Estonia is striving to become an innovation-driven economy by making leverage on available resources such as: a highly educated population, good research institutions in advanced sectors, well prepared and motivated public administration, good economic and logistic links with neighbouring countries (especially with the Scandinavian region). Aware of existing shortcomings, the public administration has designed and put in place a system aimed at speeding up and supporting the process of knowledge and technology development and valorisation in the view of transforming these resources into commercially exploitable assets. Such a system has already been operational and has produced appealing results. However, it

This is the eighth edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), which provides a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of EU Member States, under the EU Lisbon Strategy. The methodology for the 2008 EIS is revised compared to that of 2007 with a stronger focus on services, non-technological aspects, and outputs of innovation. The analysis of trends over time is now based on changes in the absolute values of the indicators over a five year period, rather than the previous approach of measuring trends relative to the EU average. The EIS 2008 includes innovation indicators and trend analyses for

Enterprise Estonia to support ten projects related to export, product development and digitalization and creative industry with more than half a million euros. “It is a pleasure to see than the design contest that has been organised for the first time has fully justified itself. The contest received many brilliant initiatives and I am convinced that many Estonian companies will also benefit from all the supported projects in the long run. For the success of the Estonian economy, it is very important that we have strong professional associations, which the presented projects undoubtedly verified,” Director of Grant Centre of Enterprise Estonia

The Republic of Singapore – an island city-state off southern Malaysia is one of the smallest nations in the globe with a multicultural population of 5.6 milion people, yet it consistently ranks high for the most competitive economy in the world and is known to be Asia’s most dynamic and innovative country. Singapore has a land area of 719 km2, which is slightly smaller in size from our well appreciated island Hiiumaa with its land area of 989m2. In just over 50 years, Singapore became from a newly independent nation with no natural resources and limited capital to one of

Tiina Kivikas, Export Adviser of Enterprise Estonia in Germany During a recent discussion about the Germans’ interest in Estonia, I commented that when it comes to exporting to Germany one should strike while the iron is hot. In the long-term perspective, the German market is one of the most reliable export markets for Estonian enterprises, as the value of Euro is getting stronger, the German economy is stable and built on robust foundations. The German Ministry of Economy forecasts a 1.7% increase in GDP and unemployment in Germany is lower than it has been in the past 25 years. Estonian

Construction in the Netherlands has gained serious momentum, growing 8% in a year, but this is not sufficient to decrease the housing deficit. A solution for this ever-increasing housing shortage in the Netherlands may be found with Estonian modular and wooden houses, which can also help the Netherlands deliver on their set climate objectives. The year 2021 has adequately proven that the pandemic has had a lesser impact on the construction sector than initially feared in the Netherlands; however, while large companies are in a more complicated situation, specialist construction companies are prospering. Therefore, the downturn of 2020 can be