Several Estonian tech startups from diverse sectors such as AI, cybersecurity, defence and medicine have evinced interest in collaborating with India and tapping its huge market as the two countries seek to step up their economic partnership.
Latitude59, an influential startup and technology conference that takes place here annually, is also keen on hosting a networking event in India next year under its aegis.
Speaking with PTI, Latitude59 CEO Liisi Org said, “I love India, I have been there many times and I would love to host Latitude59 there. I don’t know yet, where. There are conversations going on at various tech centres but of course if we don’t do it, we are late to the party. India is one of the biggest countries in the world, if we don’t collaborate with India, it is not smart.”
The interest is there in India because of the size of the market and the Indian delegation has been at Latitude59 five years in a row, she said.
“The relationship is there and we should do something right now,” Org told PTI on the sidelines of the Latitude59 conference that took place here from May 20-22.
“I would love to do Latitude59 next year in India. I do think that we should start small, maybe have a niche sector, we could bring our startups to investors and vice versa, as we do a networking event in Singapore and Cape Town. Yes, I love to do it there next year,” she said.
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Latitude59 this year, brought together more than 3,000 participants from 70 countries, with 140 speakers taking to the stage here.
Latitude59 welcomed more than 800 startup representatives and over 600 investors from around the world, as well as 20 national and startup delegations.
The next Latitude59 main event in Estonia will take place on 1921 May 2027 at Kultuurikatel here.
During a visit of Indian journalists here earlier this month, several Estonian tech startups evinced interest in collaborating with India.
Ingvar Parnamae, CEO and Co-Founder Vegvisir, made a presentation of how the next-generation Mixed Reality Situational Awareness System (XRSAS) can be of use to Indian security personnel providing real-time visibility and decision support for armored vehicle crews, remote operators, and commanders.
Priit Salumaa, CEO and co-founder of Better Medicine, also evinced interest in entering the Indian markets with his firm providing AI support in detecting malignant kidney tumours.
CybExer evinced interest in deepening collaboration with India in the cybersecurity field. It has done projects with India in the past as wrll.
Speaking with PTI, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said India is a very important partner for Estonia.
“Our scales are totally different, from 1.3 million people (Estonian population) to 1.4 billion (Indian population). India is also the largest democracy in the world. Our president (Alar Karis) was in India in February for the AI summit. Our bilateral relations are increasing in business terms,” the Estonian foreign minister said.
“Be it the defence industry, IT, or AI solutions, Estonia is the perfect place for investments. We have the E-residency programme through which Indian companies and people can become residents and be a part of our brilliant startup environment.
“I see the economic growth of India and also the leadership of the Indian government on economic development, which is something our companies are very much interested in,” Tsahkna said.
The minister said there is significant potential for expanding bilateral ties.
“We see the global trend, India is playing more and more a leading role in the region. Estonia is the gateway for Indian companies to the EU markets. So both sides are interested,” he said.
Indian Ambassador to Estonia Ashish Sinha said Estonia can be the gateway to northern European markets for India once the FTA with the European Union comes into effect. He asserted that the bilateral relationship is on an upswing.
In an interview with PTI, Sinha said there is a robust base of existing trade to be used as a “springboard” for further engagement between India and Estonia when the India-EU free trade agreement comes into force.
The Indian Ambassador to Estonia asserted that the overall bilateral relationship is going from strength to strength and getting stronger.
“Digital technologies, IT, AI-enabled technologies, software as a service, all these areas have great potential. Estonia is the world leader, and so is India.
“Our digital public infrastructure and our capacity to roll out digital innovations at the population scale, and Estonia’s proven capacity to use digital transformation of its citizen services, both have great capacity to learn from each other and grow,” Sinha said.
Many Estonian tech experts pointed out that India could adopt best practices from Estonia for strengthening its startup ecosystem with modifications to suit the local needs and challenges.
In 2024, Estonia became the world’s first fully digital country with many of its initiatives like the e-ID and the X-Road database, serving as a role model for other countries.
Some noted Estonian startups that have made a global name are video-conferencing app Skype and food delivery and cab platform Bolt.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
