Estonia is one of the countries that pursued digital evolution very early since 1999; the World Economic Forum considered Estonia among the innovation-driven knowledge-based societies. Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves was interviewed about the digital evolution program in Estonia.
Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves was the fourth President of Estonia from 2006 until 2016. Ilves worked as a diplomat and journalist, and he was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the 1990s. He was also awarded with the World Leader in Cybersecurity award by BGF and MDI in 2017. He shared his point of view about the Tiger Leap Programme, which was the secret of Estonia’s transformation from an undeveloped economy with little infrastructure to one of the most advanced nations in the world.
The program equipped schools with computers and Internet access and other ICT services. Computer science classes were taught in every schools. The project familiarized Estonians with technology and gave easy internet access to the majority of Estonians.
According to Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the key to the success of the programme in 1999 is to make children curious about technology and it has succeeded in that respect. In 2012, the country began teaching programming and robotics at all educational levels.
