National-regional governance of STI

Science, technology and innovation (STI) policy in Estonia is solely implemented at national level. The STI field is regulated by the Organisation of Research and Development Act (‘Teadus- ja arendustegevuse korralduse seadus’). The highest governing body for the policy is the Research and Development Council (‘Teadus- ja Arendusnõukogu’), which is led by the Prime Minister and involves 14 other members (ministers, public and private sector representatives). There are two main responsible ministries for STI policy in Estonia: the Ministry of Education and Research (MoER) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MoEC). The Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture and the Ministry of Climate (MoC) are playing an increasing role in STI. The Estonian Research Council (‘Eesti Teadusagentuur - ETAg’) and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Foundation (‘Ettevõtluse ja Innovatsiooni Sihtasutus - EAS and KredEx’) are the main policy implementing agencies. The EIF was created in 2022 by merging two former enterprise support agencies (EAS and KredEX) to strengthen the support structure of research and innovation in Estonia.

National and regional S3s: organisation and governance

The Research, Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RDIE) Strategy 2021-2035 is the key STI policy framework for Estonia. The strategy was approved by the Research and Development Council (RDC) and the Parliament (‘Riigikogu’). The RDIE Strategy has a joint steering committee (‘TAIE juhtkomisjon’) consisting of representatives from both ministries as well as key stakeholders. The Steering Committee has set up in place of the Research Policy Committee, Innovation Policy Committee and the Steering Committee for Smart Specialisation to implement the strategy. The responsibility of the strategy is divided equally between the MoER and the MoEC. The RDIE Strategy follows the UN sustainable development goals: 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 17. The most significant priorities of the RDIE strategy are to: 1) Address society’s development needs; 2) increase efficiency and impact of science and researchers; and 3) Make business more RDI-intensive. The RDIE Strategy development processes was led by two ministries – the Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications - and was approved by the Research and Development Council (RDC). The MoER and the MoEC started the road-mapping process of focus areas in 2021 including 21 joint events. Stakeholders from 15 R&D organisations and higher education institutions, 47 companies and representative organisations, 12 government institutions and their agencies and 23 other organisations were involved during the road-mapping. In total around 300 participants contributed. On 18th October 2022, a steering committee of the RDIE strategy consisting of members of the science and innovation policy commission approved the roadmaps, as well as the governance and monitoring model. Based on this approval, the two ministers - research and education and economic affairs and communications, confirmed it by ministerial orders.

For information on regional S3s, please return to the homepage: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/assets/s3-observatory/index_en.html