#1 Estonia has the world’s best tax system
Tax Competitiveness Index 2019: Estonia has the world’s best tax system – no corporate income tax, no capital tax, no property transfer taxes.
Another clear advantage of Estonia’s tax system is that companies spend less time on tax compliance than they would in any other country in the OECD. For example, in an average OECD country, 42 hours per year are used by companies to comply with just corporate income taxes. In Estonia, the figure is five hours. Other taxes, such as the value added tax (VAT) also have a low compliance burden.
Continue reading about the Estonian taxation system here.
#2 Estonia is becoming a global hub for e-commerce
Named the world’s most digitally enabled nation, Estonia has the best solutions in the fields of e-commerce – from FinTech company Fortumo serving Amazon, to Cleveron delivering Walmart’s goods to customers with parcel robots.
There is no doubt that Estonia is an emerging hub for global e-commerce activity. World-class IT skills have created numerous e-commerce applications and are supported by leadership positions in enablers such as online trust, payments and digital logistics.
The biggest names in retail, like Amazon, Walmart, Zara, are already using the competence and solutions of Estonian e-commerce companies. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Spotify and Sony are customers of Estonian carrier billing solution provided by Fortumo, business daily Äripäev writes.
Read more about Estonia’s e-commerce wonderland here.
#3 Cleveron launches an automated street-front locker system for groceries
The vivid innovation in the field of e-commerce – with roots in electronics, IoT and mechatronics – is proved again and again by the parcel locker and fulfillment robotics provider Cleveron. In August, Cleveron announced launching an automated street-front locker system for groceries that supports robotic click-and-collect orders, offering an efficient alternative to home delivery.
It has been a productive decade for Cleveron. Over the last year alone Cleveron has launched a grocery robot, opened a robotics academy, expanded to 21 countries, and has been generously awarded for all this: it has earnt the title of best last mile delivery innovator and exporter of the year of Estonia.
Read more about Cleveron here.
#4 Lumebot snow-robots started to clean snow in Tallinn
New self-driving and automated solutions are born not only in the e-commerce – Estonian company Lumebot has an automated solution for snowy roads and streets – a snow-clearing robot named Lumebot.
“In November, our robots began serving the first paying customers. Our robot is well-suited for all year round cleaning of sidewalks, parking lots, parks, and squares,” Lumebot co-founder Kaspar Kikerpill explained to Estonian newspaper Postimees.
The name Lumebot comes from the function of the appliance: ‘lume’ [‘lumi’ in the nominative] means ‘snow’ in Estonian language, and the ‘bot’ is the part of the word ‘robot’.
One robot weighs 500 kilograms and it can work 2 hours straight, cleaning an area of 5,000 square meters, or 12 kilometers of sidewalks. It can work in a fleet and can be equipped with both, a snowplow and a vacuum sweeper.
Read more about Lumebot here.
#5 Estonia leads emerging Europe in Global Innovation Index
Estonia is the most innovative economy in emerging Europe, and the 24th most innovative globally, Emerging Europe writes referring to the results of the 2019 Global Innovation Index (GII).
The Global Innovation Index 2019 reveals that most of Estonia’s strengths lie in the fields of creativity, knowledge and technology. Estonia is preceeded in the index by Belgium and followed by New Zealand. Fifteen of the top 25 GII economies are in Europe.
Read more here.
#6 Estonian solar roofs by Roofit.solar attract global interest and are looking for new investment
The elegant black solar roof from Roofit.solar looks pretty like an iPhone and has won the favor of Elon Musk, who´s the top promoter of Estonian GreenTech product.
Comparisons with the iPhone are invited by its black colour and smooth surface. Roofit.solar panels are thin like a smart phone but extremely durable owing to steel and tempered glass. In the USA, Tesla plans to start electricity-producing roofing tiles, and Elon Musk as an innovative visionary is the best promoter of the “solar roof” concept globally.
Founded only three years ago, the company Roofit Solar Energy produces metal roofs with integrated solar panels. The thin photovoltaic layer which produces electricity is installed within the roof panel and the panels are joined with each other under the roof sheeting between the battens. The company claims that the installation of the new solar roof is as easy as the installation of a standard metal roof.
Continue reading about solar roofs here.
#7 PISA 2018 results: Estonia’s education is the best in Europe
According to the latest PISA tests results, Estonia’s basic education is among the strongest in the world and the absolute best in Europe – Estonia is number one in Europe in all three domains of assessment: in reading, mathematics and science.
The PISA results suggest that Estonia’s education system is effective and ensures equity – students’ academic performance is independent of their socio-economic background.
Estonia’s basic education is at the top of the world. Estonian students have consistently achieved high scores in the PISA tests. Our excellent position is due to the consistently high level of all students, and the number of top achievers has increased year by year while the number of students with substandard knowledge has declined. Estonian students have won hundreds of medals at international Olympiads over the last decade, confirming the quality of their expertise in the world’s top competition.
Digitised schools provide Estonian students with future skills. We make extensive use of the possibilities offered by modern technology in teaching. In addition to teaching knowledge and skills in the digital field, Estonian education widely uses numerous smart solutions: digital databases, digital textbooks, e-learning materials, digital class diary, digital assessments, not to mention various applications and computer programs. Various e-solutions ultimately make students’ schoolbags lighter, helping carry knowledge instead of a heavy schoolbag, improving posture, and making learning smarter. The Estonian school is mostly in the cloud; however, alongside digitisation, books and traditional activities are valued.
Estonian excellent results indicate that there are smart people here to create new solutions for today’s and future economies.
You’ll find the piece of news on PISA test results here.
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