Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Investments, Technology
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Thursday, 28.03.2024, 21:42
Estonian president: governments should invest in technology
"It is
high time for the governments to come together and acknowledge that they have
to invest in technology that benefits their people," Kaljulaid told Aftenposten. "This not only
concerns automating processes in factories, but also changing the whole society
like we have done in Estonia. Transition to a digital society takes place in
cooperation with the authorities, the economic sector and residents," she
added.
Aftenposten reports that Estonia has been very successful in digitization as it
was the first country to switch to digitization of public services, including
the healthcare and school system as well as elections. According to Aftenposten, 99 percent of services in Estonia are accessible online.
"With a digital ID, like we have in Estonia, it
is possible to save lives," Kaljulaid said, adding that the healthcare
sector is especially important when it comes to digitization. "For
instance, when you are in an accident and need to be taken away by the
ambulance, it is possible to log into your medical history in the ambulance and
check your medical record. I believe we would all allow the ambulance crew to
do that if our life was in danger," she added.
Kaljulaid's wish is that all EU citizens could have
access to medical care everywhere else in the EU, Atenposten reports. For instance, if a German citizen is taken ill in Greece, a
local doctor would have access to the person's medical history in order to
threat them.
According to Kaljulaid, it is important that citizens
are included and they understand that using digitization is safe and reliable.
According to Kaljulaid, Estonia is not the only
country in Europe that uses digitization of public services. For example, Finland
also uses the X-Road platform like Estonia, and Luxembourg and Germany are also
moving in the direction of digitization.
Kaljulaid is to attend the Aftenposten technology conference in October.