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Almost 30 years ago

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my country was facing the need
to rebuild everything from scratch.

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After years of Soviet occupation,

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Estonia regained its independence
but we were left with nothing.

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No infrastructure,
no administration, no legal code.

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An organizational chaos.

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Out of necessity,

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the state leaders back then
had to make some daring choices.

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The ones that our country could afford.

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There was a lot of
experimentation and uncertainty,

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but also a bit of luck involved,

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particularly in the fact
that we could count on a number

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of brilliant visionaries,

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cryptographers and engineers.

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I was just a kid back then.

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Today, we are called the most
digital society on earth.

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I'm from Estonia

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and we've been declaring
taxes online since 2001.

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We have been using digital identity
and signature since 2002.

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We've been voting online since 2005.

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And for the day, pretty much
the whole range of the public services

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that you can imagine:

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education, police, justice,
starting a company,

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applying for benefits,
looking at your health record

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or challenging a parking ticket,

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that's everything that is done online.

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In fact, it's much easier to tell you

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what are the three things
we cannot yet do online.

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We have to show up
to pick up our ID documents,

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get married or divorced,

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or sell real estate.

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That's pretty much it.

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So, that's why don't freak out

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when I tell you that every year

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I can't wait to start
doing my tax declaration.

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(Laughter)

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Because all I have to do

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is sit on my couch with a mobile phone,

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swipe a few pages with pre-filled data
on income and deductions,

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and hit submit.

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After three minutes,

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I'm looking at the tax return amount.

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It actually feels like
a quite rewarding experience.

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No tax advisers,

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no collecting receipts,

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no doing the math.

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And have I mentioned
that I have not visited a state office

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for almost seven years?

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Indeed, one of the features
of the modern life

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that has no reason to exist anymore

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considering technological
possibilities of today

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is the labyrinth of bureaucracy.

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We've almost gotten rid of it
completely in Estonia,

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in an effort coordinated by the government
that has also digitized itself.

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For instance, Cabinet of ministers work
in e-Cabinet is absolutely paperless.

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The central idea behind this development

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is transformation of the state role

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and digitalization of trust.

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Think about it.

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In most countries, people
don't trust their governments.

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And the governments don't trust them back.

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And all the complicated
paper-based formal procedures

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are supposed to solve that problem.

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Except that they don't.

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They just make life more complicated.

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I believe Estonian experience is showing
that technology can be the remedy

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for getting the trust back,

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while creating an efficient,

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user-centric service delivery system,

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that actively responds to citizens' needs.

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We did not do it by digitizing
bureaucracy as it is.

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But by rather agreeing on a few
strong, common principles,

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redesigning rules and procedures,

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getting rid of unnecessary data collection

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and tasked application,

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and becoming open and transparent.

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Let me give you a glimpse

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into some of the key e-Estonia
design principles today.

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First, it is essential to guarantee
privacy and confidentiality

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of data and information.

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This is achieved through
a strong digital identity

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that is issued by the state

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and compatible with everything.

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In fact, every Estonian has one.

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The identity is doubled
with a strong digital signature

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that is accepted, used,
and legally binding

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both in Estonia and European Union.

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When the system can properly
and securely identify who is using it,

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after logging in it will provide access
to the personal data of the citizen,

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and all the public service within one tool

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and allow to authorize anything
by signing digitally.

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A second principle,
and one of the most transformative,

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is called "Once only."

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It means that the state
cannot ask for the same data

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more than once.

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Nor can store it in more than one place.

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For instance,

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if you've already provided your birth
or marital certificate

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to the population registry,

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this is the only place
where this data is going to be held.

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And no other institution
will be ever asking for it again.

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Once only is a very powerful rule,

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as it defines the whole structure
of the data collection in a country.

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What information is collected,

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and who is responsible for maintaining it,

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making sure we avoid
centralization of data,

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duplication of data,

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and guarantee that it's
actually up to date.

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This distributed approach
also avoids the problem

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of the single point of failure.

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But since the data cannot be replicated,

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or collected more than once,

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it means that the design
has to keep in mind

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secure and robust access
to that information at all times

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so the public institution
can offer a service.

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This is exactly the role
of the data exchange platform

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called the X-Road,

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that has been in use since 2001.

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Just like a highway,

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it connects public sector
data bases and registries,

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local municipalities and businesses,

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organizing a real-time secure
and regulated data exchange,

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saving an auditable trace after each move.

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Here's a screenshot of a live feed

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showing all the requests
performed on the X-Road

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and all the services
that it actually facilitates.

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And this is the real picture

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of all the connections between
public and private sector data bases.

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As you can see,

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there is no central data base whatsoever.

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Confidentiality and privacy
are definitely very important.

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But in the digital world,

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reliability and integrity of information

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is just critical for operations.

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For instance,

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if someone changes
your medical health record,

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let's say allergies,

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without you or your doctor knowing,

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treatment could be deadly.

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That's why in a digital society
a system like Estonian one,

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where there's almost no paper originals,

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there's almost only digital originals,

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integrity of data,

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data exchange rules, software components

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and log files is paramount.

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We use a form of blockchain
that we invented back in 2007,

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way before blockchain even became a thing,

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to check and guarantee the integrity
of data in real time.

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Blockchain is our auditor

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and a promise that no access to the data

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or data manipulation remains unrecorded.

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Data ownership is another key principle
in the design of the system.

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Aren't you worried by the fact
that governments, tech companies,

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and other businesses around the world

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claim data they've collected
about you theirs,

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generally refuse to give access
to that information,

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and often fail to prove how it was used

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or shared with third parties?

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I don't know, for me it seems
like a quite disturbing situation.

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The Estonian system
is based on the principle

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that an individual is the owner
of the data collected about him.

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Thus, has an absolute right to know
what information is collected

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and who has been accessing it.

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Every time a policeman, a doctor
or any state officer

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is accessing personal information
of the citizens online,

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first they only get to access it
after logging in

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to the information they're authorized
to see to do their job.

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And secondly, every time
they're making requests,

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this is saved in a log file.

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[unclear] log file is part
of the state public services

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and allows real transparency,

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making sure no privacy violation
will remain unnoticed to the citizen.

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Now, of course, this is only
a simplified summary

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of all the design principles
that e-Estonia is built on.

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And now, government is building up

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to get ready for use
of artificial intelligence

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and building a whole new generation
of public services,

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proactive services,

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that would activate seamlessly

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based on different life situations
that people might be in,

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such as childbirth, unemployment
or starting a business.

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Now, of course,

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running a digital society
with no paper backup

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can be an issue, right?

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Even though we trust
our systems to be solid,

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but one can never be too cautious
as we experienced back in 2007,

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when the first cyber incident happened,

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and it literally blocked
part of our networks,

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making access to the services
impossible for hours.

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We survived.

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But this event put cyber security
at the very top of agenda,

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both in terms of strengthening
the platform and backing it up.

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So how do you back up
a country-wide system in a small state

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where everything is super close?

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Well for instance,
you can export copy of the data

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outside the country territory

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to an extraterritorial
space of an embassy.

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Today, we have those data embassies

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that are holding of the most critical
digital assets of Estonia,

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guaranteeing continuity of operations,

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protection of our data,

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and most importantly, our sovereignty.

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Even in case of a physical attack
on our territory.

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Some of you might be thinking by now,

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where are the downsides?

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Well, going all digital

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is administratively, and let's be honest,
financially more efficient.

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Interfacing primarily
with computer systems,

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might create an impression
that the human factor,

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elected politicians,

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and participating in democratic processes

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is somehow less important.

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And there are also some people

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who feel threatened
by pervasive technology

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that might make their skills obsolete.

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So all in all, unfortunately,

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running a country on a digital platform

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has not saved us
from political power struggles

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and polarization in the society,

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as we have seen in the last elections.

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Well, until there are humans involved.

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One last question.

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If everything is location-independent

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and I can access all of the services
from anywhere in the world,

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why cannot others tap
into some of these services,

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even if they don't reside
within Estonian borders?

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Five years ago,

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we launched a governmental start-up
called e-Residency program

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that for the day joins
tens of thousands of people.

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These are businessmen and women
from 136 different countries,

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who established their
businesses digitally,

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who do their banking online,

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and who run their companies virtually
over e-Estonia platform,

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within European Union legal framework,

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using an e-identity card similar to mine

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and all of that
from anywhere in the world.

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The Estonian system
is location-independent

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and user-centric.

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It prioritizes inclusiveness,
openness and reliability.

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It puts security
and transparency at its center.

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And the data into the hands
of the rightful owner,

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the person they refer to.

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Don't take my word for it.

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Try it.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)