Estonia to showcase its e-solutions and startup community at international technology conference Slush in Helsinki.
Estonia will be present at Slush 2016 on many fronts. In addition to hosting the official opening party Enter e-Estonia on the evening of November 29th, all Slush participants are welcome to the e-Estonia stand the Slush exhibition area to learn about world leading Estonian e-solutions, apply for e-Residency and explore the possibilities of the Estonian startup scene. Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid will deliver a speech at the Estonian opening party as well as meet Estonian tech companies at the Estonian booth.
One of Estonia’s latest innovations, the government startup e-Residency will celebrate its 2nd birthday at Slush. Since December 2014, non-Estonians around the world have been invited to join the program and take advantage of Estonia’s convenient e-services. To this day, the program has attracted over 15 000 e-residents from 135 countries and over 1000 new companies.
The growing number of e-residents and their interest to establish and run their companies via e-Residency has inspired the country to continuously develop the program. “This year the Government of Estonia approved legislation that allows Estonian residents and e-residents to open bank accounts without visiting a bank branch. Currently the banks are building and testing the information technology solutions and hopefully they will be ready to offer their services in spring 2017,” said CIO of Estonia Taavi Kotka. Kotka added that opening a bank account online will be a big step for e-Residendy program as it will complete the otherwise already totally virtual business environment allowed by e-Residency.
In addition to being one of the most advanced digital societies, Estonia also boasts a strong startup scene. According to head of Startup Estonia Mari Vavulski, Estonia produces the biggest number of startups and seed stage investments per capita in Europe. “Estonia is small but nimble which makes it a perfect test ground for new innovative ideas. Our hassle free government listens to the start-ups and is constantly iterating to become one of the TOP5 startup ecosystems in Europe. We aim to be the birthplace of many more startup success stories and will showcase all the opportunities at Slush,” says head of Startup Estonia Mari Vavulski.
Estonia is also launching the startup visa scheme that will make it easier for non-Estonians to relocate or set up their startup in Estonia as well as enabling all startups registered in Estonia to recruit talent from everywhere. The new legislation will be enforced on 17th of January 2017.
e-Estonia at Slush 2016:
– Tuesday, November 29 at 10 PM – Slush 2016 official opening party Enter e-Estonia taking place at Kuudes Linja, Kaiku and Stidilä complex. Entrance is open for all Slush Pass owners at 10 PM.
– Wednesday, November 30 at 11 AM – Estonian President Ms Kersti Kaljulaid to visit e-Estonia stand at Slush exhibition hall and meet Estonian startups.
– Slush participants are encouraged to apply for e-Residency at the e-Estonia stand at Slush (passport needed) or online at e-resident.gov.ee.
– Thursday, December 1 at 1.15 PM – Funderbeam, the funding and trading engine for growth companies, will host a discussion at the e-Estonia stand. Founder and CEO, Kaidi Ruusaleppwill discuss the Estonian Startup Ecosystem with Herty Tammo, founder of the region’s leading accelerator, Startup Wise Guys who is currently funding its next batch on Funderbeam. Tammo and Ruusalepp are ready to answer questions from participants from 1 PM to 3 PM.
– Estonian startups that made it into the Slush 100 Pitching Competition and will take the Pitching Stage are Reverse Resources, Wolfprint 3D, Insly Ltd, Shipitwise, 3DC.io.
