researchers designed the robotics and energy systems for the self-erecting house and built the body of the SHEE. ‘Arabic countries that are facing disasters have shown keen interest in having these,’ tells Aabloo.

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Local countermeasures for global challenges Not a long time ago the world heard the alert of the spreading Zika virus. In order to combat the disease, a research team led by professor Andres Merits compiled the genome of the virus and is developing a vaccine against Zika. ‘The first vaccine candidates are already on clinical trial,’ tells Reet Kurg, director of the institute. In her words this is a good example how networked today’s science is: ‘We might not have this problem here, but we have interlinked experts from the world’s various ends and we can unite their forces to solve the problem.’ Kurg’s colleague Mart Ustav is behind the remarkable story of spin-off Icosagen. Starting as a diagnostics lab researching Human Papillomavirus, Ustav and his team built the successful health-tech company Icosagen, which develops novel technologies and provides research services to academia and to the bio-pharma and bio-tech industries. In 2016, Icosagen Cell Factory was awarded 1.2 million euros within the framework of Horizon 2020 to develop a novel platform for mammalian cell line development, in order to reduce the length and cost of biological drug development. The company has almost 50 employees today, half of them have a PhD. Diagnostics − or to be precise − selfdiagnostics is yet another example of how knowledge, a good business idea and patience combined with hard work pays off. Since 2010, the company known as Selfdiagnostics has closely cooperated with the institute to revolutionize the sexually transmitted disease (STD) multi-test for use at home. It helps to discover diseases faster and start treatment sooner while saving money. ‘While developing the product and building our company (with headquarters in Tallinn and an office in Leipzig) our mission is to do very good science,’ says co-founder Indrek Tulp. The company has seen three PhD theses successfully defended in the last eight years and attracted remarkable investments.

Hannes Kollist

Perhaps one common feature among the people active at UT Institute of Technology is that most of them are a bit bull-headed, driven to make their projects thrive and never giving up. ‘They don’t despise small and simple problems. However, they always think big and their great visions may reach out from the ordinary person’s perspective,’ describes Kristel Reim, head of the UT Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. ‘Our first success story is that we have been very open to all scientists with good and crazy ideas. We wish they could apply for grants themselves and we do not send anyone back, rather we advise,’ adds Kurg. And the scope of the areas is wide. In the environmental technologies professor Hannes Kollist’s Plant Signal Research Group explores the response of plants to environmental changes. ‘Thanks to his initiative a very unique apparatus was built that measures the gas exchange from the leaves of plants,’ says Kurg. Group works at models that try to forecast the climate changes impact on the vegetation.

Mart Ustav

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is to support his further career and develop the field of synthetic biology and the centre of excellence in synthetic biology at the institute. Another PhD and senior scientist Petri-Jaan Lahtvee is leading a research group that is focused on both computational and wet lab applications of synthetic and systems biology. By combining these, the group works on fundamental scientific questions, translating them into industrial biotechnology applications by constructing more efficient producer cells. The team is working with the usual baker’s yeast as well as other, non-conventional yeast strains and bacteria.

Aside from big topics like building a cell factory or Mars houses, the scientists also have their eyes on other projects. R&D is taking place in various areas: material optimization, simulations, automation solutions for businesses, new and exciting materials and VR solutions.

Growing medicines in cells The direction of synthetic biology is also evolving in the institute. ‘We currently have a synthetic biology centre in the making, the aim is to build cell factories − for bacteria, yeast and mammal cells. These cell factories could produce chemicals we are interested in,’ describes Reet Kurg. These projects are in the development phase all over the world and the basic idea is to produce medicine either in bacteria or in yeast. ‘These are business-oriented initiatives to bring high-tech factories and high-tech production into our area. If all goes very well this could be an alternative to the cellulose plant,’ says Kurg. The institute has attracted many foreign co-workers and many more have returned from abroad. Among other notable figures is professor Mart Loog, who received a prestigious Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council amounting to almost 2 million euros. This grant

Since the University of Tartu has a long history of medical innovations, starting with Karl Ernst von Baer, founder of embryology in the 19th century, one can imagine how many more successful health science stories are yet to come.

As experience shows: the researchers here are open to any new ideas, crazy as they might seem at first. And this is true: the majority of companies that have visited Tartu stress that the capabilities of the R&D organizations here are a yet undiscovered territory for enterprises in several areas. Foreign investors are in a favourable starting position in many fields. ‘Cooperation with local universities means to be become a very important partner here, whereas in the old market one is just another player,’ advises Asso Uibo, Enterprise Estonia Tartu regionial investment consultant.

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Smart work clothes help to stay out of trouble By Hans LÃµugas

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Urmas Reinsberg and Helena Almqvist

Imagine a world where your work clothing intelligently analyses your environment in real time. The race of smart wear is on, part of it is developed and produced in Estonia.

ment and production take place at their Estonian head office and factory in Tallinn. Customers started to ask if Protex would be able to create something more high-tech.

Norway is well-known for its oil, but the second-most important field in the Norwegian economy is fishing. Angles in the water, ships with trawls in tow, and so on. A traditional industry? Actually no. The fishing industry is the client of ultramodern smart textiles developed and produced in Estonia.

At the same time, the Estonian Information and Communication Technology Cluster (ICT) called upon the ICT companies and representatives of the Tallinn University of Technology to embark on a smart product pilot together. Instead of creating yet another mobile app or technology appliance, the decision was taken to create a smart product in a sector that is traditional to its core. This is why the meeting with Protex took place. The Estonian smart electronics cluster ESTRONICS and electronics companies also joined the project. The cooperation led to the birth of Ragnarok 2.0.

Having a supercomputer in your command From hard times to innovative solutions ‘In 2014, our company was going through some hard times,’ says Helena Almqvist, Managing Director of Protex Balti AS. ‘We had many smaller clients and we sold goods with a low operating margin. We knew we had to change. We decided to move up the value chain.’ Although it did not seem like an easy road, Almqvist says that the transformation of Protex proves that innovation can happen in fields that seem very traditional, like the textile industry. The first Ragnarok brand weatherproof clothing was made for the big Norwegian fishing corporations Leroy and Marine Harvest. The product was developed in cooperation with the Norwegian research agency Sintef. The mother company of Protex is based in Norway, but develop-

Ragnarok 2.0 is a new generation textile product. First, it is of course a very practical piece of clothing: it offers breathable rain protection needed in the tough North-European climate. The clothing also has a visually noticeable colour, which is essential at sea. But Ragnarok 2.0 is so much more than just clothing. Its ad added protection and productivity layer. One might say it is a bit like having a 6th sense or supercomputer in your command. The company’s Sales Manager Urmas Reinsberg explains that the smart clothing is meant to fulfil the needs of its wearer. In the modern fishing industry, fish are grown in enormous cages, which are either situated in coastal waters or further at sea. The task of workers is to inspect the cages and compile short reports. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

The benefits are threefold. ‘First and foremost it means improved job safety, which is important because the accidents at work in this branch of the industry are more serious than the average. Secondly, the workers can focus on what they are good at − fishermen are a bit like cowboys, they hate writing reports at sea. Thirdly, the management will receive much faster and more accurate date on the activities of the company,’ Almqvist explains.

Several prototypes created with customers Ragnarok 2.0 clothing includes speech recognition. Workers can record their notes orally into the microphone inside the collar, which eliminates the need to look for a pen and paper on the stormy seas. It is, however, not only about user comfort − the notes in text form reach the headquarters much faster, where they can be analysed and reacted upon. Safety is no less important. Movement detectors integrated into the clothing notify in real-time whether the worker falls down on a smooth surface or into the sea over the railing. The GPS signal immediately shows the position of the person. In addition, the clothing has safety lighting or a signal lamp that help to find the person in case of an accident. Monitors measure body temperature. ‘Hence all the features of Ragnarok 2.0 have been created on the basis of actual needs of the company and its employees,’ says Almqvist.

A unique collaboration experience for Tallinn University of Technology By Katre Pilvinski

‘The company would not have reached this result alone,’ says Almqvist. Most importantly, they had best-in-class partners in the project. She praises the trust of the owners of the company who recognised the benefits of investing in innovation. And the clients, of course, were equally important. ‘We listened to the wishes and needs of the customer and tried to reach a result that would benefit them. It was a tight collaboration, for the first collection, we sent 6-7 prototypes to the clients who gave their feedback, which we then took into consideration in creating the next versions,’ she explains. The smart clothing will directly benefit the fishing business as well as the clothes producer. ‘It is more efficient work, margins are rising,’ says Almqvist. And the fishermen at sea seem to be happy too, as they do not need to write any reports.

The Department of Health Technologies at the Tallinn University of Technology is the inventor of the technology in smart clothing. It was a unique project for the department as they participated in the development of the whole solution. ‘We have participated in large-scale projects before, but until now we have not been involved in the development of such a big project. Normally researchers at university are working on their own projects, hence this kind of teamwork is an interesting and unique phenomenon where different counterparts worked together for a common goal,’ explains Ardo Allik, junior researcher at the Department of Health Technologies. The project’s input from the Tallinn University of Technology came from more or less equal teamwork between the Department of Health Technologies and the Department of Computer Systems. Whereas the Department of Health Technology worked more on signal solution and the creation of algorithms, the hardware solution was developed by the Department of Computer Systems. At the outset of the project, the department paid a visit to Norwegian fisheries. For the junior researcher it was fascinating to collaborate with companies, to see their concerns and problems and think about how to solve them instead of working alone in the lab. As a result of this

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Keyword “collaboration” If the Ragnarok clothing seems like something out of a science fiction movie, it is the right impression. Creating such a 21st century textile product would not have been possible through one company or organisation alone. This is where the importance of collaboration of companies and clusters becomes evident. The creation of the prototype was supported by the European Regional Development Fund’s “Estonian ICT Cluster” and the “Smart Electronics Cluster ESTRONICS” in the framework of several projects. The participants included Protex Balti AS, Estonian ICT cluster, ESTRONICS, Tallinn University of Technology, Ericsson Estonia, Wazomby Labs and Estrotech. ‘We cannot get around the keyword of collaboration,’ says Reinsberg. This collaboration has been very successful as proven by the Swedish Business Award in the category of technological innovation, which they won last year. The Ragnarok work uniform was initially created as part of the project presented at the international conference Manufuture, which took place in Tallinn in October last year, but the work did not stop there. ‘It is a sign of success when partners decide to keep developing the product after the project has ended,’ explains Reinsberg. Protex and Tallinn University of Technology continue to develop the Ragnar smart clothing with real customers − a market leading Estonian maritime company and a well-known Norwegian fish farming company. The success story continues.

common effort, a complete product was created, combining the quality working clothes produced by Protex and the technological solution invented by the Tallinn University of Technology. ‘It is a product you can touch and not some tiny part of something else,’ adds Allik.

main role of the researchers was to bring together the vision of Protex and the needs of fisheries in a way that would make the solution work. According to Allik, the public interest comes from the fact that they have developed a product with immediate benefits, which is related to real life and can be put to practical use.

Improving work safety was the goal The product develops in phases The functions of the fabric were agreed upon during initial meetings. Protex had their own vision of the fabric and the team of the Department of Health Technologies added their comments to it, focusing on what was doable, what had been done already and how the technologies have developed. A huge role in the development of clothing technology was played by Norwegian fishermen and people who work in wet conditions. During meetings, representatives of fisheries explained their problems, focusing on what aspects of work safety could be improved upon. ‘They had specific issues, for example, a worker can fall into the water and it can be really complicated to write notes in wet conditions,’ explains Allik. The Department of Health Technologies had experience in systems that survey human parameters, such as pulse- and temperature sensors. The

It took six months to develop the prototype created by the Department of Health Technologies, but the clothing technology is still being developed. ‘As it is an innovative product, its development is a step-by-step process. Once the company starts using the product, we are looking for feedback to know which improvements to make,’ notes Allik. The junior researcher explains that this project is part of the general trend of an individual approach in personal medicine, and in the future, the sector will move in the direction of everyone being able to receive more information about themselves. ‘The clothing technology developed for Protex is not a medical project per se, but it is linked to the aspects of creating an individual approach and making people’s everyday lives simpler and safer,’ says Allik.

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Photo by TÃµnu Tunnel

A master of her own leather guild By Ede Schank-Tamkivi

continues on p. 59

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Photo by Renee Altrov

The “Put Mary Poppins to Shame” bag

Photos by Renee Altrov

The “Go to the Market and Buy Some Apples” bag

The “Treasure Box” bag

Photos by Renee Altrov

The “Go to the Library” bag

The “Take a Long Day Off” bag

Photos by Renee Altrov

The “Carry 3 Bottles of Wine” bag

The “Rob a Bank” bag

Photo by Renee Altrov

The “Do Some Serious Business” bag

‘When I started my own company I was torn between two conflicting ideas: whether to design an affordable product that sells well or go for a more sustainable line of production,’ says Stella Soomlais. She opted for the latter but has managed to pull off both.

Photos by Tõnu Runnel

‘We need to get out; out of Estonia. The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries would probably be the best fit, both in functionality and style.’

Combining sleek Estonian design with sustainable production methods, Stella has built a namesake brand that can be recognised from afar. In certain districts of Tallinn − Telliskivi Creative City is a good example − you might see every second person carrying her bag. Anyone who orders a custom-made Stella Soomlais leather bag will get it tagged “Handmade in Estonia” with the name of the owner, the maker and the serial number crafted into the leather. If the studio numbered the smaller accessories, there would be more than 20,000 personalised products scattered around Estonia and many other countries near and far. Despite their rather hefty price, her bags are in such high demand that people are willing to wait in line for weeks and even months to get their own bags or even rent them for a special occasion. ‘I’m definitely not building artificial demand,’ she laughs, but explains that this is just how long it takes to make a bag from scratch if you have to order the leather as well. But she admits her company, which has constantly grown every month, has reached a juncture and quickly needs to decide where and how to grow: ‘We need to get out; out of Estonia. The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries would probably be the best fit, both in functionality and style.’ LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

A bag to last a lifetime

Material-wise, Stella’s studio is now mostly using vegetable tanned leather, i.e. leather that has been processed with natural materials, such as barks, branches, leaves and even some fruits in some specific techniques (and unharmful chemicals as is most common in this industry). ‘I have personally visited a tannery in Sweden where we get this leather and although it is much more expensive than the chrome tanned leather we previously used, I will probably use only this in the future as I know for sure how they produce it, plus also the journey from its sources is much shorter to our studio, therefore the ecological footprint is much smaller,’ Stella sums up what really counts.

‘Our designs are crafted to minimize the cutting leftovers,’ Stella’s website explains. ‘The larger cutting leftovers are used to create smaller accessories (purses, wristbands and keychains), and the really tiny bits and pieces gain a new life in our own workshops or are given away as charity to craft clubs. With this we are aiming at reaching zero waste in production.’ If a bag wears out or the person carrying it gets tired of it, the original product can be redesigned into something else. Another growing trend is rent-a-bag: there are more and more people who really dig the idea of a circle economy. Many people would much rather spend €15 to wear a cool purse for a weekend than buy it for €250 (and maybe never get an occasion to wear it again). Mostly young people, who are constantly on the move, simply don’t want to own stuff anymore.

Photos by Tõnu Tunnel

‘We all learn these things together: how to maximise the life-cycle of a leather product and that every item would be used appropriately and not left littering the universe,’ tells Egle Lillemäe, who claims she had no clue what to do with leather when she started at Stella’s studio five years ago. But at least she knew how to sew a straight line and was very willing to learn. ‘This is important from a business perspective and also nourishes your creativity: so many of our tinier products have been born out of the need to create less waste.’

Photo by Tõnu Runnel

‘We are aiming at zero waste production.’

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‘It has completely replaced my Louis Vuitton bag!’ Jacqueline Wu, a startup entrepreneur from Shanghai, China ‘I was travelling through Europe last September and on my trip to Estonia I came across the store of Stella Soomlais and got myself one of her backpacks. It has totally replaced my other Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chloe and FENDI bags to be the only one I’m carrying this winter! When I carry it around in Shanghai many of my friends tell me the bag is so cool, unique and stylish.’

Another growing trend is rent-a-bag: there are more and more people who really dig the idea of a circle economy.

An athlete-turned-artist A day before we met, Stella had been speaking to the first graders at her former high school in Tartu. She shares a story of a kid who made a leather bag sketch and put a price tag to it − €550.50! This kid either has a really good gut feeling about this industry or she’s a really big fan already. Stella herself was not one of those kids who knew from first grade what she was going to be as a grown-up. As a promising sprinter (400m and 400m hurdles) she obviously developed a strong self-discipline and determination, but never saw herself becoming a professional athlete. She could not decide if she wanted to become a lawyer (‘Almost everyone from our school ended up studying law but I found it to be a bit too overwhelming!’) or study interior design at the Academy of Arts (‘I was not lucky enough to pass the entrance exams.’). So instead, she started her studies in leather design and restoration at Tartu Art College. Studies in Tartu and a semester in Lahti, Finland, opened her eyes to the possibilities of leather. The first ever bag she made was for a cousin back in 2004. Then orders started coming from friends, their friends, and it slowly began growing into a business. In the meantime, she did end up studying in the Academy of Arts for her Masters’, ‘because everyone wanted to make bags, I presented the idea of an artist book and this was how I stood out.’

Rather ironically, her final thesis was on a business model of leather bag recycling. ‘I was strongly influenced by a book I read on recycling, “Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution”. Using products as a service was a totally new idea for me, I had never discovered the link between service and sustainability before, the book opened my eyes to responsible action.’ But it took another detour to finally start her own company. After being laid off from her first ever “real” job as a clerk in the Ministry of Culture, she signed up at the unemployment office and applied for state support to buy her first ever leather sewing machines. So, her own studio was born and she designed her first logo, her handwritten name (‘Years later I started hanging out with some graphic designers and they kept telling me that I need a “proper” logo so finally I had to change it.’) While setting up her studio, she was also teaching at the Academy of Arts and Tartu Art College, as well as organising the Tallinn design festival “Design Night”. At some point, she realised there were too many things going on to do any one of them perfectly. She started dropping external tasks and hired the first people for her studio to start taking custom-made orders. ‘The first ever time I took a weekend off was my 10th year in the business,’ she says, but admits that being able to divide her time between her business and private life has opened up a completely new perspective. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Photo by Tõnu Tunnel

Combining sleek Estonian design with sustainable production methods, Stella has built a namesake brand that can be recognised from afar. A studio ‘Running a business is living in constant stress,’ Stella says in a very calm voice, so I find it very hard to believe. ‘I take many things too personally but try to learn from my own mistakes.’ This is the total opposite of what a visitor might experience when walking past the shop area into her studio, a spacious former machine-building factory on the outskirts of Telliskivi district, now dotted with desks, vintage cupboards with cute little drawers and lush green plants everywhere. The masters, as Stella calls her employees, are tinkering away on their benches, each person completely dedicated to making one bag from the start to its final touches. In a way, this reminds me the stories of the Hanseatic League, the merchants union that helped Tallinn become a flourishing city in the Middle Ages. However, these days, the masters and apprentices are all women. ‘The studio is like a common household: there can always be some misunderstandings about who takes out the trash or who does not clean her desk but we try to follow the rule of divided labour: not

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everyone cooks lunch nor do all people have to take care of the plants,’ says Egle. ‘Stella is unbelievably entrepreneurial and patient. She constantly organises all sorts of events, never forgets to celebrate any birthday or an anniversary and manages to stay neutral in any situation of conflict.’ Once in a quarter a big order comes in − for example, last summer an attorney office ordered 16 “Seal the Deal” satchels as a corporate gift, a startup ordered 30 “Do Some Serious Business” briefcases and 46 “Treasure Box” purses; a bookstore ordered 2500 bookmarks as gifts for their customers − and this is when emotions tend to run high. ‘Fortunately, we have some external contractors we can use in these situations but yes, we do keep hiring new people all the time.’ ‘Sometimes I still get the feeling that this is some sort of a game but it’s actually a really serious business,’ Stella says. To not get too serious about it and keep her masters as well as her loyal customers happy and entertained, she organises events in her studio like “Drink & Draw”, an occasional concert or a photo exhibition. ‘But this is for after-hours; people are working here during the day!’

Every watch tells a piece of Estonian history Photos by Tago Kalbri

By Ann-Marii Nergi

Tõnis Leissoo (33) had a long career in the field of IT, but today he is a full-time watchmaker and designer. Each Estonia1918 timepiece is exclusive, exceptional and dedicated to the greatest Estonians who ever lived.

The vault of a former bank in the centre of Tartu surrounded by old safe-deposit boxes is the atelier of IT-specialist turned watchmaker Tõnis Leissoo. ‘I was tired of doing digital things. I wanted to make something you could touch,’ he says. Leissoo had fiddled with watches in addition to his main occupation since 2014, reading specialist publications, learning on the internet how to assemble and disassemble watches and studying the history of watchmaking from its beginnings back in 1700. Whilst heading the IT department in Playtech, it was common for Leissoo to participate in Skype meetings, headphones on and interacting with people, whilst simultaneously studying yet another watch on the desk. The realisation that he had to choose one or the other came when his full-time job started to interfere with the hobby − Leissoo realised that his passion to design and create watches was stronger than digital life. Before Leissoo began to really produce watches, he put up the prototype of his first product on the Indiegogo crowdfunding page, promising to only make 100 watches and allowing “first customers” to purchase the watch for 900 euros. He reached three times his initial target of 25,000 euros on the crowdfunding platform and the entire batch was sold out immediately. This gave Leissoo the impetus to leave the field of IT and continue as a watchmaker. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Wõitleja In 2016, Tõnis introduced his first watch − Wõitleja, a military-style mechanical model with a black enamel face by well-known Estonian goldsmith Roman Tavast. Its chunky case was cut from corrosion-resistant bronze and housed a Unitas 6497-2 movement by the Swiss specialist ETA. Wõitleja, the Estonian word for combatant, was the name of the artillery car on one of the armoured trains used in the War of Independence from 1918 until 1920. 1918-era locomotives were festooned with bronze gauges, used to tell steam pressure and other vital parameters. These gauges had to be sturdy, but easy to read from a distance, through smoke, in the cab of a train running at full speed. Leissoo has already been praised by critics for the choice of metal − the fact that it will develop a patina over time and it will be unique to the wearer…this kind of aging is something many owners would look for. ‘Inspired by the armoured trains, it had to be masculine − it had to be bold and look big,’ says Tõnis about the wristwatch. Limited to a run of no more than a hundred items, Wõitleja has been selected as part of the official celebrations of Estonia’s centennial anniversary. There is also a fun fact in connection with this watch. As each watch carries a unique serial number between 1 and 100, Leissoo reserved the number 1 watch for the President of Estonia. He was certain that although he didn’t manage to produce the watch during President Ilves’ time in office, his successor would be male. History had other plans as we know and the designer did not want to present such a masculine watch to President Kersti Kaljulaid. This begs the question of whether Leissoo has also considered designing watches for women. ‘I have created 3D sketches but until now I haven’t come up with a set that I would want to start producing,’ says Leissoo, retaining a sense of mystery.

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Tasuja

Tasuja (Estonian for avenger), which is also named after an armoured train, is a newer and perfected version of the first watch. Tõnis Leissoo is only creating a hundred of those watches. ‘It has been created with equipment purchased by me and albeit there are some changes, the overall design is very similar to that of Wõitleja,’ says the designer. Leissoo says he didn’t advertise this watch at all − customers found their own way to him. It is another way for the brand Estonia1918 to retain its exclusive and luxurious image − each model is produced in small volume, which makes it difficult to come by and customers have to wait for a long time. When he started designing watches about two years ago, Tõnis Leissoo set out a few firm principles. First of all, he would always make mechanical watches to follow the path of traditional watchmaking and fine craftsmanship. Also, timepieces had to be related to Estonia and made in Estonia. The target market he had in mind were people of Estonian heritage around the world, who would appreciate a piece of history that they can keep on them at all times. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Maestro Estonia1918’s latest model Maestro, a conservative dress watch, is dedicated to the best Estonian musicians such as Arvo Pärt, Tõnu Kaljuste, Neeme Järvi, Gustav Ernesaks, Eri Klas and many more. The Maestro has a hand-wound regulator type of movement with a small hour hand and a very thin minute hand that reminds us of a conductor’s baton. Although Maestro is very different from the previous two watches in terms of its style, use of materials and appearance, Leissoo will still only produce a very limited number. Only 33 watches in each colour − blue, black or white like the Estonian national flag − are available. The faces of Maestro have been ordered from Switzerland, just like the boxes. ‘Unfortunately only the Swiss truly understand the importance of boxes and therefore the box for Maestro is top quality,’ explains Leissoo adding that whereas a Maestro watch will set you back by 1450 euros, the box itself costs 100 euros. The engraved plates for the boxes will be produced in Estonia. In addition, it is possible to have your watch engraved by Leissoo’s business partner and engraving master Viljo Marrandi, who has created handmade engravings for nine years (Marrandi also used to be an IT-specialist who worked at Skype for a long time). Marrandi has created such filigree art on iPhones as well as on revolvers and now his talent can be seen on Estonia1918 watches and boxes. Each engraving is custom-made according to the desired motives. As Marrandi lives in central Estonia, the men established their workshop there, investing a lot in necessary equipment like the giant CNC machine which has to mill the watch with the accuracy of one micron (one thousandth of a millimetre).

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Aviaator

The upcoming model Aviaator is going to be dedicated to the Estonian aircraft engineers Voldemar Post, Rein Tooma and Otto Org who created the Estonian PTO4 training aircraft. The author will create 161 of those watches, because PTO4 carried this number in the Estonian Air Corps. The 1200-euro timepiece has a diamond-coated magnesium case. The face, minute hands, case, wrist bands as well as the boxes of the watch will be produced in Estonia. Leissoo says that the development of each new watch model costs 10,000 to 30,000 euros, but he remains true to the production in very small batches. Another one of his principles in designing and producing watches is openness. ‘Where they were made, who designed them, what parts they include and why. Communities don’t like the sales talk − they like pure honesty.’ Leissoo says that online communities are the most important factors for startup watchmakers. ‘Communities will pretty much decide whether your brand and design will be accepted or not. Small and individual watchmakers don’t depend on retailers and boutiques. They depend only on the communities and social networks.’ This makes Estonia1918 different from classic Swiss luxury watchmakers whose every production step is a business secret going back generations and all subcontractors have to agree to strict contracts containing the secrecy clause. What next? ‘I have dozens of ideas. The only hint I can give is that new models will also be linked to Estonian history,’ says Leissoo who likes to challenge himself and to create unique designs. In the ideal future world, Tõnis Leissoo will only focus on watch design and leave the production to others.

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Achingly beautiful tales of Estonians in “The story of a hundred” By Kirke Ert

The concert performance “The story of a hundred” will only be staged once. Nonetheless, it has taken several years, hundreds of days and thousands of working hours to prepare. Putting one’s heart and soul into a project is required when a hundred Estonians are going to be brought on stage in an unexpected form to tell their personal stories at the Noblessner shipyard during the jazz festival Jazzkaar. What exactly the audience of 1300 people will experience on April 20th is still veiled in secrecy. The creators hint that this unique performance will not be a theatre production but a symbiosis of people, music, image and video; the latter providing the means of showing details on a large scale. The performance knows no boundaries or nationality; it is universal and abstract and its entirety will be created in the head of each member of the audience.

At a special seaside location, there will be an accumulation of human energy from all over Estonia and the powerful intertwining of their fates and stories will be experienced by people with other kinds of stories and fates − the audience. The idea was born some years ago when the prize-winning photographer Kaupo Kikkas collaborated with conductor Jonathan Bloxham on a music- and photography project called “One hundred faces” in Newcastle Gateshead. The project was based on the idea that in art everyone is equal. A hundred volunteer residents of Newcastle Gateshead were photographed. The project culminated with the performance of György Ligeti’s “Poème symphonique” for 100 mechanical metronomes. ‘It was a great success − this coming together of people was very powerful and emotional. Hence I got the idea to create something similar at Jazzkaar in Estonia, to make the visual and the musical side equally important,’ explains Kikkas, the initiator of “The story of a hundred”.

Photos by Kaupo Kikkas

Jaak Prints, Erki Pärnoja and Kaupo Kikkas

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How to portray the spirit of the times? How can one collect human emotions from 45 339 square kilometres and bring them together onto twenty square metres? How to portray dozens of human fates, hundreds of momentary understandings and recollections, waves of pride, sincere accusations and carefully hidden secret joys? How to portray a hundred people at the same time? How to portray a country and its people in one passing moment of time? Half of the answer is − through music.

Many collaborators First they brought along the instrumentalist Erki Pärnoja, who then proposed to involve theatre director Jaak Prints. The latter believed that the photography book published as part of the project should also include a strong textual side, which is why the group was joined by the dramaturgist Laur Kaunissaare. Gradually, they discovered how much help they needed with the performance and today many people are involved in the project, everyone doing it in addition to their regular jobs. “The story of a hundred” tells the story of hundred Estonian people between the ages of 3 and 103. Those hundred people were chosen from 350 applicants from all over Estonia who sent in their life stories. It was extremely difficult to make the final selection; the meetings were thorough and long. The final selection was based on the idea that it should not be an honorary selection but cover all age groups and geographical areas. ‘I hopped onto a slowly moving train with great enthusiasm. Of course, let’s do it! Let’s select the hundred people and stage it,’ says director Jaak Prints. ‘Today, albeit still enthusiastic, I have to admit how optimis-

tic and naive we were, not realising what it actually involves. Starting with making the choices − because who are we to do this? − up to the responsibility that going into people’s lives really entails. The journey into other people’s lives literally meant travelling all over Estonia and visiting unknown people in their homes. On some days we visited five people, on others only one. With some we spent an hour, with others several hours. Some people only uttered two lines, whilst others kept speaking and speaking. But there is a common thread running through this − the closed and contained Estonian people turned out to be sincere, honest and very intimate. ‘The first time was daunting − how will we do this… But from then on, it was fine: we placed the sound recorder on the table and started to talk to people. At one point we lost track, what happened here and what there,’ recalls Prints. ‘On some occasions, the lack of time meant we had to wrap up when the story was unfinished. Long summer days made it easier, of course.’ Kikkas is convinced that the reason the usually introverted Estonians opened up was free will. ‘If we had set some criteria for people, the result would have been different. But the aesthetics of our visit and the photo is a window to their lives.’ LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

A photo in minutes The photographing of people took place in between talking and without lengthy preparation. After chatting for hours, the photo was practically taken in three minutes and always in the person’s favourite spot. It was the task of dramaturgist Laur Kaunissaare to pick out an appropriate quote from the discussion with each person.

the so-called unknown person factor. ‘How personal do we get whilst talking to someone we don’t know and what kind of deep memories are unearthed in the process. It is material that needs delicate handling. There were stories that needed to be told in the moment, but will never be retold by us.’

Prints makes no secret of the fact that going into people’s lives was a challenge, an interchange of giving and taking. ‘You go into people’s memories and imaginations; you experience what they experienced. The two channels − taking and giving − were always at work.’

Whereas in the beginning he wrote music that he could offer in that moment, by now the piece has been rewritten dozens of times and the composer has found his peace with it − it is ready and awaits the premiere.

Kikkas points to the frown on his brow and says jokingly: ‘I got that from the stories that penetrated into my life, which I kind of experienced myself.’ He says the interesting and most surprising thing was to sense

‘Without a doubt, this has been the biggest musical challenge to date for me. It has made me think; it has been educational in many ways, especially in the ways of life, which is most important.’

Photos by Kaupo Kikkas

‘What should pick out or leave out from a discussion that lasted some hours is a very sensitive task. For example, Kaunissaare was able to sense the gesticulations of a deaf-mute person more than the translator was able to convey. It was genial. The result of such refined work is a very beautiful and poetic chain of thoughts in the book,’ says Kikkas.

Composer Erki Pärnoja did not meet all hundred people like Kikkas or even most of them like Prints and Kaunissaare, because during the first trips he was experiencing some creative stress and just wanted to write music. ‘But then I realised that those of us who travelled to meet the people had a sparkle in their eyes which I lacked. I stopped overthinking and just wanted to experience it calmly. Meeting those people has been an unforgettable experience.’

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More gratitude “The story of a hundred” has no intrinsic moral, says Kikkas, but it draws attention to the fact that we ought to be grateful for the kind of lives we live and what we have. ‘We have all heard those stories, but when you experience how much people have suffered and what they have been through, it hurts. When you listen to an elderly lady talk about how they killed everyone around her and how the surviving family members were deported to a horrible village in Siberia where all they had to eat for a year was nettle soup…when you also see how positive those people are and how grateful for things that are good, then it is an emotional rollercoaster.’ With his music, Pärnoja wanted to convey the emotions and places of his visits. The way people gradually opened up and discovered. ‘I was most inspired by how you have an opinion about something, but when you see or experience it yourself, it transforms. I want to convey this transformation in the same way that the people telling their stories did,’ he explains. ‘The music has a stronger sense of Estonianness about it, although I cannot give a tangible reason. There is nothing classical there in terms of sound, the things we usually consider Estonian music like bagpipes and arrangements of folk tunes. The energy, the thoughts I had to deal with during the process, have been recorded in this music: what is Estonia? Who are we, Estonians, and what does it all mean?’

Dissatisfaction and a gloomy nature are typically considered Estonian. On the basis of the stories we heard, how much happiness there is, this is a painful question, says Kikkas. ‘If we were able to define happiness. If we leave out the word happy, I can say that Estonians always have hope, which never fades and there is also some sense of darkness, which could be seen as sadness,’ he says. ‘Those two elements are always there and we are playing on the borderline of the two. But I do not think that Estonians are de facto gloomy, depressed and angry.’ Prints believes that each person has a sense of hope and a certain degree of stubbornness, which comes with the latitude. ‘Sometimes it is difficult with four seasons. I don’t want to use the verb breaking through, but even a weak pine tree survives. People have always found a way to survive even in dire circumstances.’ Even the people with the darkest stories have told them that back in those days − whichever days they were referring to − life was worse than it is now. ‘For the elderly, the thing they are proudest of and what they consider most important is the fact that we have our own state. Younger people are simpler,’ says Kikkas. ‘They don’t realise that a lot of their normal everyday things are considered luxury by their fellow citizens. But freedom in every sense is also very important to them.’ LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Eat like an Estonian They say that Estonians are the most stationary nation in Europe − thousands of years ago, our forefathers gathered on this land and decided to stay. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of our country, we carry with us traditions and wisdom that have been passed down from generation to generation. The roots of our story go way back. On the 100th birthday of our country, we look back and appreciate our old recipes and ancient customs. We want to prepare traditional dishes in a way that all Estonians know and love while also adding a contemporary touch.

The Estonian character was forged by foreign rule. We suffered but we also learned from those experiences. Traditions of foreign cuisines have also left their mark on Estonian plates. Sometimes we have even fully adopted new traditions without realising that they may not be entirely our own.

You can’t separate an Estonian from the sea or the forest. From summer to late autumn, you can find us in the forest, foraging for berries and mushrooms. We have plenty of them! Our land is also perfect for farming. Sometimes we go crazy over the nasty weather, but the climate here is what really gives our vegetables their flavour and character.

Life in Estonia has chosen some typical Estonian dishes for the readers to try and make. These recipes use old Estonian methods of food preservation: salting, smoking, marinating and fermentation.

Estonia is such a rich place. There is no way you can call the land of four seasons poor! The seasons bring diversity in nature and food and forces us to be inventive when it comes to preparing and preserving food.

Photos by Johannes Hõimoja

Bon appetite! Or ‘Head isu!’ as Estonians would say.

Chef Janno Lepik, what has inspired you in cooking? I had the pleasure of spending my childhood in the hilly landscape of southern Estonia, between the fields and the forest. Freshly picked wild strawberries, chanterelle mushrooms, the very first thin peapods and all the other gifts of Estonian nature sparked my interest in food early on. I have been making sure these gifts of nature are properly valued ever since. Although I’ve been living in the capital for years now, I continued using local produce when setting up the restaurants Leib (resto ja aed) and Umami. The best we have to offer still comes from our forests, our sea and our own farmers. The changing of the seasons, high quality, fresh produce and the tenacity of the Estonian people will always inspire me.

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Photos by Johannes Hõimoja

Starter Battered sprats with dill mayo

Ingredients

Directions

Estonian fishermen have caught sprat from our coastal waters through the ages. It is not unlikely that Baltic Germans learned to appreciate sprat from Estonians; this is evidenced by the addition of the loan word “killo” (“kilu” is Estonian for sprat) into German. The spiced sprat from Tallinn was well-known already in the 19th century, whereas, smoked sprat in oil gained popularity as an everyday and festive food during Soviet times.

1 can sprats in oil

1. Weigh the flour, sugar, baking powder, water, egg and honey into a bowl. Whisk the components into an even mass. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and leave to set for 30 minutes.

Serves: 4 Preparation time: 1 h 15 min Difficulty: easy

Batter 175 g flour 1/3 tsp baking powder 25 ml water 4 eggs 2 tbsp honey Salt Dill mayo 100 g mayonnaise 25 g dill

2. Drain sprats from oil. 3. Pour the oil into a saucepan and heat to 180 ºC. Test the temperature of the oil by dripping the batter into the oil: if the batter starts to cook and rises to the surface, then the oil is ready for frying. Don’t overheat the oil − make sure it doesn’t smoke. 4. Dip the sprats into the batter one by one, making sure they are evenly coated. Fry them in oil until golden brown. 5. Place the dill and mayonnaise in a bowl and blend evenly with a hand blender. 6. Serve on a platter or a plate with the dill mayonnaise.

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Main courses Potato and pearl barley porridge (mulgipuder) Potato and pearl barley porridge, i.e. potato-barley mash, originates from Southern Estonia. The Mulgi people started boiling potatoes and pearl barley together in the second half of the 19th century as the combination was very filling. By the last quarter of the 19th century, this porridge was known all over Estonia. In the second half of the 20th century, this dish reached cafeterias as well and it has by now become a national dish that is served at various official events. Serves: 4 Preparation time: 1 h Difficulty: medium

Ingredients

Directions

Porridge 700 g potatoes 100 g pearl barley 50 g butter Salt

1. Peel the potatoes. Wash the pearl barley in cold water, while moving it around with your hands.

Streaked meat and onion 300 g streaked smoked pork 100 g onions 20 g parsley Salt, pepper Oil Salted mushrooms and onion 300 g mushrooms 100 g onions Oil Parsley Salt, pepper

2. Put the potatoes and washed pearl barley into a pot. Cover with water. Make sure you have 3 cm of water on top. Add salt and boil on medium heat for about an hour until the pearl barley is soft. 3. Check from time to time that there is still enough water and add more if needed. When the potatoes and pearl barley are soft, there should be more than 1 cm of extra water left on top. 4. Add the butter cubes and mash the potatoes and pearl barley into an even porridge. Season with salt if necessary. 5. Chop the smoked pork into 5 mm x 1 mm pieces. Peel and chop the onion. Fry the onion in a preheated pan until translucent. Add the smoked meat and continue frying until the meat is golden brown. Add chopped fresh herbs. 6. Peel and chop the onion. Fry the onion in a preheated pan until it turns translucent. Add the mushrooms and fry until golden. Add chopped fresh herbs.

You can use boiled, salted or fresh mushrooms. Wash salted mushrooms under cold running water and leave to soak in water for a couple of hours, occasionally changing the water. Washing might be enough for less salty mushrooms.

7. Serve the potato and groat porridge with fried smoked meat and mushrooms.

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Photos by Johannes Hõimoja

Braised beef pot roast with vegetables Stewed beef that was seasoned with exotic spices was a common festive dish in medieval Livonian towns. The Baltic German cuisine included quite a few beef recipes − braised beef, roast beef, beef in cream, beefsteak. Peasants were more used to stewing beef from an older animal in a Dutch oven overnight. Beef was stewed with cabbage; other vegetables were added only in the 20th century. Serves: 6 Preparation time: 45 min / Cooking time: 2.5-3 h Difficulty: medium

Ingredients

Directions

600 g beef neck 3 carrots (~200 g) 3 parsnips (~250 g) 1 medium-sized celeriac (~450 g) 5 stalks of celery 3 onions (~200 g) 5 cloves of garlic 1 bunch of thyme 2 bay leaves 400 g crushed (tin) tomatoes 2 litres stock 2 tbsp flour Salt Pepper

1. Wash and peel the vegetables. Chop into large pieces, approximately 4 x 3 cm. Halve garlic cloves or leave whole as you prefer. 2. Cut the beef neck into big chunks, about 100g pieces. 3. Use beef or vegetable stock, according to taste. Preferably natural, homemade stock. 4. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Fry in a pan with oil until brown on both sides. When the meat is evenly cooked, add flour and continue frying for a couple of minutes. Finally, pour in 200-300 ml of stock.

5. Place the vegetables and herbs into an oven pot, season with salt and crushed pepper. Pour the meat and flour mix on top and add crushed tomatoes. Shake the pot to distribute all of the components evenly. Pour the stock on top, covering the components at least 2cm. 6. Put the lid on the oven pot and place it into a preheated oven (180 ºC) for about 2.5-3 hours. Let the food cook without mixing. 7. The dish is ready when the meat is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix carefully, trying not to crush the vegetables. 8. Serve as portions or place the pot in the middle of the table for everyone to serve themselves. LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Desserts

Cranberry jelly with kama mousse and freeze-dried berries Estonians have been eating wild berries since ancient times. Foods that incorporated berries became popular at the start of the 20th century, when women learned to make various jams and preserves at courses and home economics schools. Kissel, sweet soups, semolina mousse and jello were prepared for holidays and parties. These desserts remained on our menus at home and at cafeterias after the war as well. Kama is one of the most iconic Estonian foods and can be barely found anywhere else in the world. It is a mixture of roasted barley, rye, oat and pea flour that can be mixed with buttermilk or kefir as mush and enjoyed for breakfast as powerfood.

Directions

100 g plain, unflavoured yoghurt 80 g kama flour 100 ml 35% cream 200 g vanilla curd 100 ml orange juice (juice of approximately 1.5 oranges) 70 g honey

1. Roast the kama flour in a pan for a couple

Jelly 600 ml water 400 g fresh or frozen cranberries 90 g sugar 15 gelatine sheets Freeze-dried berries (can be replaced with fresh or frozen berries)

Photos by Johannes HĂľimoja

Serves: 6 Preparation time: 45 min / Setting time: 12 Difficulty: medium

Ingredients

of minutes until it becomes a little darker. 2. Wash and dry the oranges. Zest the orange peels without reaching the white parts. Cut the orange in half and press out the juice. Use a sieve to separate the seeds and pulp. 3. Put the roasted kama flour, zest and juice of the orange and yoghurt in a bowl. Leave in the refrigerator to set overnight. 4. On the following day, add curd and honey. Mix evenly. 5. Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water. 6. Pour some water and the cranberries into a saucepan. Bring to boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Press the berries and the juice through a sieve twice. Pour the juice in a saucepan, add sugar and stir until the sugar has melted. 7. Warm up about 100 ml of cranberry juice. Add gelatine sheets to the juice and mix until the sheets have melted. Pour the gelatine liquid into the warm cranberry juice, mix and pour into serving bowls. Put the bowls in the fridge and leave for about 6 hours to set. 8. Whip the cream just before serving and gradually add it to the kama mousse, mixing very gently. 9. To serve: use a pastry bag to add kama mousse onto the jelly. Sprinkle some freeze-dried, crushed berries on top.

LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 48

Black bread soup with chocolate and whipped sour cream Medieval cookbooks already included recommendations to use toasted and grated black bread to make desserts. Baltic German cooks made black bread pudding with apples or chocolate and wine, rum or cognac. During the inter-war period, Estonian housewives took to making various desserts out of black bread, e.g. a chocolate pudding with black bread. In Soviet times, bread soup was often served in cafeterias, but people made it at home as well.

Ingredients

Directions

300 g black bread 250 ml dark beer 250 ml apple juice 250 ml water 1 tbsp semolina 125 g sugar 50 g 70% dark chocolate 1 package sour cream

1. Place the bread, beer, apple juice, water, semolina and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to boil and simmer on low heat for about 7-10 minutes, until the mass is consistent. 2. Add chocolate and pour the bread soup in a food processor. Whisk for about 15 minutes. 3. Add sour cream and whip until you get a nice, creamy texture.

Serves: 6 Preparation time: 45 min Difficulty: easy

4. To serve: place desired amount of creamy bread soup into a serving bowl and place a large spoonful of whipped sour cream on top.

Drink Rhubarb lemonade with vanilla and mint Prior to the 19th century, rhubarb was used primarily as a medicinal plant and became more common as food only later. Rhubarb compote, juice and wine were made in manors. Rhubarb gained popularity among Estonians during the two World Wars. Rhubarb cakes and pastry remain spring and summertime favourites to this day. Many people also make various rhubarb drinks â&#x2C6;&#x2019; juice, lemonade and kvass.

Ingredients

Directions

80 ml rhubarb juice 80 ml sparkling water 6 peppermint leaves

1. If rhubarb is in season, press the juice yourself.

Sugar syrup (200 ml) 100 ml water 100 g sugar 1 vanilla pod (or vanilla extract)

2. Put water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to boil. Add the halved vanilla pod and let it cool. 3. Place ice cubes, mint leaves, rhubarb juice, sugar syrup and sparkling water in a glass. Mix and serve.

Serves: 1 Preparation time: 10 min Difficulty: easy LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 4 8

Events calendar: Highlights from April to September Life in Estonia recommends

JAZZKAAR 20 − 29 April @ Tallinn

“The story of a hundred” 20 April @ Noblessner shipyard

Tallinn will be overflowing with music when the largest jazz festival Jazzkaar takes place. The main performers of Jazzkaar 2018 are British vocalist Laura Mvula, US jazz stars − the exciting hammond virtuoso-vocalist Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles, legendary saxophonist Bill Evans, rock jazz trio The Bad Plus and trumpet virtuoso Ambrose Akinmusire. Tickets @ piletilevi.ee.

The 100th birthday of the Republic of Estonia will be celebrated on the opening day of the Jazzkaar festival with the unique audio-visual concert performance “Story of a hundred” − a grand multi-genre performance portraying Estonian people in photos and music with their own words.

jazzkaar.ee JAZZKAAR jazzkaar

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Photographer: Kaupo Kikkas Stage director: Jaak Prints Music: Erki Pärnoja Dramaturgist: Laur Kaunissaare

Tallinn Coffee Festival 27 − 28 April @ Tallinn Creative Hub (Kultuurikatel) Tallinn Coffee festival (TLNCF) is an event where both professionals and enthusiasts − local roasters, cafes, distributors and coffee lovers − can get together. Guests can explore many different types of coffee specialties, preparation methods and equipment. Good music, entertaining programme, engaging competitions and a wonderful aroma wait for all the guests of the festival. The event is family friendly. tallinncoffeefestival.ee

International Dance Day Gala − Estonian Ballet 100 29 April @ the Estonian National Opera

Tallinn Literature Festival “HeadRead” 23 − 27 May @ Tallinn

Tallinn Old Town Days 30 May − 03 June

Artistic Director: Thomas Edur

HeadRead is a literary festival in Tallinn, bringing together writers from Estonia and abroad to spreading the message of the written word.

Tallinn Old Town Days have been organized since 1982 to celebrate the beginning of summer. These celebrations fill yards, squares, streets, coffee shops and halls with music, art, theatre and a variety of large and small activities take place. This year’s motto is “A hundred steps of the century” because of a hundred years of the Republic of Estonia.

The founding of the first salaried dance company in the Estonia Theatre in 1918 was regarded as the birth of Estonian ballet. The 100th anniversary gala of the Estonian ballet introduces the works of Estonian choreographers, including pieces by Mai Murdmaa, Marina Kesler, Toomas Edur, Tiit Härm, Enn Suve and Eve Mutso. The cast includes the soloists of the Estonian National Ballet as well as many Estonian dancers that have made their way to the top abroad, such as Eve Mutso, Linnar Looris (Houston Ballet), Maria Seletskaja (The Royal Ballet of Flanders) and others.

headread.ee/en

vanalinnapaevad.ee

opera.ee

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Events calendar

Rally Estonia 13 − 15 July @ South Estonia Rally Estonia is the biggest motorsports event in the Baltics. Aside from the best drivers in the Baltics, the curvy and bumpy South-Estonian gravel roads will welcome some of the top drivers in the world. With the help of innovative solutions, the rally will be made even more convenient and safe for the spectators to watch. The start and finish ceremony will take place in the centre of Tartu. Service Park and Rally Headquarters are located at Otepää. rallyestonia.com Shell Helix Rally Estonia 2018 rallyestonia

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Michel Sittow. Estonian Painter at the Courts of Renaissance Europe 8 June − 16 September @ Kumu Art Museum The Art Museum of Estonia, in cooperation with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, will organise a truly magnificent exhibition on Michel Sittow (ca 1469−1525), a painter of Estonian origin who at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries became a highly valued and sought-after artist in European courts. kumu.ekm.ee

Viljandi Folk Music Festival 26 − 29 July 2018 @ Viljandi The festival takes place every July in the castle park and centre of Viljandi. It is the strongest expression of a special mindset originating from the early 1990s. This mindset values tradition, heritage, and a local identity and tries to adapt the spiritual values collected over hundreds and thousands of years with the modern way of living − all of this to keep the traditions alive and thereby strengthen our national characteristics. Viljandi Folk Music Festival has become one of the largest festivals of this kind in the Baltic and Nordic countries over the years. folk.ee XXVI Viljandi pärimusmuusika festival viljandifolk

Tõnu Kaljuste

Choral Music Festival ’Europa Cantat’ 27 July − 5 August @ Tallinn The 10-day choral festival, which first took place in 1961 in Germany, will bring more than 4000 singers, conductors, composers, and choir managers from Europe and elsewhere to Tallinn, where the festival will be held for the first time. In addition to a rich concert program, a music-EXPO will also take place where publishers, organisers of international festivals, and music managers from all over the world will introduce new products and services.

Ironman 4 August @ Tallinn

Match Racing Open European Championship 8 − 12 August @ Tallinn

This is the competition for the strongest! The competition starts with a 3.8 km swim at the Seaplane Harbour. Then, competitors will complete 180.2 km on their bikes. The route (two laps) will take them outside of the capital to the surrounding settlements. Competitors will run the 42.2 km marathon in four laps. The finish line is on Freedom Square in the centre of Tallinn. Come and cheer your country’s finest.

The competition will be held at Estonia’s first and only sailing stadium, located in the new Maritime Centre of Haven Kakumäe. Races will take place very close to the audience and tribunes are built to allow a better spectacle and overview. 16 teams can participate in the championship and the qualification is based on world rankings. It is a spectacular event for people of all ages.

eu.ironman.com/tallinn Ironman Tallinn

puri.ee

ectallinn2018.ee/festival Europa Cantat XX Tallinn 2018

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Events calendar

UEFA super cup 15 August @ Tallinn A. Le Coq Arena

Weekend Festival 16 − 18 August @ Pärnu

Tallinn Marathon 7 − 9 September @ Tallinn

The 2018 UEFA Super Cup will be played on 15 August at Tallinn’s Lilleküla Stadium, between the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.

Weekend Baltic is the largest electronic dance music event in the Nordic countries! Pärnu’s beach offers a unique kind of atmosphere, where one can see and hear the hottest dance and pop music artists.

Compared to the big cities of the world, Tallinn is tiny, but Tallinn Marathon makes up for this just fine. Nearly 20 000 runners from more than 50 countries participate each year in different runs: marathon, half-marathon, 10 km, or 5 km. There are also children’s races.

uefa.com

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weekendbaltic.com/en/home Weekend Baltic weekendbaltic

jooks.ee/en/tallinn-marathon Tallinn Marathon

What exciting events have taken place in Estonia in the last 100 years? 2018 is an important year for Estonians as it marks the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. Estonia is celebrating its anniversary round the year and in every field of life. Here are a few selected Estonian highlights for each decade in the past 100 years.

1918-1928 24 February, 1918, marks the declaration of the Independent Republic of Estonia. Independence Day is the national day of Estonia.

1928-1938 The world-famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt was born in 1935.

1938-1948 In 1938, Estonian coloratura soprano Miliza Korjus was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in ‘The Great Waltz’.

In 1936, Walter Zapp invented the Minox mini camera, known as a spy camera.

1948-1958 In 1951, the ‘Voice of America’ began broadcasting in Estonian.

1958-1968 The famous arched stage at the Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn, which accommodates up to 15,000 singers, was built in 1959. 1965, the Põltsamaa factory started to produce tube food for Soviet cosmonauts.

1978-1988

In 1955, the first TV programme was broadcast in Tallinn.

1968-1978 In 1972, weightlifter Jaan Talts and high jumper Jüri Tarmak won gold medals at the München Olympic Games. Throughout his career, Jaan Talts set 43 world records.

1987 marks the start of the Singing Revolution. In 1989 The Baltic Way was organised as a joint protest event of all three Baltic states.

1998-2008 Skype was created in Estonia in 2003. Estonia was the first nation in history to offer internet voting in nationwide elections in 2005.