Subject: Re: Request in the context of a scientific study (University of Basel)
From: "Riho Kerge" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 09:54:51 +0300

Hello,

Unfortunately Your request for additional information did not reach me 
before the April 16th deadline had well passed and I have no way of knowing 
if you received any additional input from any of the original addressees. As 
I see it, a response also adequately reflecting the national policy level 
and not only my own domain would require me to reach out to people at the 
Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs 
and Communications among others.

There have been a number of changes recently at the level of policy makers 
in Estonia but at the Estonian Information System Authority I am responsible 
for developing and maintaining a number of the technical platforms already 
covered in the attached document (Personal Data Tracker, X-tee ecosystem, 
RIHA, RIHAKE, Estonian Open Data Portal).

Have you already drawn your conclusions based off of the available 
information and reached the publishing stages or is your request still valid 
despite the original deadline?

Best Regards

Riho Kerge

Head of Department

State Data Exchange Department

Estonian Information System Authority

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Dear ladies and gentlemen,

At the electronic Public Institutions and Administrations Research Forum 
(e-PIAF) at the University of Basel, we are currently working on a study on 
the ‘Resilience of Democracies in the Wake of the Digital Transformation of 
the State’. As part of the study, we will also create a ranking with a 
cross-country comparison (CH, DE, EE, UK).

Our goal is to understand the effects of the entire digitalisation measures, 
especially their consequences for the established democratic system. The 
focus is on the consequences for the separation of powers, federalistic 
structures, the prevention of the concentration of power and state 
sovereignty. In short, we are addressing the question of how the digital 
transformation can succeed in a way that preserves existing democratic 
structures and institutions in the digital space as well.

The way in which the administration is digitally transforming plays a 
central role in the context of the resilience and longevity of democratic 
systems. This is because it is currently (in relation to the other powers, 
parliaments and courts) the front runner and driving force of state 
digitalisation. From our perspective, we are particularly interested in the 
development of IT standards and IT outsourcing. In the attached PDF 
document, you will find further information on the background to the study, 
a (short) questionnaire, and the publicly available information we have 
already collected.

Should you have any additional or supplementary answers to our 
questionnaire, we would be very happy to receive them. We would also be 
happy to conduct an interview if you would prefer that. If you participate, 
we would like to mention you by name as an expert. However, if you do not 
wish to be mentioned, we will of course respect your wish for anonymity.

To be able to include and evaluate your (additional) information in the 
study, we need to receive it by April 16th, 2025.

If you are unable to provide us with information yourself, we would be 
grateful if you could forward our request to the person responsible or 
provide us with relevant contact details.

We thank you in advance for your support. As soon as our study is published 
(presumably in early summer 2025), we will of course send you a copy.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Christian Ulbrich

-- 

Dr. Christian R. Ulbrich | Director, e-PIAF

electronic Public Institutions and Administrations Research Forum

Universität Basel | Juristische Fakultät

Peter Merian-Weg 8 | Postfach | 4002 Basel | Schweiz

 <https://www.e-piaf.org> https://www.e-piaf.org