What the governments of the future will look like

Estonia is the most advanced country in the world in digital governance due to its interconnected government systems, which save society 800 years of work.

Can you imagine filing your taxes in three minutes online, voting in elections from your cellphone anywhere you are, or having a single medical record that updates when you visit any doctor in your country? This might sound very futuristic for many countries worldwide, but there's a small country in Eastern Europe that has already achieved this and several other significant innovations in digital governance. It could be the benchmark for governments in the 21st century, as it is considered the most advanced country in the world in digital governance (e-government). We're talking about Estonia, a country of 1.3 million inhabitants that has birthed companies like Skype and Transferwise. Additionally, it has decided to compete in attracting international talent in a creative way through its e-Residency program, which allows anyone worldwide to become a digital resident of Estonia. Thus, they can access most services available to Estonian and European Union citizens digitally without ever visiting Estonia or Europe.

Speaking with Daniela Santibañez Godoy, a young Mexican who is the director of internationalization for Estonia's e-Residency initiative, she says, "Estonia is considered the most advanced digital society globally, an achievement reached through government efforts. Ninety-nine percent of public services are available online, enabling many activities, from filing taxes to signing documents and contracts, to voting in elections, all from your cellphone. This ethos of openness to technology has had extraordinary effects on society. This is because a 'digital government' requires private sector services, prompting companies in Estonia to develop new IT products. These, in turn, require capable individuals to do so. The e-Residency program, stemming from the public sector, operates as agilely as a startup, being the first initiative of its kind in the world. In fact, Estonia's level of digital development is such that they are currently backing up their entire government in the cloud, using their international embassies as servers. Thus, in the event of a natural disaster or any kind, the government would continue to function online. In other words, Estonia as a nation doesn't need territory to continue existing."

What can Mexico learn from governments like Estonia? "The technology on which Estonia operates has been available for over 15 years, so what the country has achieved isn't innovative in that sense. Rather, it's an exceptional implementation of public policies and enthusiasm for working with the private sector that has made all this possible. Take blockchain, for example. Despite being the current buzzword, Estonia began testing this technology in 2008. As a result, it has been used since 2012 to provide greater security for personal information, such as in medical records. Additionally, the government's systems are interconnected, meaning the government only asks for any information about its citizens once in their lifetime. The fact that every government agency as well as the private sector is connected allows information to flow efficiently, saving over 800 years of working time for citizens and the state each year. The highly digitized society also means greater transparency, as each transaction is recorded. For example, Estonia's commercial registry is public, so anyone can review information like who owns a company or who its shareholders are.

"However, to ensure the success of a digital government, well-defined limits are needed on the use of citizens' information by the government. Estonia has regulations in this regard, and each person owns their own information. For instance, one can find out if a doctor, police officer, or other official has been accessing their information without consent. If there isn't a justified reason for their behavior, it's straightforward to report it for action to be taken. All these actions create a virtuous system where citizens trust the government, and the government, in turn, is capable of providing better services. Obviously, this is an area where Mexico is very behind. As seen with the Pegasus software case, Mexico lacks the institutions to provide the necessary checks and balances to prevent such serious abuses. That's the first point we need to address. The big problem is that we are falling behind, and the urgency to develop an effective digital system is imperative. Perhaps it's easy to overlook the experience of a country with 1.3 million inhabitants like Estonia, but another example is India, where its biometric identification system covers 99% of the country's 1.3 billion inhabitants, over ten times Mexico's population. What's fascinating about India's system is that, like Estonia's, it's being used to integrate various services, including digital payments or access to credit. Peru is also working on something similar. At a UN event, I met the people in charge of Peru's system, and it's impressive to see how much they've developed it and their plans to integrate other services into their scheme."

Transparency could be the solution to Mexico's corruption crisis and lack of Rule of Law, and technology is fundamental to this. If we want to have a developed country government in Mexico, it's essential for there to be immediate willingness from authorities and pressure from citizens to create a true digital government with significant implementation at the federal, state, and municipal levels, for a genuine 21st-century government.