Fuelled by its “making illegal things legal” motto, AcelerateEstonia searches for regulatory blocks from within the private sector before developing policy recommendations for the Estonian government, ensuring that cutting-edge innovations have a “clear and accelerated” path to success.
It is not uncommon for innovations to contravene laws and, as a result, prompt changes to products so that they adhere to the law. Estonia, however, decided to take a different approach. Instead of amending innovative products to comply with regulations, the country, which has launched unicorns such as Skype, TransferWise and Bolt, aims to change regulations so that innovative solutions can reach the market faster.
At the heart of this aspiration is Accelerate Estonia, a programme that aims to remove regulatory barriers, such as outdated laws or bureaucracy, that impede “innovative, high-impact businesses” from reaching the market.
