I spend most of my year in the city of Bangalore, India with a population of 15 million. The rest of the year, I spend in Lucknow with my parents, with a population of 2.8 million.Today, I introduce you to a tiny country with a population of 1.4 million nestled in the northeastern corner of Europe.

History

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Republic of Estonia gained complete independence.In 1991, Lennart Meri, Estonia’s first president asked a pivotal question that would determine the future of this nation:

What is our Nokia?(referring to the tech giant of the neigbouring Finland)

As expected, to get rid of the Soviet economy, Estonia ditched lethargy for speed. The country encouraged free trade and privatization but the key difference in the Estonian economy was the focus on public sector efficiency — an area where even the most advanced economies like the US sometimes struggle, forget about developing ones like India.Estonia did something unique by introducing bottom-up technological innovation in bureaucracy. It encouraged government departments to find their own…