Estonia’s best e-services picked
A competition organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the State Informatics Centre has determined the best e-services in the country. A total of 71 new domestic e-solutions took part in the competition. The winners will move on the international World Summit Award competition.
Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts said the record number of candidates showed that significant e-solutions were developed in Estonia even during the recession. “Both the private, public and third sector should take into account above all the benefits for Internet users,” said Parts. “E-solutions that create value for users have prospects of success abroad as well.”
Competition was closest in the e-business and enterprise category, where 33 new e-services contended for the title of best. A judging panel consisting of experts from various fields finally, after some debate, declared the social banking platform isePankur.ee the winner. Panel chairman Margus Püüa said that the comprehensiveness and the international potential of the concept was assessed in the case of this service, which intermediates loans between people and companies, and the solution was deemed capable of bringing a success story comparable to that of eBay to Estonia.
The most heated debates came from the awarding of the best in Estonia title in the e-government and institutions category, where 15 e-solutions entered the fray. This time, the best in Estonia was declared to be the an electronic environment for filing annual reports as it is pertinent to more than 120,000 Estonian companies. “Even though there has been criticism of the ease of use and visual aspects of the annual report, this solution will make all Estonian reporting electronic in a few years time,” said the jury chairman.
In the field of e-health and environment, the undisputed winner was a prescription centre (digital prescription system) developed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Health Insurance Fund. “In spite of problems in launching the system, this e-service has today made the lives of patients and doctors easier and it has changed the health care landscape beyond recognition in Estonia,” said Margus Püüa.
In the category of entertainment and games, the title went to Elion’s minuTV, which allows digital TV viewers to set reminders for their favourite shows and record them.
In the field of e-culture and heritage, the best e-service in Estonia was chosen to be the Histrodamus information bank, which offers opportunities to make the study of Estonian history interactive and visually attractive – and in English and Russian.
Awards were not handed out in several categories – e-learning and education, e-inclusion and participation and e-science and technology, as the panel felt no projects were good enough for handing out the best e-service title.
All of the category winners will advance to represent Estonia at the international competition recognizing creative use of digital media, the World Summit Awards (WSA) 2011. For developers of e-services, this will offer good opportunities to get international recognition and useful contacts across borders, which is a major benefit in involving investments and aspiring to international markets with their services.
The best e-service in Estonia competition 2011 is being held in the framework of the European Union structural funds programme “Raising awareness of information society” and is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Similar contests were held in Estonia in 2005, 2007 and 2009, under the name of Best Content Service.
