Estonia: a snapshot of digital skills

Introduction

In the 2024 edition of the Digital Decade report, Estonia has achieved 62.6% basic digital skills coverage, compared to the EU average of 55.6%. This puts Estonia at 78.3% of the overall target for the EU 2030 goal, which aims to have 80% of the EU population possessing at least basic digital skills. The country has seen an annual growth of 5.4% from the previous year.

According to the Digital Decade report 2024, Estonia performs better than the EU average in both digital skills indicators. The percentage of ICT specialists in employment has surpassed the EU average, increasing/decreasing from 6.6% to 6.7% (EU average – 4.8%).

The Education and Youth Board (Harno) is a government agency of the Ministry of Education and Research that deals with the implementation of Estonian education and youth policy. Their goal is to offer Estonian people high-quality, modern, and equally accessible educational opportunities. The joint institution was established on the basis of the services of Foundation Innove, Foundation Archimedes, Information Technology Foundation for Education and Estonian Youth Work Center. They offer scholarships for studying and working in abroad and in Estonia, organize national and International exams, tests and studies for collecting objective and comparative data on Estonian education.

Overview of state strategies and national initiatives

State strategies

Digital in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) of Estonia In the Estonian RRP, which was enacted in October 2021, digital objectives are allocated an estimated 208 million euros, or 21.5% of the plan’s total budget. Two of the plan’s six components contribute to the digital transition, with thirteen measures (out of a total of 41) addressing digital priorities. Component 1 (86,3 million euros for digital) seeks to promote the digital transformation of Estonian companies, primarily focusing on industries (total estimated value: 58 million euros) and their export market competitiveness. Component 3 on the digital state (121,7 million euros for digital) seeks to improve the delivery of public services. It also seeks to make the digital infrastructures and systems underlying the Internet more resilient and sustainable.

Estonian Digital Agenda 2030 focuses on three priorities: (i) developing further digital public services; (ii) national cybersecurity and (iii) improving connectivity across the country, with a planned budget around 1.2 billion euros over ten years period. The vision is to have Estonia full of digital “vägi” (power) characterised by services functioning according to users needs, safe digital space, smart solutions supporting everyone and establishing fertile foundation for creation of future solutions.

Education Strategy 2021-2035 is based on the premise that in order to accomplish the future educational goals of Estonia, its strengths must be maintained and expanded upon, and its weaknesses must be addressed. The overall objective of the strategy is to equip the Estonian population with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable them to realise their full potential in their personal, professional, and social lives and contribute to the improvement of the quality of life in Estonia and global sustainable development. The overall objective is underpinned by three strategic goals: (i) Learning opportunities are diverse and accessible and the education system enables smooth transitions between levels and types of education (ii) Estonia has competent and motivated teachers and heads of schools, a diverse learning environment and a learner-centred approach to learning and teaching, (iii) Learning options are responsive to the development needs of society and the labour market.

Research Design and Entrepreneurship Strategy 2021-2035 is aiming to increase the well-being of Estonian society and productivity of the Estonian economy by providing competitive and sustainable solutions for development needs. Three strategic actions underpin the overall objective: (i) High-level, effective and diverse research, (ii) research-based and innovative solutions supporting development, (iii) encouragement of entrepreneurship and growth of knowledge-intensive enterprises.

EdTech Estonia, established in 2020, brings together Estonian educational technology (EdTech) companies and start-ups. The main goals of EdTech Estonia are to increase the quality and accessibility of education and to contribute to the development of education by applying the principles of sustainability and scalability. EdTech Estonia Strategy 2023 – 2027 has two major goals: (1) create opportunities for the emergence of new start-ups in the field of education and provide a supportive environment for the rapid growth of companies engaged in the development of value-creation services, and (2) develop the EdTech ecosystem such that by 2030 more than 200 EdTech companies would be registered in Estonia and the export volume of educational services would be 1 billion euros.

National initiatives

In the Estonian Recovery and Resilience Plan, digital objectives are allocated an estimated 208 million euros, or 21.5% of the plan’s total budget. Two of the plan’s six components contribute to the digital transition, with thirteen measures (out of a total of 41) addressing digital priorities. Component 1 (86,3 million euros for digital) seeks to promote the digital transformation of Estonian companies, primarily focusing on industries (total estimated value: 58 million euros) and their export market competitiveness. Component 3 on the digital state (121,7 million euros for digital) seeks to improve the delivery of public services. It also seeks to make the digital infrastructures and systems underlying the Internet more resilient and sustainable.

Construction of very high-capacity broadband networks is supported with EUR 24 million in areas of market failure, ensuring an appropriate regional balance. The objective is to increase access to extremely high-capacity broadband networks, providing at least 100 Mbps connections to households and socioeconomically significant institutions such as hospitals, schools, public services, and businesses. At least 8,000 addresses will have improved internet connectivity by the end of 2025.

By the end of 2025, #Bürokratt programme and national virtual assistant platform and ecosystem, a speech- and text-based AI virtual assistant will be developed for online public service access. The total amount of Recovery and Resilience Facility support for the two initiatives is 53 million euros. The objective is to enhance the user-friendliness and accessibility of Estonia’s public services. For the reconfiguration of fundamental digital services and the secure transition to cloud infrastructure, a new public body will be established. The organisation will be responsible for the central administration of the IT fundamental services and infrastructures of government institutions.

AI & Robotics Estonia (AIRE) supports Estonian industrial companies in adopting smart digital solutions in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics. From AIRE you can get knowledge, contacts and information about funding. This technology hub unites the top technological universities, professional associations, and enterprises in Estonia. It aids businesses in their digital transformation and develops robotics and AI demonstration projects. The centre aids small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing and healthcare sectors in acquiring services to develop knowledge-intensive AI and robotics solutions.  AIRE’s objectives are to increase the digital maturity of manufacturing SME’s, to increase investments in industrial digitalisation, to create a sustainable DIH ecosystem in Estonia and involve relevant EU stakeholders, to improve the target groups’ competencies in AI and robotics, and to increase the market maturity and market creation potential of Estonian innovations.

Funding opportunities

Funding opportunities for upskilling and reskilling to support the digital competences of individuals and organizations are available in form of loans, grants and financial instruments. For the period 2021 – 2026 most of the activities in digital transformation are financed through Recovery and Resilience facility but also as activities in Horizon, Erasmus+, ESIF and EEA grant schemes. You may find more on the page of Estonian Recovery and Resilience website, and in the article on the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform.