Estonia offers 10 universities and 25 colleges, which together contribute to a good foundation for graduates. Individuals often speak fluent English but also some Swedish, Russian, Finnish and German.
Estonia's ambitious workers are working hard in order to reach important advances in biotechnology. There are over 300 scientists in biotechnology companies at the market's major universities and institutes. They include for example the Estonian Bio center, Tartu University and Genome Center Foundation.
Due to the geographical location, the Scandinavian IT sector has had a positive impact on Estonia, and has developed expertise in specialized markets such as manufacturing of electronic equipment.
More positive facts for foreign investors: - Estonia has a highly developed infrastructure for telecommunications. The country is also a leader when it comes to internet and mobile phone usage which has been proved in different surveys. Estonia ended up ahead of countries such as Britain, Singapore, Netherlands and Switzerland.
- High-level digital infrastructure. Estonian companies have experienced spectacular success in the application of new technologies in specific areas (such as banking and government). Estonia has been one of the top countries in terms of accessibility to public e-services.
- There is an excellent internet coverage and over 800 public Internet access points. In addition, there is more than 1200 free Wi-Fi Internet zones in the country.
- Electronic ID cards and ID services makes it possible to confirm and validate various documents easily and quickly.
- Skilled and cost-effective workforce. Most students get their bachelor's degree in business administration, law, mathematics and statistics. The labor costs are lower than in Western Europe, the monthly gross wage in the service sector was only 1.020 Euro in 2007.
- Multilingual workforce. Estonia is ranked among the top countries in the world when it comes to language skills, according to IMD's yearbook.
Estonia also offers an ideal and cost-efficient marketplace for new products.
Cecilia Helland