Company or Institution

Estonian Investment Agency (Invest Estonia)

Industry

Securities & Investment

Website

https://investinestonia.com

Country

Estonia

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

General description of the AI solution

Invest Estonia has implemented a set of non-human agents aimed at better, faster and more accurately executed investment promotion activities. We are happy to use tech in a smart way and live the ‘e-Estonia’ dream that is a part of the country's development strategy.
Invest Estonia is using technology to help potential foreign investors get to know about business opportunities in Estonia. Better informing potential investors, we are overcoming one of the market failures that FDI across the globe faces, the problem of asymmetric information among business decision makers, which is especially acute in case of emerging markets where there are limited resources for investment promotion.
As (e)-Estonia has created a welcoming and accommodating business environment for foreign businesses (and made life a lot easier for the local ones), our investment promotion agency’s job is to deal with providing accurate and up to date answers to the two questions that every business planning expansion abroad is facing: why and how.
Invest Estonia’s set of integrated, yet separate non-human agents, most of them in the form of web services, combines various technologies and concepts, such as natural language processing and process automation (including sales force automation) with the single goal of providing potential investors with the information they need, when they need it.
Invest Estonia's draft strategy for 2022-2030 sets the goal of facilitating at least 3 billion euros of investment to Estonia and creating at least 1,000 high added-value jobs per annum across the regions of Estonia. Researchers have found positive correlations between the amount of resources an investment promotion agency can use, and the results it can achieve. However, it is possible to use technology to make the investment promotion processes more effective and thus achieve more with less. The management of the Estonian Investment Agency sees AI as having a crucial role in the future of its work, as well as investment promotion across the globe.

Publications

Emerging Europe. 2022. Investment Promotion Report and Ranking. URL: https://emerging-europe.com/investment-promotion-report-2021/

Dayan, S. 2022. Advancing Digital Tools for Investment Promotion & Facilitation in the MENA Region. URL: https://south.euneighbours.eu/publication/advancing-digital-tools-investment-promotion-facilitation-mena/

De Crombrugghe, A. & Moore, S. 2021. Investment Promotion and the Digital Economy: A Comparative Analysis of Investment Promotion Practices Across the OECD. URL: https://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/investment-policy/Investment-Insights-Investment-Promotion-Digital-Economy-OECD.pdf

Estonian Investment Agency. 2020. Invest Estonia received the United Nations Investment Promotion Award for Excellence in the Response to COVID-19 crisis. URL: https://investinestonia.com/invest-estonia-received-the-united-nations-investment-promotion-award-for-excellence-in-the-response-to-covid-19-crisis/

Kaha, A. 2020. Automatiseerimise eeldused, edutegurid ja efektid Ettevõtluse Arendamise Sihtasutuse välisinvesteeringute keskuse näitel. Master's thesis. Tallinn University. URL: https://www.etera.ee/s/D4d2xFnEe6

Estonian Investment Agency. 2020. Estonia created Suve, a state-approved automated chatbot to provide trustworthy information during the COVID-19 situation. URL: https://investinestonia.com/estonia-created-suve-an-automated-chatbot-to-provide-trustworthy-information-during-the-covid-19-situation/

Needs