Estonia is struggling with economic decline, but the solution may lie in science and technology. The ability to create chips has become particularly important, as it is a new key to success for countries. Professors Jaan Raik and Raimund Ubar from Tallinn University of Technology write about this and why it is important for Estonia in the Postimees opinion column.
Estonia is currently a country characterized by economic decline and a falling competitiveness index. At the same time, we live in a dangerous geopolitical situation where security and defense are priorities. Professors Raik and Ubar offer science and technology as a way out of the crisis. The article explains that the key to the success of technology giants such as NVIDIA, Broadcom, and AMD lies not so much in their factories as in their chip design. Chips are also needed to create new-era technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and drone armies.
To ensure that Estonia does not miss the boat, the Estonian Chip Competence Center (KIIP) was established three months ago. The authors of the article point out that national security and defense capabilities are directly linked to chip capabilities. The roots of KIIP lie in a 30-year history that began in 1993 with the creation of an electronics competence center at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), where Estonia’s first chip was created in 1996. Now history has repeated itself, and Estonia once again needs its own chip center to support its emerging industry.
However, the professors note that although there is a clear need in Estonia to design chips and companies that do so, there is a shortage of qualified engineers. Raik and Ubar ask the question: is investing €300,000 in a chip center sufficient to contribute to national defense and be a digital country?
Read more in the opinion piece in Postimees.
Chip developed by Professor Jaak Raik. PHOTO: TALTECH