TalTech Summer School | Hibiki Ikenoue

Overview

In August 2024, I attended the Summer School at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) in Estonia. It was the summer of my first year at university, and my first program abroad.

Activity log

The program was held on the TalTech campus in Tallinn.

Lecture on electronic identity (eID) Second eID lecture

Lecture on cloud-based eID methods Assurance level lecture

Lecture on eIDAS assurance levels X-Road lecture

Lecture on X-Road, the government data exchange platform

The committee room we visited

Alongside the lectures, we visited government facilities including the Estonian parliament and ministries, and I spoke with local engineers, companies, and members of parliament. The most advanced topic was the briefing on Bürokratt. Bürokratt is a unified AI assistant for public services whose development the Estonian government is driving forward: a national project that aims to interconnect the chatbots of individual agencies so that administrative procedures can be completed in conversation, through a single point of contact. It left me curious to see how it will be put to use.

The joint government office building Building entrance

The entrance of the building that houses five ministries Briefing at a ministry

A briefing session at a ministry

The certificate of completion, issued with an Estonian digital signature

The time outside lectures was just as rewarding. I could observe, from the point of view of someone living there, a society in which most administrative procedures really are completed online. Even the certificate of completion was issued in the .asice format, carrying an Estonian digital signature. No paper, no seal. Down to the very last document, I was reminded that this is a country of e-government.

Estonian, EU, and Ukrainian flags lined up in front of the government building

Kadriorg Palace

A country of 1.3 million people stands at the global forefront of e-government. The biggest takeaway was seeing with my own eyes a working proof that you can get there if you design institutions and technology as one.