[picoIPO] Fwd: Tech-savvy Estonia founds academy for ex-communist states

[Charles Evans]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Paul Vahur" < [email address] >
> Date: Mon Mar 24, 2003  08:16:41 US/Eastern
> To: "Charles Evans (E-mail)" <cwe@chyden.net>
> Subject: Tech-savvy Estonia founds academy for ex-communist states
> Reply-To: < [email address] >
>
> In case you haven't seen it yet.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
>
>
> Tech-savvy Estonia founds academy for ex-communist states
> MICHAEL TARM; Associated Press Writer
> March 5, 2003 Wednesday
> Associated Press Worldstream
> TALLINN, Estonia
>
> Cyber-savvy Estonia, an ex-Soviet republic that has embraced 
> information
> technology with the velocity of a Baltic Sea storm, will now teach 
> other
> former communist states to do the same.
>
> The government said Wednesday it will launch an academy to help other
> former Soviet states use information technology to provide better
> government services.
>
> "For us, this is a kind of foreign aid - our way of being able to help
> other countries. It's also a way to highlight how far we've come in e-
> government and e-business," Estonian government spokeswoman Hanna
> Hinrikus told The Associated Press.
>
> She said the Internet academy is expected to start later this year.
>
> The academy's cost for three years - US$250,000 - will be paid by
> Estonia, the United Nations and the privately held Open Society
> Institute, Hinrikus told the AP.
>
> Estonia's population of 1.4 million residents took hold of Internet
> technology after regaining independence amid 1991's Soviet collapse.
>
> According to the Global Information Technology Report released last
> month by the World Economic Forum, which cited the need for a good
> Internet infrastructure as key to a country's competitiveness, Estonia
> ranked eighth of 82 countries in putting the Internet to practical use,
> the highest of any former communist country.
>
> Hinrikus said ministers formally approved the e-academy project 
> Tuesday.
>
> Officials from Ukraine and Georgia as well as countries like Uzbekistan
> and Mongolia are expected to attend one- and two-week courses at the
> school in the capital, Tallinn, said Linnar Viik, who helped put the
> project together.
>
> "With all due respect to nations who have more Internet experience,
> ex-communist nations tell us they have nothing to learn from the U.S. 
> or
> Sweden," he said. "We share a similar history, we're at a similar
> starting point - so we know their challenges. We know what they need."
>
> Some have even said Estonia should be renamed E-Stonia.
>
> Nearly half of Estonians bank online, doing everything from paying
> utility bills to applying for new interest rates on loans.
>
> The government holds its Cabinet meetings online, too, sometimes with
> ministers logging on while traveling abroad. Most of the country's
> official documents, such as passports to voter registration forms must 
> -
> by law - be made available online.
>
> The government also launched a site called "Tana Otsustan Mina," or 
> TOM,
> which stands for "Today, I'm Deciding."
>
> Using the site, Estonians can comment on draft bills in a chat room and
> submit their own ideas for legislation. If one gets enough online
> support, the government said it would be discussed in a Cabinet 
> meeting.
>
>