Future оf IT report, produced by Emerging Europe, considered the Estonian IT sector the most competitive out of 28 countries. Estonia scored 64.43 points out of 100, leading the region in 13 of 47 parameters. It also was at the top in one of the specialized sectors covering the business environment. The formula is worth the status of the perfect destination for the ICT business. Estonia has a favorable business environment, regulations, and a broad implementation of online services. It also offers a lot of talent proportionally to the total employment, concludes the report.

Estonia has almost tripled its GDP since 2000 and reached the €20,435 per capita mark, leaving behind most of its neighbors observed in the study. It’s also a favorite destination for international capital, with €2.7 billion in foreign direct investment registered in 2020. A strong macroeconomic foundation combined with a long-standing history of producing innovations. With more than 1,450 start-ups, Estonia enjoys Europe’s highest number of start-ups per capita and has produced 10 unicorns. It takes 15 minutes to establish a company in Estonia, and you don’t need to be physically present in the country, thanks to the E-Residency program. In the first half of 2022 alone, Estonia collected €24 million in tax revenue from e-residents.

Having a relatively small population, those results can be achieved only by utilizing human capital to the fullest extent. With 91% of the citizens using the internet, most of them also scoring high in computer literacy, the number of IT students and graduates in Estonia has risen steadily in the last few years, with almost 5,000 people studying computer science and related fields in the universities. Estonia has the highest percentage of ICT graduates in the EU. There are indicators that enrolment will only increase as Estonia scores first out of European countries in PISA mathematics tests. PISA measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use reading, mathematics, and science skills to meet real-life challenges. For Estonia, in particular, qualifications translate to high compensation numbers in the ICT sector. As reported, the average ICT monthly compensation will reach the €2,910 gross mark in 2022, or around 182% of the national average.

GDP contribution numbers consist of exports and domestic spending. The first number indirectly translates to the international competitiveness of the country. And Estonia’s ICT exports have been consistently rising for years, seeing a 108% increase between 2015 and 2020. Emerging Europe’s report says that the number of ICT businesses will only rise with a strong performance in the business environment category. Estonia is leading the region in the fields of intellectual property and cyber security provides enough support for industry development and is unmatched in economic competitiveness. The latter claim can also be backed by International Tax Competitiveness Index, where Estonia ranks 1st overall in 2021 for the eighth consecutive year.