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UK and Estonia launch TechLink programme
The UK and Estonian governments are launching a TechLink programme to share best practice and innovations
During the D5 summit in Estonia today (20 November 2015), ministers from the UK and Estonia launched a TechLink programme which aims to bring together entrepreneurs from the two countries to tackle challenges in financial technology, cyber security, digital government and biotech.
The programme will give businesses the opportunity to learn from the respective countries’ digital markets, according to the Cabinet Office.
D5 is a network of digital governments with the aim of strengthening the digital economy across borders.
In 2014, the UK hosted the first D5 digital leaders summit, where the UK, South Korea, Estonia, New Zealand and Israel joined forces in London.
Commenting on the launch of TechLink, Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock said he looked forward to seeing what innovations will come out of the programme.
“We set up the D5 for the leading digital governments to share best practice, and the new TechLink programme does just that,” he said.
Read more about cross-border digital collaboration
- Mayor of London Boris Johnson wants Japan to take up financial technologies and is keen to increase the number of London-Tokyo fintech partnerships
- The UK and US governments have announced plans to collaborate on the development of digital government services.
“Britain’s membership of the D5 is a key part of our role as a world leader in govtech, as we look to use digital to transform the delivery of public services, reshaping the relationship between the citizen and the state.”
In 2011, the UK and Israel launched a UK-Israel Tech Hub, which was the first initiative of its kind. The hub aims to partner British companies with Israeli innovation and “creates partnerships in which British companies help Israeli innovation go global, and Israeli innovation gives British companies a global competitive edge,” according to the Cabinet Office.
Earlier in November, Mayor of London Boris Johnson went on a three-day trade mission to Tel-Aviv with the aim of further strengthening the UK’s technology partnership with Israel.
The UK will also begin collaborating further with New Zealand, and Tech City UK began trialling its Digital Business Academy platform to people in New Zealand today.
The digital business academy is backed by the UK government and was launched in 2014 with the aim being to teach people how to start and finance a digital business, how to develop digital products and how to develop digital marketing campaigns.
