| Siim Kallas | Presentation in the Riigikogu at the 1st Reading of the Draft State Budget Act 2000 |
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| Kalle Jürgenson | State Budget 2000, What and Why? |
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| Olev Raju | Commentaries on the State Budget 2000 |
| Madis Võõras | Estonia on the Way to Full Membership of the European Space Agency |
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| Ene Ergma | Estonia Has Become a Space State |
| Urve Läänemets | A Good Teacher Should Be Ready to Learn Also from the Pupils |
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| Külli Eichenbaum | Using the Local Peculiarities of Old Võromaa |
There are 18 institutions of higher education in Estonia. Their task is to offer high-er education based on cutting-edge scientific knowledge, to train specialists and managers with higher education in specialities necessary for the state and society, to be innovation engines, to engage in ethnic sciences, to make a contribution to world science, and to carry out a knowledge transfer into society.
The article asks what the possibilities and stimuli for moving towards knowledge economy are in Estonia today, and how to create such stimuli. Estonia can choose between market-based and coordinated market economy models, and in the case of the latter, it has to be decided whether the coordinator is the state, the social partners or large corporations. International comparison shows that coordinated systems develop more rapidly, and it seems that as a result of the market-based model, education, research and production systems all develop in their own way in Estonia.
The broader purpose of the article is to analyse various methodological approaches on how to assess the comprehensive impact of universities on economy quantitatively or semi-quantitatively. Earlier studies conducted all over the world, implemented practices and recommendations of international organisations are used as a basis.
* This article was written as a result of the project “The Impact of Universities on the Development of Economy: Setting the Initial Task and Development of Methodology”, financed from the development fund of the University of Tartu.
One of the requirements set by the European Union for the current EU Structural Funds period (2014–2020) is the existence of smart specialisation strategies in the states and regions that use the structural funds. The article discusses smart specialisation as one of the instruments for shaping and managing the research, development and innovation (RDI) policy.
