Type Non-profit Headquarters Tallinn, Estonia | Founded January 2009 | |
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Industry Information and communication technologies Website | ||
The Estonian ICT Demo Center (Demokeskus in Estonian) is an Estonian not-for-profit organization dedicated to uniting companies in the Estonian information and communication technologies sector. Its main purpose is to foster co-operation and create a basis for joint export for companies in the ICT sector.
Contents
Background
The Estonian ICT Demo Center was created by the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications (ITL). ITL felt that Estonian's companies were not large enough to compete in foreign markets successfully when doing it alone. On the other hand, several companies (such as Skype) had made breakthrough in foreign markets. In order to increase co-operation between Estonian ICT companies, the ITL created the Estonian ICT Demo Center, which would be focused on introducing Estonian ICT solutions to foreigners and also to create an organization where different companies could share their export experiences.
The Demo Center was opened on January 29, 2009 in the Ustus Agur House in Ülemiste City. Among others, the President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves was present at the opening. The founding partners of the Demo Center were MicroLink, EMT, Elion, Microsoft, Santa Monica Networks, Datel and Ülemiste City.
Current activities
Demo Center is located in the Ustus Agur House at Ülemiste City. It is divided into six areas: the enterprise area, the home area, the forest area, the state area, the school area and the technical playground. In each of these areas, different Estonian ICT solutions applicable to those locations can be tested. For instance, in the state area, different ID-card based solutions are present, such as giving digital signatures and accessing the Estonian Land Board's e-Map registry.
Currently, the Demo Center joins 39 companies. The Demo Center is also connected to international networks - the Microsoft Innovation Center, the Authorized Sun Solution Centers (ASSC).
During the years of activities, the Demo Center hosted more than 900 international visitors. There have been several high-caliber visitors to the Center, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Prime Minister of Finland and the President of Georgia.
ICT Demo Center is also responsible for the Estonian ICT exposition at EXPO 2010 Shanghai.