Estonia: Public Sector dimension of AI Strategy

Introduction

This page reports a synthesis of the main elements that characterise the national AI strategy with a specific focus on the public sector. It extracts the information related to a single country from a comparative analysis done by the AI Watch team and reported in full in the science for policy report “AI Watch. European Landscape on the Use of Artificial Intelligence by the Public Sector”.

Main highlights

Strategy has specific section to advance the uptake of AI in the Estonian public sector
Improving awareness and competences on AI and AI procurement
Improving the existing technical infrastructure and data of the public sector for AI
Focus on reusable AI components so successful AI can be shared with other administrations
Funding mechanisms will be made available for AI projects in the government
Establishing Chief Data Officers in every public administration

Strategy analysis

Learning by doing	Pilot projects Regulatory sandboxes
Stimulating awareness and knowledge sharing	Awareness campaigns Building an international community
Ethical and legal framework	Reform of data sharing laws
Improving data access and quality	Improving data quality Improving data access
Funding and procurement	Funding for AI projects Revision of procurement processes
Improving internal capacity	Training on AI New public bodies

Comment

Improving internal capacity is seen as a priority. There will be specific training courses for managers and specialists to highlight the value of data science and AI and for civil servants in the procurement of AI.

Moreover, to raise awareness (success) stories of current AI projects will be published and will be scheduled regular meetings between the public sector AI network and other institutions to share experiences and discuss ongoing activities. On data access and quality, one of the actions involves promoting the availability of open data on the open data portal of Estonia. Moreover, data governance will be improved with data stewards in agencies and development of data governance tools. In 2021, Data Governance Competence Centre was launched to assist public bodies. A variety of funding mechanisms will be made available to finance AI projects within the government.

Finally the strategy proposes the creation of a technological sandbox to test and develop public sector AI applications in a safe environment

General Information

Title

National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2019-2021

Data of release

Mar 2019

Specific actions to public sector

Activities listed in BOOSTING THE TAKE-UP OF CHALKS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR (1.1, 1.3, 1.9, 1.10, 1.20,1.21, 1.22)