Tallinn will host an e-governance conference on 30-31 May, with participants from over 80 countries gathering in the Estonian capital to seek answers to the challenge of ensuring sustainable e-state development in their countries.
Titled “How to ensure sustainable e-governance development?”, the Tallinn e-Governance Conference 2017 will provide a platform and a meeting place for movers and shakers from Africa, the Caribbean and Europe. The attendees will share the experience and examples of public e-services that have changed people’s lives for the better.
The event is organised by the Governance Academy, a Tallinn-based consultancy and think tank founded for the creation and transfer of knowledge and best practices concerning e-governance, e-democracy, cyber security and open information societies. Concurrently, the conference also marks the 15th anniversary of the academy. Since 2002, the organisation has led or participated in more than 60 international development projects on the national, local and organisational levels.
“Relying on the 15 years of the e-Governance Academy’s cooperation with more than 60 countries, we can safely say that the key factor in e-state development is the availability of domestic initiators and experts,” Hannes Astok, the development director of the academy, said in a statement. “Purchasing services abroad or employing foreign experts is never sufficient. Estonia has evolved into an e-state through our own efforts, mistakes and successes. Doing things ourselves while also drawing on experiences gained elsewhere will also help other governments to develop their e-state solutions in a sustainable manner.”
Comparing the experience in e-services
Among the topics, the participants will discuss Estonia’s experience in the e-governance sphere and compare it with the achievements of other countries – various examples will be provided of the public e-services implemented in Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Cape Verde and Serbia.
Other topics focus on ICT opportunities in the service of national sustainable development goals. There will also be a presentation of the mobile e-governance case studies that have become quite popular in African countries.
The conference will be opened by Kersti Kaljulaid, the Estonian president; Patrick Ignatius Gomes, the secretary-general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States; and Stefano Manservisi, who heads the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development.
Estonian World will live stream the conference, starting from 9:30 AM EEST (7:30 GMT).
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The cover image is illustrative (courtesy of the e-Governance Academy.)