Estonian innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem Andrus Viirg Enterprise Estonia Silicon Valley andrus.viirg@eas.ee www.estonia.eu www.investinestonia.com

European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders Stanford Engineering January 13, 2014

ENTERPRISE ESTONIA State foundation for Business Support & Development:

implementing agency of the EU structural funds in Estonia

ca 270 employees

financing agency (grants) for enterprises, R&D and non-profit institutions

budget 784 mln EUR during 2007-2013

budget 750 mln EUR for 2014-2020

Investment, Trade & Innovation Promotion – assisting international companies to estonianize

– assisting Estonian companies to internationalize

– Foreign Representative Offices:

Hamburg, Helsinki , London, Moscow,

Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Oslo

Shanghai, Tokyo and

Silicon Valley

Republic of Estonia (Eesti) 1918 - 1940 1991 - ..... Member of EU, NATO (2004), OECD (2010) Population: 1.36 million in the EURO zone from Jan.1, 2011 GDP: 28 billion USD GDP per capita: 21 000 USD (2012 estimates)

"With its narrow streets, medieval buildings and quaint Christmas markets, the city of Tallinn resembles a scene from a Christmas card. The Christmas market in the Town Hall Square is one of Europe's prettiest, and the city's old town area -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site often referred to as the "medieval pearl of Europe," is also worth checking out."

Doing Business in Estonia an Emerging Nordic country with a

strong and stable economy

• simple tax system

– flat 21% income tax

NO Corporate Income tax on reinvested profits (21% tax on dividends only)

• efficient company setup and reporting based on e-government solutions

#21 globally in the World Bank’s

Ease of Doing Business Index

#3 in terms of countries with small

populations

#7 best global location for “trading

across borders”.

among the most wired and

technologically advanced countries in

the world

e-Estonia

Estonia's capital Tallinn - (david jones) LES ECHOS/Worldcrunch

The phenomenon

Technologically advanced business platforms & e-Government services host of NATO´s Cyber Defence Centre electronic ID card & digital signature from 2002

e-Tax Board, e- Land Register, e-Business Register e-Police, e-School, e-Health, e-Prescription, e-Voting,... e-banking: 98% of bank transactions electronically m-parking

www.e-estonia.com

slide shared by Robin Wauters during Seedcamp Week in London (sept.2011), where out of 20 companies 4 Estonian startups presented and two 2 became finalists.

Estonia produces a disproportionate number of startups per capita

and this happened again in 2013

AngelList has 138 Estonian entries,

which on a per capita basis, puts it as

number one country (US is second)

#estonianmafia coined in by Dave McClure (500 Startups)

ESTONIA the top nation per capita for the number of international fashion models.

Connectors of the Estonian entrepreneurial ecosystem

• Garage48 www.garage48.org/en

o Hackathon – turn your idea into a working services within 48 hours

• Enterprise Estonia www.eas.ee/en

o StartSmart (EST- FIN network for startups,...) www.start-smart.me/en o BrainHunt www.ajujaht.ee/english/ o Network of Foreign Rep. Offices

• Estonian Development Fund & SmartCap o Monitoring & Growth Programs www.arengufond.ee/eng o Governmnet VC arm www.smartcap.ee

• Tallinn Tech University o Mektory (Innovation & busines center) www.ttu.ee/projects/mektory-eng/

• Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol www.tehnopol.ee/en

o Prototron, prototyping fund

• Accellerators/Incubators o StartupWiseGuys o Gamefounders o Technopolis Ülemiste

innovative Estonia

2013 • Going electric: first country to operate a nationwide Electric Vehicle (EV)

fast chargers network • Technology supplied and built by ABB (Switzerland) • The payment and billing platform provided by NOW!Innovations (Estonia)

www.nowinnovations.com

• Going to Space: first Estonian satellite launched May 4, 2013

• around 100 students and scientists from Tartu University & Tallinn Tech • 40 research projects & 3 doctoral thesis • main mission to test electric solar sail technology

• Going Digital: • Estonia and Finland in first-ever digital treaty 'signature‘. The Estonian-Finnish

co-operation memorandum on IT matters signed by the PMs foresees joint work on software for e-government services.

the Top7 Intelligent Community of the Year is Tallinn (The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), based in New York)

”Here you have a big black guy, a skinny India guy and we’re investing

in a country in Estonia. I love globalization it’s great.”

announcing their investment in

Oct.30 2013

Sacramento Kings owners Vivek Ranadivé and Shaquille O’Neal

From a humble swing to a mad northern European sport KIIKING

the go-to way to carry your wife is called the “Estonian” method

9 tech Trends for 2014 & European startups building

businesses on top of them

3 Estonian startups to watch • # trend: Connected Cars & Fleets

www.high-mobility.com develops new entertainment, navigation, electronics and settings system for cars

• # trend: 3D Printing www.grabcad.com shares CAD files with chosen partners and allows users to view, measure, and comment on 3D models right in the browser.

• # trend: Digitization of Finance www.transferwise.com transfer money wherever it's needed, at the lowest possible cost.

@robinwauters / founding editor of Tech.eu

What can Estonia offer? Strategic & Safe Geological Location

- on the trade roots between W & E; - no volcanos, earthquakes, tornados - cool climate

Modern Infra - excellent fiber connections to global

data networks

Power – self sufficient in electricity with added connections to Finland, Latvia and Russia

Competitive Environment - 0% corporate income tax on re-

invested profits

Highly Qualified Labor - language, finance, IT skills

a perfect location for - data centers - tech manufacturing - service centers

www.investinestonia.com