I am excerpting on this blog roughly 10% of my next book, The New Technology Elite due out in February (and available for pre-order on Amazon – see badge on left) . The text is going through the publisher’s edits and subject to change, but each chapter has a case study or guest column. Here are some excerpts from the case study in Chapter 4.
“George Washington”
“George Washington”
“George Washington”
Rein Krevald is using a heavy accent as he mimics his late grandmother’s answers to every question on her US citizenship test. The Immigration Officer had every reason to fail her. Instead he chuckled at the grace of the lady and said “Welcome to the United States”
Krevald, born in the U.S., continues reminiscing about his family with roots in the tiny Baltic country of Estonia.
“It occurs to me that my parent’s success when they arrived in the U.S. in 1947 and Estonia’s success after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 had a very significant common denominator: Starting with a blank slate!”
“When my parents arrived in the US, they had absolutely nothing material to their names……but they both had an education. My mom was a pharmacist and my father had been a lawyer in Estonia. It was almost impossible for them to aspire to their previous careers in this country. Being open minded towards any opportunity that came along, my mother launched a successful career as a cosmetic chemist (she ended up with numerous patents to her name) and my dad ended up working for CitiBank in New York.”
“When Estonia regained its independence it also was starting from scratch……..the average Estonians had suffered during the Communist regime (even though the Soviets had secretly assembled their first computer and designed their first space mission in an Estonian research park), but to the best of their ability had kept up with the rest of the world especially through watching Finnish television”
The capitals of Finland and Estonia are just 50 miles away as the crow flies. Before the Soviet takeover of Estonia, the countries had roughly similar standard of living. Over the next 50 years, the Finnish per capita income was estimated at seven times as much.
“Same with the country after the Soviets left - decisions had to be made quickly but starting from square one made it easier”.
Agrees Jaan Tallinn, one of its founders of Estonia born Skype, the company which revolutionized VoIP calling and which Microsoft bought in 2011 for $ 8.5 billion.
"Because we started anew, we got new laws, new leaders, and new technology….The big winners were the start-ups."
**************
As BusinessWeek wrote in 2007: “Few countries are as crazy about the Internet as Estonia, and no capital city can keep up with Tallinn on that count. All schools are connected to the Internet; more than 90 percent of all bank transactions are conducted online; and there are more mobile phones than residents.”21
One of the architects of this digital society is current President (then Estonian ambassador to the US) Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who in 1996 proposed a “Tiger Leap” for the country The tiger moniker was in recognition of the “Asian tiger” economies which had blossomed using technology.
Krevald grew up with Ilves and was in the same Estonian boy scout troop in northern New Jersey. “You could tell he was into technology even back then. He and his father would be working on radios and electronics when the rest of us were running around in the woods playing with sticks”
***********
Tiina Krevald, who has been in technology since 1994, before the Tiger leap initiative, and now works for Microsoft in the country (and is Rein’s second cousin) describes her family’s digital lifestyle:
“- We have free Wifi everywhere. In practically all public establishments from hotels to gas stations there is a public wifi that is free of charge or for a small fee. I travel around the world, and nowhere is web access so easy – and usually it costs so much.
- I can do all my banking on-line 24x7, even sign contracts digitally with my resident ID card (the card has a chip that not only holds information about the card's owner, but also two certificates, one of which is used to authenticate identity and the second to render a digital signature.)
- My tax declaration took 5 minutes this year. Everything popped up on-screen pre-filled (my income, my donations, my tax exemptions for my young kids). I only had to check the accuracy of data and press the confirmation button. Shows the power of a flat tax, and the level of automation of the tax system.
- Ballots -. Took me another 5 minutes to cast my vote. In the 2011 parliamentary elections 140000 voters (25% of the total) used this convenience
- I pay for parking using my mobile phone. The charge shows on my cell phone invoice. It’s available all over Estonia in public and private parking zones.
- Our medical and real estate records are digitized and very easy to access in our state registries
- Via e-School I can check on my kids’ grades, their absence from classes, the content of lessons, and homework
- Our prescriptions are digitized from the doctor to the pharmacy – so no lost paper scripts, or handwriting transcription challenges”
Photo Credit Enterprise Estonia for Skype phone booth at Tallinn airport
Comments