In Eurasian and Baltic countries, which were isolated from the West until only 30 years ago, the transformative eects of the internet are dramatic. Today, Estonia is a tech pioneer through the invention of Skype and the adoption of e-voting and e-residence. Belarus has created a Hi-Tech Park that employs above 50,000 and exports $2 billion in products. Internet and smartphone penetration is high and Western social media sites are popular. Citizens are using the internet and smartphone apps in increasingly sophisticated ways.
Globally tech giants have created exciting new ways for people to connect and communicate, but their actions also provoke questions about the responsibilities and restraints that should accompany these powerful platforms. Particularly in the Eurasian and Baltic region, the tech sector has transformed societies. Now, at a time when many tech companies find their platforms under attack from illiberal forces, the industry has much to gain by spreading values of transparency, accountability, and entrepreneurship within this region.
With participation from the tech giants of the West, a thriving tech sector of Eurasian and Baltic states can lead to a more dynamic regional transformation. This transformation can create a new generation of innovators and thought leaders. It can move workers into formal economies and away from the large, cash-based shadow economies that currently dominate. Young people will gain access to legal income and online payment systems, while governments gain an expanded and more reliable tax base.
[ the project’s goal ]
The goal of the Global Minds Initiative is to help Eurasian and Baltic countries develop thriving IT sectors as a part of their economic transitions in order to become better integrated into the free world’s economy.
We aim to create a large and influential group of high quality tech entrepreneurs, who share the core liberal values, such as rule of law, protection of intellectual and private property, social responsibility etc. These values would become part of the DNA of the new tech industry in Eurasian and Baltic region.
The tech sector will help Eurasian and Baltic countries move from consumption to creation – a vital and necessary transition in the new digital economy. A new generation of people with a new mindset will create new law-based institutions and more dynamic, efficient and competitive markets in the region.
The Initiative is focused on the 14 countries, which proclaimed or restored independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of these do not yet have a sufficient internal IT consumer market to create their own products. The project excludes the Russian Federation, with its alternative, self-enclosed Internet, search engine, and social networks.
[ activities ]
- “Inspirational Tech Talks” – organizing visits of global tech leaders to the region, for a series of lectures and roundtable discussions hosted at universities and entrepreneurship centers in order to inspire young tech entrepreneurs and developers in the region.
- Facilitating review of the tax code and legislation in selected countries, with the aim of adjusting the IT area tax code and the legislation to the needs of IT industry.
- Establishing a professional training system for IT specialists, with the help of the international leading learning providers. Facilitating the access of international outsourcing companies to the local markets, attracting international venture funding to local start-ups.
- Organizing visits of young tech entrepreneurs from Eurasian and Baltic countries to Silicon Valley and other U.S. high-tech clusters, to show how the tech companies interact with universities, funders, regulators, and public officials in a single ecosystem.