Here’s why a small Nordic nation has a big presence at Nordic Business Forum 2017
The Estonians are coming!
Estonia is sending its largest ever business delegation abroad on Monday for Nordic Business Forum 2017.
960 representatives of Estonian business and innovation are sailing to Helsinki together to promote their own business opportunities, but also deliver a joint message:
Join the first digital borderless nation as an e-resident.
The delegation will include the leaders of Estonia’s burgeoning business and startup scene, including TransferWise CEO and cofounder Taavet Hinrikus (who was previously the first employee of Skype).
The Nordic Business Forum is one of the most important business events in Europe and this year’s theme is ‘purpose, responsibility and leadership’. British business tycoon Richard Branson and Hollywood star Will Smith will both be there to share their thoughts on the subject.
Attendees from around Europe and the world will be able to easily find the stand for our cloud-based digital nation. Simply look out for the giant digital cloud inside the conference hall. Visitors there will be treated to a glass of delicious fresh organic rhubarb juice made by Põhjaka and learn about the opportunities provided by e-Estonia and the benefits of e-Residency.
Estonia’s success has been enabled by its digital revolution, but there will be a wide range of businesses within the delegation. Visitors should keep an eye out for any of the 960 Estonian representatives who’ll be wearing blue ‘enter e-Estonia’ badges. Every one of them has their own unique story to tell about how they are living and working in the first digital borderless nation.
Visitors will also get the chance to enter one of the most innovative houses ever designed. Koda by Estonia’s Kodasema is a future-proof movable concrete home.
The Koda home will also be the venue for Richard Branson to attend dinner prepared by Põhjaka and learn more about e-Residency and other opportunities and initiatives from the first borderless digital nation, such as Let’s Do It World — an Estonian organisation that is on track to mobilise 5% of the entire Earth’s population for a massive world clean up day in 2018.
Fun facts about e-Estonia
Estonia is not actually the smallest Nordic nation.
Believe it or not, Estonia is bigger than Denmark by landmass although it does have a population of just 1.3 million that is considerably fewer. This is part of the necessity for why Estonia has been so ambitious in developing its e-services in order to better serve a more sparsely located population.
In addition, Estonia gained re-independence in August 1991 with a need to rebuild its infrastructure almost from scratch and with few resources. This was coincidentally the same month that the first servers for the World Wide Web were switched on so building a borderless digital nation was the best way forward.
Estonia was detached from the world — and the Nordic region — in the period that preceded this, which is why Estonia’s status as a Nordic nation is still subject to debate. However, Estonia ranks alongside other Nordic nations at the top of global league tables for everything from educational standards to the high proficiency of English.
However, what is certainly true about Estonia is that it is unique.
Estonia today has both a fantastic business environment, but also the means to export that business environment globally by offering e-Residency. The country’s digital services can handle far more users than the 1.3 million people living in the country so literally anyone, anywhere is invited to apply to use them too.
E-residents receive a secure government-issued digital identity and the ability to establish and manage a global EU company entirely with low costs and minimal hassle. This is Estonia’s gift to the world and it’s helping democratise access to entrepreneurship globally.
Estonia’s e-Residency programme is fast gaining popularity with entrepreneurs around the world, but Finland is still home to the highest number of e-residents due to the strong business connections that already exist between the two countries. In addition, the e-Residency programme has a partnership with the Finnish fintech firm Holvi so that e-residents from (almost) anywhere in the world can now access EU business banking entirely online for the first time.
One more thing — A lucky visitor to the e-Estonia stand will be able to truly feed their imagination by receiving a package trip to Estonia from Visit Estonia. Here’s why you’ll want to win that:
Join the first borderless digital nation by applying for e-Residency now at e-resident.gov.ee.
