UNCTAD Expert meeting on electronic commerce strategies Estonian experience “to e or not to e” Linnar Viik Estonia

Coherant information society e-government e-business Connected society

PC penetration 56% Internet penetration 41% E-banking penetration 18% Mobile penetration 48% E-commerce penetration 6% 100% of schools connected 100% of public sector connected 80% of private sector connected Indicators on Estonia

Electronic commerce examples Banking - leader –All banks have Internet transaction services –Over 80% of all transactions made over the Internet –Small loan approval time reduced to 30 seconds –Service scope and quality ranked no 2 in Europe just after Finnish banks

Besides electronic banking B2C – cooperation –Real estate –Used cars B2B –dominant of the value chain –Pharmaceutics M-commerce - innovation –40% of car parking payments –Tickets in public transport G2C, G2B - competitiveness –Tax and customs

Reasons behind the fast takeoff Liberalization Competition Openness Access opportunities Electronic services of government Supportive legal environment No hype attitude

Knowledge gain Its not about cost, its about priority and continuity –ICT investments are only 1,2% of all private investments –State ICT budget is only 1% of state budget –Vitruous cycle starts from the openness of society –Technology is not the issue, but technology transfer and knowledge transfer are