We are taking the exhibition on tour to introduce the story of Estonia’s digital society globally. The original exhibition opened in Vabamu in November 2021 and ran until January 2023, it was curated by Henrik Roonemaa and the author of the idea was Karen Jagodin

On September 23, Tartu College celebrated its 53rd birthday in Toronto. As part of the anniversary celebration, Vabamu’s traveling exhibition was opened in VeMu, and Dr. Vello Soots memorial lecture was held. This year’s commemorative lecture “Digitization as Driver for Innovation and Social Change” was held by Kristina Reinsalu, who is a senior expert at the E-State Academy (eGA), a research center dealing with digital developments in Estonia. 

With the opening of the “Why Estonia?” exhibition in Toronto, Canada started the journey of the exhibition, which in the following years will reach many places in both North America and Europe. Vabamu’s CEO Karen Jagodin said at the opening of the exhibition that the exhibition telling the history of Estonia’s e-success story is a good opportunity to introduce the developments and changes that have taken place in re-independent Estonia to foreign communities, and that digital society and services make us bigger than Estonia could ever be physically.

For Estonia, developing digital possibilities have been one way of surviving financially and standing out on the world stage. A country as small as ours enjoys few opportunities to do that, after all.

The exhibition showcases the conditions that enabled Estonia to become a world-leading digital state and looks at how digital society has changed our nation, people who live here and entrepreneurs who operate in the country. It also examines the new challenges we face in connection with developments in technology (including its darker side – cybersecurity and the risks inherent in digital behavior) and where the Estonian state’s new vision will lead our digital society in the future.

The exhibition in Toronto is supported by VeMu and Taavet+Sten and is open until 29th February 2024.