Island Sessions, an exciting new virtual talk series by Eco Org and Ooredoo Maldives, hosts the Chief Information Officer of the Republic of Estonia, Siim Sikkut in its latest episode.
During the episode, Siim spoke about Estonia’s journey to becoming the most digitally advanced country in the world and his role in the project. He also discussed Estonia’s groundbreaking E-Residency program, which he co-founded. This program allows foreign entrepreneurs to become residents of Estonia virtually, and gain access to the benefits of doing business in the EU.
Another topic raised during this session was the new Digital Nomad Visa that was recently introduced by Estonia. Siim shared how such a program could benefit a country like the Maldives, especially with the rise of remote working due to the pandemic.
Siim touched on the future of AI in governments, the pros and cons of AI, and how AI is transforming our daily lives. The Estonian government has plans underway to integrate AI into their digital governance system – a project that is led by Siim who believes in the Importance of digital governance in small countries like Estonia to strategize and be an effective government.
Siim is currently working with governments of Finland, Iceland and Canada amongst others, who are interested in implementing Estonia’s digital governance model. He also discussed how he can potentially work with the Eco Org and other such organizations to bring this technology to the Maldives, and how he and the Government of Estonia can contribute to the implementation of the system in the Maldives. Siim further shared his thoughts on the Eco Org’s Smart Islands project by stating how it can be achieved through collaboration and sharing experience and technologies across institutes and borders.
The Island Sessions is a virtual talk series by The Eco Org with Ooredoo as the main sponsor. The series features leading entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and experts from around the globe covering topics ranging from sustainability to entrepreneurship and frontier technologies. Part 1 of this series covers Smart Cities, AI and Resilient Urbanization.
Next episode airs 8th June featuring Nikhil Goel, Co-founder of Uber Elevate.
The events are by The Island Lab in collaboration with Your Space at CROSSROADS, and covers topics such as entrepreneurship; sustainability; and frontier technologies. The series will also include workshops on startups, product design and development.
