To keep
developing these platforms that have improved the quality of life of millions,
several of the country’s public and private universities are offering
top-of-the-line courses to young people interested in innovation and e-governance.
One of these
institutions is the Tallinn University of Technology
(TUT), which offers a MSc in
technology and e-governance services to native and foreign students. This degree, driven by the public and private
sectors, is a priority for the country, and the subject is openly promoted by
president Toomas
Hendrik Ilves, a confessed lover of innovative technology.
At TUT, students
with ideas for first-level startups want to be ambassadors for Estonia’s
electoral technology and make it known worldwide. One of them is Crystal
LaGrone from Oklahoma, USA, who is halfway through the masters program and
wants to bring e-voting technology back home.
LaGrone came to
Estonia as a visitor and quickly became interested in innovation. “I’ve discovered great advances in IT,
particularly Internet voting”.
This student,
who had no previous IT experience, thinks that Internet voting could strengthen
democracy and increase turnout
in the United States. In her opinion, the masters program offers extensive
knowledge on how to found a modern state – the transition to e-government, its development
and management.
Her objective is
clear: returning to the United States to improve e-voting systems, a tool
designed to strengthen democracy by preventing paper-based fraud. “If we managed to take a man to the moon and
bring him back, Internet voting couldn’t possibly be as hard”.
