Welcome to e-estonia’s national platform of (im)possibilities. The role of physical space in a digitalised world economy.

By the year 2022, more than 60% of the global GDP will be generated digitally. Over the next ten years approximately 70% of new value created in the global value creation will be based on digitally enabled platforms [1]. In the previous years, the international sphere turned out to be a digital sphere. In my planned conference paper, I argue this shift towards the digital sphere can enable smaller actors to establish a unique and influential position in the global competition for talents, investment and political power. My particular focus lies on the case of Estonia and its most previous policy program, the concept of e-residency. It was launched in 2014 and it is in line with other digital innovative programs such as i-voting or e-taxation [2]. The initial goal of the e-residency program is the enhancement of an entrepreneurial spirit worldwide by providing individuals the state’s digital public infrastructure after a successful application process. Thanks to the access to the state’s digital administration, entrepreneurs can easily start and run a business from anywhere in the world. The status of an e-resident does not include a physical citizenship. Over the previous years the program was changed dramatically and criticism increased from various actors on different levels. Independent from this, the program is considered as Estonia’s soft power and brought Estonia’s reputation to a new level in international tech circles. In that regard, the planned conference paper will first present the different and conflicted inner-state interests which are supposed to be covered within the program. The paper points out the policy program is a product of economic nationalism despite the official marketing worldwide. The planned conference paper will help to understand the importance and the impact of physical space with its traditional competition factors and beyond has on policy programs influencing the digitalised world economy. So far, further countries followed and started to implement e-residency programs, too. For this the planned conference paper will contribute to starting a broader discussion about the role physical factors plays within a digitised world economy.