TalTech Economic Vision Conference: “The Courage to Be Indispensable”

Estonia’s economic model is undergoing change. For decades, our growth was supported by our ability to source resources from nearby markets, add value to them here at lower cost, and sell the products to wealthier neighbouring markets. Rapid growth in wages and living standards, shifting geopolitics and technological upheaval mean that this model is no longer enough on its own. A small, open economy cannot win in the global market through size or low prices. Our next leap in development must come from our ability to offer something that is hard to replace—knowledge, technology, solutions and skills that others need in order to move forward. The conference’s guiding idea, “The Courage to Be Indispensable,” focuses on how Estonia can shape such a role for itself in the global economy. In which parts of the value chain could Estonian companies be irreplaceable? How can we use artificial intelligence and other technologies not only for efficient subcontracting, but also to create high-value-added solutions based on our own knowledge and intellectual property? How can we take part in the global market in a way that makes Estonia impossible to bypass? And what choices must businesses, research and the state make to achieve this?

PROGRAMME

09.30–10.00 Gathering and morning coffee, location: TalTech Assembly Hall

10.00–10.20 Conference opening. Prof. Tiit Land, Rector of TalTech, and Prof. Mari Avarmaa, Dean of the TalTech School of Business and Governance
Host: Paavo Siimann

10.15–11.00 Europe amid change: Estonia’s strategic choice
Maive Rute, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) and member of the TalTech Board. What are Europe’s main challenges in remaining competitive with rapidly growing Asia and the United States? What is Estonia’s place in European industrial and technology policy? Why is becoming “indispensable” a strategic choice, rather than a rhetorical one?

11.00–12.00 PANEL I
Where is growth really created? European technology flows, investment and Estonia’s opportunities to become indispensable
In the age of artificial intelligence, Europe’s economy is being reshaped: investment, political priorities and strategic attention are concentrating on specific technologies and links in the value chain. What trends are shaping the European market today, which policies and investments are driving them, and where are the real bottlenecks to growth—data, computing power, skills or capital? The central question is where Estonia fits into all this: are we part of these flows or on the sidelines, and in which links could our companies be difficult to replace?
Introductory presentation: Valeria Kiisk, Head of Capital Markets and expert at Finance Estonia.
Panellists: Valeria Kiisk, Head of Capital Markets and expert at Finance Estonia; Marek Tiits, Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Baltic Studies; Peeter Luikmel, Head of the Monetary Policy and Foreign Economy Subdivision at Eesti Pank and Lecturer at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance; Kadri Männasoo, Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance.
Moderator: Paavo Siimann, Senior Lecturer at the TalTech Department of Business Administration, investor and mentor

12.00–13.00 Lunch at the Student House

PANEL II
From obstacles to benefits: how the state and regulations can create value from the technology boom
A technological leap does not automatically translate into economic growth. In between are rules, governance and how quickly the state itself adopts new technology. The panel will discuss whether European regulations, such as the AI Act, data rules and the digital markets framework, are a hindrance or a market advantage for Estonian companies, and how the state’s own choices in procurement, infrastructure, opening up data and grants determine whether technology moves from experimentation into real-world use. The discussion will seek concrete solutions that would allow a small country to gain a speed advantage where large markets move slowly.
Panellists: Teet Tender, Managing Partner at PwC Estonia; Erkki Karo, Professor and Director of the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance at TalTech; Sandra Särav-Tammus, Deputy Secretary General for Economic and Industrial Policy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia, and Lecturer at the TalTech Department of Law; Helery Tasane, Researcher at the TalTech Department of Business Administration and Programme Director of “Artificial Intelligence in Business”.
Moderator: Kristjan Hirmo, Doctoral Researcher at the TalTech Department of Business Administration

14.00–14.15 Networking break

14.15–14.45 AI does not make a company indispensable, but the problem it solves might
Ken Tilk, Co-founder of Triangel.ai, former Global Head of Data and AI at Nortal, and member of the advisory board for the “Artificial Intelligence in Business” programme

14.45–15.30 PANEL III
People, skills and the labour market in the age of AI
The value of artificial intelligence is realised only when people know how to use it in their work. The panel will discuss which skills Estonian employers are looking for but cannot find, how quickly education and retraining can respond, and what happens to roles that AI reshapes most directly. The discussion closing the day will bring the earlier topics together: do we have the people who can turn technological opportunity into a product, service and intellectual property?
Panellists: Katrin Isotamm, Adviser to the Estonian AI Initiative; Gert Jervan, Professor and Dean of the TalTech School of Information Technologies; Marina Järvis, Assistant Professor at the TalTech Department of Business Administration; Tõnn Talpsepp, Professor at the TalTech Department of Economics and Finance and Programme Director of “Applied Finance and Artificial Intelligence”.
Moderator: Silver Tambur, Editor-in-Chief of Trialoog, TalTech’s research and entrepreneurship portal

15.30–15.40 Summary of the day

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