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Skype
Estonia entered the EU in 2004 and currently obtains a modern market-based economy. The government has pursued a “free market, pro-business economic agenda and [has] wavered little in their commitment to pro-market reforms” (Estonia’s Economy). Prior to 2009, the government maintained a balanced budget and sound fiscal policies. Estonia’s goal is “to sustain high growth rates - on average 8% per year from 2003 to 2007” (Estonia’s Economy). The economy benefits from strong electronics and telecommunications sectors. The two important technological advances that were made in Estonia are, Skype and Hotmail. These two online services have helped boost Estonians economy the last decade. Hotmail was created by Steve Jürvetson. Hotmail is mailing site Steve bought “from a young Hindu for 300 thousand dollars and began developing it. After two years, Jürvetson sold the product for 400 million dollars to Microsoft” (Kivi).“[M]ore than half of Skype’s global workforce is in the Estonian capital,” the company is also responsible for half of the money spent in Estonia’s private sector research and development money (Estonia’s e-President). NATO established the cyber-defense centre in Estonia’s capitol Tallin because of the wide success of Skype and Estonia’s technology communications.
Skype is an internet telephone service created by Niklas Zennstrom and Dane Janus Friis in 2003. The software allows a person to “make telephone calls all over the world” (Kivi, Priit). The company is based out of Tallinn and currently there are over 42 million members on Skype. The software became popular because of the purity of the sound quality. “Skype represents an ideal of what . . . Estonia should be - a small group of people come together and come up with a really brilliant idea that becomes known all over,” the president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves has said (Estonia’s e-President). "Our entire national mythology is based on the fact that while we are not large in number we have to be large with our ideas and Skype is a realization of that in the 21st century world," Ilves said (Estonia’s e-President). The founders of the company acknowledged that the “key was to create an open and friendly environment for innovation and new talent” (Estonia’s e-President).
