*We need developers, small Baltic e-nation opines.
(…)
Why do you need partners?
Our platform is like an app store or a marketplace of e-services. Currently it has some important basic e-services, like authentication and the ability to start a location independent company in Estonia and run it from anywhere in the world. New e-services are being added all the time, but in order to really scale we need developers who recognize e-Residency as a major disruption in government thinking to join in. We already have our first partners who are developing their own e-services, but we need more.
For developers and partners, one advantage of working with us is that we are very open and easy to collaborate with. We also have clear values that ensure that we will not misuse e-residents’ trust or indeed that of our partners.
What is the ‘big picture’ idea that could grow out of Estonia’s e-Residency program?
People say that governments are lousy service providers. Agile startups looking to ‘move fast and smash paradigms’ always seem to run into bureaucratic models of governance which have developed over the centuries. This confrontation is partially necessary since governments can’t fail in the way startups are allowed to, but certainly something needs to change. In Estonia we are developing a 'country as a service' model or CAAS which can lead the way, and hopefully become a standard for how governments relate to people and businesses as well. This approach is only going to catch on if we have openness, transparent values, and committed partners.
In the big picture, the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2020 there will be one billion new internet users. Seventy-three per cent of these people are effectively financially excluded. We need a solution that will help these people get reliable digital identities and become financially included, so that they can use services and start businesses. People will be defined not by where they happened to be born, but by their intentions, drives and goals. Using Wikipedia and other public sources is a valuable experience, but the real empowerment happens when you can participate in the global economy….
