1. Estonian innovation and
entrepreneurial ecosystem
Andrus Viirg
Enterprise Estonia Silicon Valley
andrus.viirg@eas.ee
www.estonia.eu
www.investinestonia.com
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders
Stanford Engineering
January 13, 2014

2. ENTERPRISE ESTONIA
State foundation for Business Support & Development:
 implementing agency of the EU structural funds in Estonia
 ca 270 employees
 financing agency (grants) for enterprises, R&D and non-profit institutions
 budget 784 mln EUR during 2007-2013
 budget 750 mln EUR for 2014-2020
Investment, Trade & Innovation Promotion
– assisting international companies to estonianize
– assisting Estonian companies to internationalize
– Foreign Representative Offices:
Hamburg, Helsinki , London, Moscow,
Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Oslo
Shanghai, Tokyo and
Silicon Valley

3. Republic of
Estonia
(Eesti)
1918 - 1940
1991 - .....
Member of
EU, NATO (2004),
OECD (2010)
Population:
1.36 million
in the EURO zone
from Jan.1, 2011
GDP:
28 billion USD
GDP per capita:
21 000 USD
(2012 estimates)

4. "With its narrow streets, medieval buildings and quaint Christmas markets, the city of Tallinn
resembles a scene from a Christmas card. The Christmas market in the Town Hall Square is
one of Europe's prettiest, and the city's old town area -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site often
referred to as the "medieval pearl of Europe," is also worth checking out."

5. Doing Business in Estonia
an Emerging Nordic country with a
strong and stable economy
• simple tax system
– flat 21% income tax
NO Corporate Income tax on reinvested
profits (21% tax on dividends only)
• efficient company setup and reporting
based on e-government solutions
#21 globally in the World Bank’s
Ease of Doing Business Index
#3 in terms of countries with small
populations
#7 best global location for “trading
across borders”.
among the most wired and
technologically advanced countries in
the world

6. e-Estonia
www.e-estonia.com
The
phenomenon
Technologically advanced business
Estonia's capital Tallinn - (david jones)
LES ECHOS/Worldcrunch
platforms & e-Government services
host of NATO´s Cyber Defence Centre
electronic ID card & digital signature from 2002
e-Tax Board, e- Land Register, e-Business Register
e-Police, e-School, e-Health, e-Prescription,
e-Voting,...
e-banking: 98% of bank transactions electronically
m-parking

7. Estonia produces a disproportionate
number of startups per capita
slide shared by Robin Wauters
during Seedcamp Week in London
(sept.2011), where out of 20
companies 4 Estonian startups
presented and two 2 became
finalists.
and this happened again in 2013
AngelList has 138 Estonian entries,
which on a per capita basis, puts it as
number one country (US is second)
#estonianmafia coined in by Dave McClure (500 Startups)

8. ESTONIA
the top nation per capita
for the number of
international fashion
models.

9. Connectors
of the Estonian entrepreneurial ecosystem
• Garage48
o
www.garage48.org/en
Hackathon – turn your idea into a working services within 48 hours
• Enterprise Estonia
www.eas.ee/en
o StartSmart (EST- FIN network for startups,...) www.start-smart.me/en
o BrainHunt
www.ajujaht.ee/english/
o Network of Foreign Rep. Offices
• Estonian Development Fund & SmartCap
o Monitoring & Growth Programs
o Governmnet VC arm
www.arengufond.ee/eng
www.smartcap.ee
• Tallinn Tech University
o Mektory (Innovation & busines center)
• Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol
o Prototron, prototyping fund
• Accellerators/Incubators
o
o
o
StartupWiseGuys
Gamefounders
Technopolis Ülemiste
www.ttu.ee/projects/mektory-eng/
www.tehnopol.ee/en

10. innovative Estonia
2013
• Going electric:
first country to operate a nationwide Electric Vehicle (EV)
fast chargers network
• Technology supplied and built by ABB (Switzerland)
• The payment and billing platform provided by NOW!Innovations (Estonia)
www.nowinnovations.com
• Going to Space:
first Estonian satellite launched May 4, 2013
• around 100 students and scientists from Tartu University & Tallinn Tech
• 40 research projects & 3 doctoral thesis
• main mission to test electric solar sail technology
• Going Digital:
•
Estonia and Finland in first-ever digital treaty 'signature‘. The Estonian-Finnish
co-operation memorandum on IT matters signed by the PMs foresees joint
work on software for e-government services.
the Top7 Intelligent Community of the Year is Tallinn
(The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), based in New York)

11. ”Here you have a big black guy, a
skinny India guy and we’re investing
in a country in Estonia.
I love globalization it’s great.”
Sacramento Kings owners Vivek Ranadivé and Shaquille O’Neal
announcing their investment in
Oct.30 2013

12. From a humble swing to a mad northern
European sport KIIKING
the go-to way to carry your wife is
called the “Estonian” method

13. 9 tech Trends for 2014
& European startups building
businesses on top of them
3 Estonian startups to watch
@robinwauters / founding editor of Tech.eu
• # trend: Connected Cars & Fleets
www.high-mobility.com develops new entertainment, navigation,
electronics and settings system for cars
• # trend: 3D Printing
www.grabcad.com shares CAD files with chosen partners and
allows users to view, measure, and comment on 3D models right
in the browser.
• # trend: Digitization of Finance
www.transferwise.com transfer money
wherever it's needed, at the lowest possible cost.

14. What can Estonia offer?
www.investinestonia.com
Strategic & Safe Geological Location
- on the trade roots between W & E;
- no volcanos, earthquakes, tornados
- cool climate
Modern Infra
- excellent fiber connections to global
data networks
Power
– self sufficient in electricity with added
connections to Finland, Latvia and Russia
Competitive Environment
- 0% corporate income tax on reinvested profits
Highly Qualified Labor
- language, finance, IT skills
a perfect location for
- data centers
- tech manufacturing
- service centers