Digital leadership: inspiration from other countries
In this section, we take a look at two of our neighboring countries, Estonia and Finland, as well as an international perspective on South Korea and the United States. All of these countries have, in different ways, rallied together and implemented aggressive reforms to take advantage of the opportunities of digitalisation for competitiveness and innovation and to safeguard the growth of the tech sector.
Estonia
The Estonian government has taken clear digital leadership and digitalization permeates many parts of society.
One of Estonia's biggest IT projects is the e-Estonia portal. It allows citizens to carry out all the usual functions such as filing taxes, voting in elections and starting a business.
Through an e-Residency program, Estonia
enables companies from all over the world to set up businesses in the country and thus the European Union, without setting up a
physical office. Estonia is also the first country in the world to have a data embassy, located in Luxembourg. The embassy houses backups of 10 national databases, such as population and business registers. This arrangement strengthens security and reduces vulnerability in the event of a cyberattack.
Doris Põld, CEO Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunication, ITL"There are many initiatives helping to drive digital development in Estonia. The focus is on closer cooperation with the private sector, for example through amendments to the State Assets Act. This will allow the government to share the source code of government software on an open and uniform basis for all."
Finland
In Finland, the government has prioritized digital issues and set up its own ministerial group for the development of digitalization, the data economy and public administration. Its task is to steer the development of digitalization, IT policy and the data economy, as well as to coordinate related measures and the situation picture. In addition to the ministerial working group, there is a cooperation group responsible for digitalization and the data economy, a digitalization agency. The Agency is responsible for cooperation between ministries and for promoting digitalization and the data economy. The Agency also acts as a contact point for matters related to data, digitalization and information policy.
Matti Mannonen, ED Technology Industries of Finland"In cooperation with the private and public sectors, we have defined Finland's Technology Policy for the 2020s. It contains a large number of concrete proposals to be implemented to make Finland the most attractive country for technology companies, world-class professionals and researchers, develop the most efficient public sector by harnessing the benefits of digitalization and the data economy, and take advantage of Finland's ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral through the rapid development and application of green technologies."
South Korea
Ranked at the top of the Bloomberg Index of Most Innovative Nations 2021, South Korea's government has long prioritized digital development and the tech sector. South Korea was one of the first countries to establish a national strategy for cloud computing. The government presented its first plan for the promotion of the cloud computing industry in 2015. It was also the first country in the world to launch a nationwide 5G network and to commercialize 5G services. The Korean government played an important role in the development of 5G and created a tailor-made institutional arrangement for it.
According to Vinnova, South Korea's investment in Digital New Deal would correspond to a total of SEK 64 billion in Sweden in relation to the population, i.e. just over SEK 10 billion per year. In addition, eight major mission projects are being invested in within the framework of the Green New Deal, and these projects will, among other things, increase Wi-Fi coverage to 100% in all classrooms at primary and secondary school level and build an educational platform that uses big data and creates customized educational content. Another project focuses on digital twins and will produce high-resolution 3D maps for the whole country.
USA
The United States is at the top of the World Digital Competitiveness ranking, which measures the capacity and readiness to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver of economic transformation in business, government and society at large. The US is home to the headquarters of many of the largest international tech companies and its IT sector has a global market share of almost 35%.
Also in 2021, the US administration launched the Digital Corps initiative, a two-year internship program for IT students placed in federal agencies and public services. The aim of the program is to transform public services in line with the digital transformation and secure the supply of skills.