Last summer during a trip to Finland, I decided to take a detour and visit Tallinn, Estonia, just across the chilly Baltic Sea from the Finnish capital of Helsinki. With three ferry companies offering multiple daily departures, it’s an easy day trip popular among Finns looking to take advantage of cheaper alcohol prices in Estonia, a symptom of Finland’s higher taxes and government run alcohol monopoly.

Just a short walk from the ferry port is Talllin’s Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dominated by Toompea Hill. The expansive Old Town provides a unique juxtaposition against the nearby mirrored office buildings and bleak communist flats, a remnant of Estonia’s long time occupation by the Soviet Union. Despite its rich history, Estonia is not resting on its laurels.

Estonia is one of the world leaders in e-government technology and is revolutionizing the way we think about citizenship and government services.

Digital ID

At the center of the digital government revolution in Estonia lies the digital ID card. Estonian citizens and residents can use this ID card to vote online in elections, sign legal documents, access online banking, and even pick up prescriptions. According to the Estonian government, “the chip on the card carries embedded files which, using 2048-bit public key encryption, enable it to be used as definitive proof of ID in an electronic environment.” Until recently, the digital ID cards were only available to Estonian citizens and residents. Enter e-residency.

E-Residency

In December 2014, Estonia officially launched its e-residency program to give people around the world the ability to access the digital services they had worked hard to develop. Since then, almost 10,000 people have registered to become e-residents of the Baltic nation, and those e-residents have gone on to set up over 500 companies. Currently, e-residents can:

digitally sign and send encrypted documents and contracts.

form a corporation entirely online.

access secure online banking.

declare and pay taxes.

Digital ID Card

Those interested in the e-residency program can apply online and pay the application fee of 100 euros. The only catch is the need to visit an Estonian embassy or consulate to pick up your digital ID card in person. E-residency does not provide the right to live or vote in Estonia and cannot be used as a valid travel document.

E-residents looking to take advantage of the ability to conduct banking in Estonia still must make an old fashioned trip to Estonia to meet in-person to set up an account. Currently, LHV, Swedbank and SEB provide banking services to e-residents. E-residency advocates hope bank accounts will soon be able to be opened completely online or perhaps through a Skype meeting, another Estonian invention.

X-Road

X-Road is the data exchange system that allows the various e-gov services to work in harmony. The system was purposely designed so that personal data is distributed and not held in one central database. Another advantage of the X-Road platform is the ability for government agencies and private companies to develop new services (or update existing ones) on their own terms and connect them to the X-Road platform without needing to update every service at once.

Nasdaq

Estonian citizens have been able to vote online from anywhere in the world in national elections since 2007. Soon, they (along with e-residents) will be allowed vote online in shareholder meetings for companies listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange. The project was developed in partnership with the American firm Nasdaq which operates the stock exchange and will use blockchain technology, the same technology behind Bitcoin, to securely record and verify shareholder votes. Allowing shareholders to vote online would be a major shift from traditional shareholder proxy voting, a notoriously cumbersome and fragmented process.

Privacy

If you are like me, reading about e-government conjures up visions of reading Orwell’s 1984 in 8th grade literature class. Whenever large amounts of data is collected about people, privacy concerns are justified. In 2008, the Estonian legislature updated its Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) that outlines the privacy rights of citizens who consent to the use of personal information. According to the Act, processors of personal data must adhere to the following principles:

1. Legality - personal data shall be collected only in an honest and legal manner;

2. Purposefulness - personal data shall be collected only for the achievement of determined and lawful objectives, and they shall not be processed in a manner not conforming to the objectives of data processing;

3. Minimalism - personal data shall be collected only to the extent necessary for the achievement of determined purposes;

4. Restricted Use - personal data shall be used for other purposes only with the consent of the data subject or with the permission of a competent authority;

5. Data Quality - personal data shall be up-to-date, complete and necessary for the achievement of the purpose of data processing;

6. Security - security measures shall be applied in order to protect personal data from involuntary or unauthorised processing, disclosure or destruction;

7. Individual Participation - the data subject shall be notified of data collected concerning him or her, the data subject shall be granted access to the data concerning him or her and the data subject has the right to demand the correction of inaccurate or misleading data.

Study

In 2002, the Estonian government in partnership with the UN Development Program and the Open Society Institute established the E-Governance Academy to train people around in the world in best practices for e-government, e-democracy, and global cyber security. The institute has since trained over 3,000 officials from more than 50 countries.

Estonian universities are also embracing Estonia’s role as a leader in the e-gov revolution. Tallinn University of Technology offers a master’s program in E-Governance Technology and Services with courses such as “Concepts of e-Democracy” and “e-Governance: Policies, Strategies and Frameworks.” As a bonus, the program is fully supported and does not collect tuition fees for those enrolled full time, a great choice for Americans looking to escape high tuition costs at home.

Private Sector

Estonia is also home to a thriving private sector tech scene and is often referred to as the “Silicon Valley of Europe.” Starting from its most well-known company Skype (purchased by eBay in 2005 and again by Microsoft in 2011), Estonia has punched well above its weight in the tech world. Companies like Transferwise, a money transfer service with investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Richard Branson; Playtech, a world leader in gambling software; and Pipedrive, a growing CRM and sales management system all had their beginnings in Estonia.

Estonia Exists in Real Life Too

You will notice that I didn’t use the well-worn “e-estonia” moniker anywhere in this article and that was for good reason. Despite all of Estonia’s success in the tech world, it is also a beautiful place to visit in real life. Lonely Planet has named Estonia as the number 1 value destination in the world for 2016, citing it’s interesting mix of Baltic and Nordic influences at an affordable price.