Intervjuu Elias Torresega

Elias Torres on loovmõtleja ja arhitekt, kes on viimaste kümnendite  jooksul köitnud tähelepanu väga eriilmeliste töödega alustades detailsest tänavamööblist ning lõpetades ulatuslike linnaruumi kujundusprojektidega. Ta on üks peaesinejatest Tallinnas novembri alguses toimuval rahvusvahelisel maastikuarhitekuuri kongressil „Mind the Gap. Landscapes for a New Era“.

Kongressi eel leidis Elias aega vastata paarile küsimusele.'

Oled üks peaesinejatest Euroopa Maastikuarhitektide Föderatsiooni regionaalsel kongressil “Mind the Gap. Landscapes for a New Era” (Eesti keeles ‘’Märka tühimikku. Uue ajastu maastikud’’). Tühimikud linnasturktuurides ning – elus ilmnevad kõikides linnades. Mida tähistab "tühimik" Sinu jaoks? Miks tühimikud ilmnevad? Kas alati on vaja tühimikke täita?

Tühimik: täitmata ruum; kuristik või lahutav osa mägede vahel, jne.

(The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. / Oxford University Press)

Mäed ning neid lahutavad osad moodustavad lahutamatu liidu. Sama juhtub ka ehitiste ning neid piiravate mitte ehitatud ruumidega.

Nende tühimike teiseks funktsiooniks on pakkuda hoonetele päikest, õhku ning vaateid. Samal ajal saab ehitiste fassaadist vertikaalne avalik nägu avalikule ruumile; üldiselt on nende kohalolek võimsam kui lamedal avatud ruumil. Tähtis on meeles pidada, et nii vertikaalne kui horisontaalne arhitektuur loob avalikke ruume.

Ettevõtted peavad looma sünergia hoonete, avaliku ruumi ja inimeste vahel, mis tulemuseks on head linnad ja linnakodanikud.

Kongressi eesmärgiks on pakkuda akadeemikutele, professionaalidele ning valdkonna spetsialistidele võimalust jagada kogemusi kuidas luua linnaruumi, kui võimalik on kasutada erinevate valdkondade võtmeoskusi. Toetudes enda kogemustele, mida pead tähtsaks arvesse võtta avalike ruumide loomisel linnakeskkonnas?

Avalikud ruumid linnakeskkonnas peaksid olema kohad, kus uued kollektiivsed suhted saaksid potensiaalselt olla sotsiaalsete, isegi ootamatute kogemuste toimumiskohaks.

• Uued kohad, mis ’’räägivad’’ adekvaatselt neid ümbritsevaga või kaasajastatud eksisteerivad paigad, jättes samal ajal alles nende identiteedi.

• Kohad, mis nõuavad austust, lugupidamist ja ülendavad lustakust.

• Paigad, mis säilitavad oma terviklikkuse ka sel ajal, mil neid kasutatakse.

• Kohad, milledel on põhiolemuslik disain ning mis väldivad tarbetust.

Kui rääkida asukohast, siis pole avaliku ruumi projektidel konkreetseid piiranguid. Kuid kahtlemata saavad nad osaks teistest ehitistest või avalikest ja/või eravalduses olevatest avalikest ruumidest, mis neid ümbritsevad.

Piiranguid seavad defineeritud geomeetrilised tsoonid, kus vajalikud muudatused on vaja ellu viia ruumi parandamise eesmärgil. Ära ei saa unustada ka teisi piiranguid, milleks on majanduslikud ressursid, mida antud ruumi loomiseks on võimalik kasutada.

Paljudes riikides on suurimaks väljakutseks avaliku ja erasektori koostöö puudulikkus maastiku- ja linnakeskkonna projektide planeerimisel ja elluviimisel. Mida arvad – kuidas sellele väljakutsele lahendus leida?

Olen veendunud, et avaliku ja erasektori vahelise tasakaalu leidmine avaliku ruumi projektides on vajalik. See tasakaal peaks juhinduma üldisest huvist ning saama alguse ühiste reeglite loomisest.

Intervjuu Jan Gehliga

Jan Gehl on mitmete auhindadega pärjatud linnauurija, kelle raamatud on iga maastikuarhitekti lugemisvaras ja tudengi esimesi õpperaamatuid. Ta on üks peaesinejatest
Tallinnas novembri alguses toimuval rahvusvahelisel maastikuarhitekuuri kongressil „Mind the Gap. Landscapes for a New Era“.

Kongressi eel leidis Jan aega vastata paarile küsimusele.

Oled üks peaesinejatest Euroopa Maastikuarhitektide Föderatsiooni regionaalsel
kongressil “Mind the Gap. Landscapes for a New Era” (eesti keeles “Märka tühimikku. Uue ajastu maastikud’’). Tühimikud linnasturktuurides ning –elus ilmnevad kõikides linnades. Mida tähistab “tühimik’’ Sinu jaoks? Miks tühimikud ilmnevad? Kas alati on vaja tühimikke täita?

TÜHIMIK. Kõige tõsisem tühimik on fakt, et ajal, mil linna- ja kohaplaanide, ehitiste ning maastike eest hoolitsevad inimesed, kes mõistavad antud temaatikatega seotud küsimusi ning on nende aspektide ülevaatamise jaoks sobiva haridusega, siis on INIMLIK MÕÕDE see, mida ei leia korraliku käistlust. Siin on tegemist tõsise TÜHIMIKUGA.

Kongressi eesmärgiks on pakkuda akadeemikutele, professionaalidele ning valdkonna spetsialistidele ruumi jagada kogemusi kuidas luua linnaruumi, võimalusel kasutada selleks erinevate valdkondade võtmeoskusi. Toetudes enda kogemustele, mida pead tähtsaks arvesse võtta avalike ruumide loomisel linnakeskkonnas?

Veelkord pean tõdema, et mure inimeste heaolust, nende käitumisest ning suhtlusest ehitatud keskkonnaga, on tihti jäetud tahaplaanile või vähesel määral integreeritud disainiprotsessi. Liiga palju rõhutatakse vormi, disaini, tekstuuride, taimede ja ökoloogia tähtsust ning kaugelt liiga vähe pööratakse tähelepanu inimeste käitumisele ja avaliku elu tõelisele olemusele.

Paljudes riikides on suurimaks väljakutseks avaliku ja erasektori koostöö puudulikkus maastiku- ja linnakeskkonna projektide planeerimisel ja elluviimisel. Mida arvad – kuidas sellele väljakutsele lahendus leida?

Eksisteerib lugematu hulk suurepäraseid näiteid avaliku ja erasektori koostööst üle maailma. Parimad praktikad maastikuprojektide ellviimisel saavad olla suurepäraseks inspiratsiooniks sellise koostöö tekkeks.

Lisainfot kongressi kohta leiab SIIT

Intervjuu Antje Stokmaniga

Antje Stokman on teadlane, õppejõud ja praktiseeriv maastikuarhitekt.

Ta on pälvinud sel aastal maastikuarhitektuuri eriala märkimisväärse Topos Landscape Award preemia uute meetodite eest linnaplaneerimise teaduses ja õpetamises. Ta on üks peaesinejatest Tallinnas novembri alguses toimuval rahvusvahelise maastikuarhitekuuri kongressil „Mind the Gap. Landscapes for a New Era“.

Kongressi eel leidis Antje aega vastata paarile küsimusele.

Oled üks peaesinejatest Euroopa Maastikuarhitektide Föderatsiooni regionaalsel kongressil “Mind the Gap. Landscapes for a New Era” (eesti keeles ‘’Märka tühimikku.
Uue ajastu maastikud’’). Tühimikud linnasturktuurides ning –elus ilmnevad kõikides linnades. Mida tähistab "tühimik" Sinu jaoks? Miks tühimikud ilmnevad? Kas alati on vaja tühimikke täita?

Rääkides tühimikest Euroopa Maastikuarhitektide Föderatsiooni kongressi kontekstis, sooviksin vaadelda tühimikke erinevate elukutsete vahel, kelle vastutada on meie linnakeskkonna kujundamine ning samuti tühimikke, mis eksisteerivad maastikuarhitektide erialas. Päris tihti pöördutakse maastikuarhitekte poole kui vajatakse "ilusate rohealade eksperte".
Maastikuarhitektid kaasatakse konsultantidena peale seda, kui linnaplaneerimise ja
insenertehniliste lahendustega on jõutud lõpuni ning projekti piirid on paika pandud ja lõplikud. Selle konfliktiga kokkupuutumine seab maastikuarhitektid kahte omavahel vastandlikku rolli. Üks võimalus on leppida oma rolliga kui igavikuline kaunistaja kes järjepidevalt dekoreerib fragmenteeritud ruume, mis on ehitisi ümbritsevad jäänukid või süsteemid linna infrastruktuuris.
Teiseks võimaluseks on aga võtta roll kui alatine keskkonnakaitsja, kes rabeleb selle nimel, et vältida, kompenseerida või kahandada maastikesse sekkumisi, mis on olnud eelnevalt ellu viidud inseneride, arhitektide ja teiste maastikuarhitektide töö tulemuseks. Kuidas saame konstruktiivselt taastõlgendada selle situatsiooni kui võimaluse maastikuarhitektidele võtta juhtiv roll lahendamaks konflikt kujundamise ja ökoloogia vahel? Sellele põhinedes, kuidas saame arendada uue jõu, mis lubaks maastikuarhitektudel teiste elualade esindajatega võrdselt panustada planeerimisprotsessidesse, kus hetkel domineerib vaid ruumiline kujundus? Ja
kuidas leiavad maastikuarhitektid endile kliente, kes näeksid eriala esindajates juhtivat, mitte aga toetavat rolli, just seepärast et suudame neid maastikuarhitektuuri olulisuses veenda?

Kongressi eesmärgiks on pakkuda akadeemikutele, professionaalidele ning valdkonna
spetsialistidele võimalust jagada kogemusi kuidas luua linnaruumi, kui võimalik on kasutada erinevate valdkondade võtmeoskusi. Toetudes enda kogemustele, mida pead tähtsaks arvesse võtta avalike ruumide loomisel linnakeskkonnas?

Maastikuarhitektidena peaksime selgitama, et kujundatud maastike ilu ei viita vaid nende
paikade nägemisega kaasnevale ametliku esteetika kvaliteedile. Põhiolemuslikult pöörleb
maastikuarhitektuur vormiva esteetika ümber. Maastikuarhitektide tõlgendus aja muutumisest, vastastikest suhetest teiste süsteemidega nagu linn, ühiskond, hüdroloogiline ringlus, infrastruktuur või bioloogiline mitmekesisus, ongi selle esteetika tulemuseks.
Maastikud pole staatilised ega eales lõplikud. Maastikud kasvavad. Nad muutuvad vastavalt ilmastiku tingimustele ja aastaaegadele. Maastikuarhitektide kohuseks on kindlaks määrata ökosüsteemi loomuomased dünaamikad, neid inimeste vajadustele vastavaks parandada kasutades selleks kujundusimplusse. Samal ajal peaksid maastikuarhitektid lõpptulemusest andma ülevaate ka klientidele ning koostööpartneritele. Looduslikel süsteemidel nagu pinnasel, veel, taimestikul ja mikroorganismidel on iseseisev struktureerimisvõime ning sisemine efektiivsus, mida maastikuarhitektid saavad kasutada ning tõsta kujundusstrateegiate abil esile.

Paljudes riikides on suurimaks väljakutseks avaliku ja erasektori koostöö puudulikkus
maastiku- ja linnakeskkonna projektide planeerimisel ja elluviimisel. Mida arvad – kuidas
sellele väljakutsele lahendus leida?

Maastikuarhitektidel on vaja selgeks teha, et nende kaasamine ning maastikuarhitektuuri
projektide elluviimine ei tähenda koheselt ebavajalike kulude kasvu. Kui näiteks insenertehnilisi projekte peetakse alati vajalikeks, siis maastikukujunduses nähakse tihti majanduslikult ebamõistlikku luksust. Just see on põhjus, miks maastikuarhitektid peaksid kaasa lööma infrastruktuuri projektides, nagu näiteks üleujutustega toimetulek, vihmavee juhtimine, reovee käitlust, teedeehitus. Maastikuarhitektid peaksid aitama teiste erialade esindajatega võrdsetel tingimustel välja töötada lahendusi, mis üheaegselt vastavad inimeste heaolule ja ellujäämise funktsioonidele ning moodustaksid terviku ökoloogiliste ja esteetiliste eesmärkidega.
Kui maastikuarhitektide võimuses on panna alus professionaalsele avalikule arutelule kuidas parandada ruumilist ja keskkonnakvaliteeti infrastruktuuri projektides, võib selle lõpptulemuseks olla maastikuarhitektide uus roll. See roll kätkeks endas selliste suuremahuliste projektide algatamist ning juhtimist. Lõpptulemuseks oleksid aga uued volitused maastikuarhitektidele ning paremad projektid avalikkusele.

Näitus “Uutmoodi”

16. septembrist 6. novembrini on Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseumis avatud eesti disaini- ja innovatsiooniajaloo näitus “Uutmoodi”, mille kuraatoriks on Ene Läkk. “Uutmoodi” on ehk üks mahukamaid Disainiöö raames avatud näitusi, katab see ju ligikaudu 100 aastat eesti disainiajaloos. Näitusele on kokku otsitud eksponaate nii möödunud sajandi algusest kui viimastestki aastatest.

Peamiselt tootedisaini koondavas väljapanekus on esindatud mitmed erinevad disainivaldkonnad: elektroonika, mööbel, valgustid, raadiotehnika, meditsiin, mootorsõidukid, tekstiil. Näitust ühendava märksõnana on kuraator nimetanud uuenduslikkust, ja seda pigem funktsionaalse poole kui vormikäsitluse osas. Seetõttu võikski öelda, et kuigi Läki kureeritud näitus annab ülevaate, mis on eesti disainis pea saja aasta jooksul toimunud, teeb ta seda tavapäraselt pisut erineva nurga alt. Kuigi eesti disain on ajaloolistel põhjustel olnud tihedalt seotud tarbekunstiga, siis viimast näitusel ei kohta. “Uutmoodi” ei lähtu niivõrd mitte eesti disaini arenguloogikast, vaid pigem asetab fookusesse konkreetsed esemed.
See aga ei tähenda nagu ei pöörataks näitusel tähelepanu esemete disainimise kontekstile. Näitust saadab mahukas tekstiraamat, millest iga eksponaadi kohta täpsemalt lugeda saab. Samuti on näituse paremaks mõistmisel abiks film “Eesti disain seestpoolt vaadates”, mida külastajad tagumises saalis näha võivad.
Kuigi rõhutatakse eelkõige iga eseme innovaatilist lahendust omas valdkonnas, joonistuvad hoolikal vaatlemisel ekspositsioonis välja ka erinevatele perioodidele ja valdkondadele omased jooned. Näiteks on huvitav jälgida, et 1980.aastate lõpul ja 1990.aastate alguses, enne kui arvutid Eestis laiemalt levima hakkasid, disainisid
neid ka eestlased. Sel perioodil disainiti veel teisigi tooteid, mis erinesid varasemalt kavandatust ning pakkusid disainereile uusi väljakutseid, kuid mis laiemasse tootmisesse siiski ei jõudnud. Samuti võib näha, kuidas tekstiilidisainis 2000.aastatel nn tarkade tekstiilide teema väga aktuaalseks muutus.
Kuigi suurt osa ekspositsioonist on näitustel varemgi kohatud ning umbes viiendikku välja pandud esemeist on kuraatori sõnul ka auhinnatud, on palju ka sellist, mida tavaliselt disaininäitustel ei näe. “Uutmoodi” annab hea võimaluse laiemale publikule tutvustada, millega tegelevad eesti disainerid ning loodetavasti meenutab näitusesaalis omaenda kodust tuttavate esemetega kohtumine, et disain on hoopis enam meie igapäevaelu osa kui seda teadvustame.

Autor: Keiu Krikmann

Pilte näituse avamiselt saab näha SIIT

Tarmo Luisk “Mängud tulega”

Arhitektuurimuuseumis keldrisaalis saab 23.oktoobrini näha disainer Tarmo Luisu isikunäitust “Mängud tulega”. Peamiselt on Luisk tuntud valgustidisainerina ning ka nimetatud näitusel on tema valgustid väljas. Siiski ei ole tegemst tavapärase disaininäitusega: eksponeeritud on peamiselt tiražeerimiseks sobimatud esemed. Personaalnäituse raames on Luisk oma loomingut pisut vabamalt tõlgendanud ning lisaks disainile esitleb ka temaatilisi videoinstallatsioone. Eksponeeritud esemed ei ole küll suuremas mahus tootmisesse läinud, kuid vaatamata sellele on tegu äratuntavalt disaineri loominguga, millest siiski ei puudu ka kunstiline komponent. Näituse keskseks teoseks on videoinstallatsioon, mis autori enda sõnul

Man & God - väljapanek moodsa aja inimesest ja tema eksistentsiaalsetest painetest

Disainiöö raames jääb pühapäevani, 25.septembrini, Rotermanni kvartalis asuvas Elevaatorihoones avatuks graafilise disaini näitus “Man & God”. 2003.aastal alguse saanud ja pidevalt laieneva näituse initsiaatoriks on Art4Soul Projecti nimeline disainerite ja kunstnike
kollektiiv. Kunagine raamatu- ja plakatinäitus on aastatega tublisti kasvanud ning uusi töid lisandub senini. Kuraatorite Jesper von Wiedingi ja Joseph Foo sõnul on Tallinnas välja pandud ligikaudu pool kõikidest töödest. Art4Soul Projecti juba aastaid mööda maailma ringi 
rännanud näitusel on töid nii konsultatsiooni- ja disainiagentuuridelt, arhitektidelt, tootedisaineritelt kui ka disainitudengitelt. Seetõttu on väljapanek küllaltki eripalgeline. Läbivaks teemaks, nagu pealkirigi selgesõnaliselt välja ütleb, on inimese ja jumala suhe. Siiski ei saa väita nagu oleks tegemist kuidagi eriliselt religioosse suunitlusega näitusega, pigem tegeleb väljapanek moodsa aja inimese ja tema eksistentsiaalsete painetega.

MOMENT

Reedel, 16.septembril toimus Rotermanni kvartalis Nisurukkiveskis nii Disainiöö kui ka Tallinn Fashion Weeki programmi kuuluv kunsti, muusikat ja moodi ühendav üritus MOMENT. Tegemist on Lätis alguse saanud ja sel aastal viiendat korda toimuva moesündmusega. Osalejaid oli nii Lätist, Eestist kui Norrast, kusjuures Eesti disainerid on MOMENDIL esinenud eelnevatelgi aastatel.

MOMENDI üks peamisi eesmärke on noortele disaineritele-kunstnikele väljundi loomine, kuid samas pakub üritus võimalust moele pigem kontseptuaalselt läheneda. Esitatud töödes mõtestati moodi just selle konteksti kaudu ning kollektsioonide ideelisele küljele pandi kohati
ehk rohkemgi rõhku kui konkreetsetele esemetele endile. Selles osas oli meeldejääv Marit Ilisoni kollektsioon, mida võiks ühtlasi vaadelda ka kriitilise remargina moeetenduste pihta.
Vaatamata tugevale kontseptuaalsele suunitlusele seab MOMENT esikohale siiski autori. Publik saab näha moodi pigem selle looja perspektiivist ning talle avatakse sageli tundmatuks jäävaid loomingu tagamaid. Selleks kasutatakse väga erinevaid meediume, ühest küljest on küll olulisel kohal rohkem või vähem traditsioonilises vormis poodiumishow, samal ajal aga
annavad teistsuguse vaatenurga juurde moeinstallatsioonid ja moeteemalised lühifilmid. Kaks viimati nimetatud žanrit pakuvad publikule võimalust disaineri loomingut veidi teisest küljest näha, selle taga oleva ideestiku üle mõtiskleda ning ehk omaendagi igapäevast kokkupuudet
moega pisut ümber mõtestada. Et moodi aga alati liiga tõsiselt võtta ei maksa, tuletas humoorikate lühifilmidega meelde läti disainer Keta Gutmane.

Oled noor moedisainer, kes soovib areneda ning viia oma tooted laia maailma? Kui vastus on jah, siis meil on just sulle midagi!

TFW raames toimub Briti Päev, mille seminaridele järgneb moedisainerite pitching, kus Briti moetööstuse eksperdid Sally Denton ja Stefan Siegel annavad Eesti disaineritele nõu, kuidas täpselt oma äriga edasi liikuda, mida peaks tegema teisiti, et olla edukam ja kuidas tegutseda, et enda disain inimeste südamesse viia.

Kvaliteedi​innovatsio​oni auhinna konkurss

2011. aastal on Eesti organisatsioonidel teistkordselt võimalik osaleda Kvaliteediinnovatsiooni konkursil, mille algatajaks on Soome Kvaliteediühing. Sel aastal on projektiga liitunud ka Rootsi ettevõtted Rootsi kvaliteediühingu juhtimisel. Konkursil osalemise taotluste esitamise tähtaeg on 9. september. Rohkem infot konkursi kohta saab lugeda meie kodulehelt: http://eaq.ee/index.php?id=769.Sama info ka Soome Laatukeskuse lehelt: http://www.laatukeskus.fi/default.asp?docId=51151 Lisainfot konkursi kohta saab Eesti ekspertidelt:Tiia Tammaru - Eesti Kvaliteediühingu juhatuse esimees, Euroopa (The EFQM Excellence Award) ja Eesti Juhtimiskvaliteedi auhinna eksperttiia.tammaru@eaq.ee GSM: 5663 6679Tõnu Hein - HeiVäl Consulting juhatuse liige, Euroopa (The EFQM Excellence Award) ja Eesti Juhtimiskvaliteedi auhinna eksperttonu.hein@heival.ee GSM: 509 4004

Registrations opened to DME Award gala

One of the highlights of Innovation Festival IF... Tallinn and Design Night is a festive celebration of Design Management Europe Award in Tallinn September 23. The winners of the DME Award will be announced at KUMU (Art Museum Estonia) in Tallinn, Estonia on the 23rd September 2011. 

15 nominees shortlisted for the Design Management Europe Award 2011 



A selection of the most innovative and dynamic companies across Europe were nominated last week for the 2011 Design Management Europe Award by an international jury of business experts. The award recognises the critical role of management in the successful implementation of design and innovation and aims to promote best practices to a wide audience. 

The jury session determined the shortlist of companies and organisations for five categories. The jury consisted of notable business and design management experts from Europe:

Jan-Erik Baars, Associated Partner Van Berlo Strategy and Design (the Netherlands)

Michal Stefanowski, President Association of Industrial Designers (Poland)

Carlos Aguiar, Design Associate Professor University of Porto (Portugal)

Jan Kriekels, CEO JAGA (Belgium).

The shortlisted nominees are:

27 Region (France), Caetano Bus (Portugal), Franz Blaha & TM Concepts (Austria), Heineken International (Netherlands), Lékué (Spain), Nanimarquina (Spain), Piodao (Portugal), Plastia (Czech Republic), Rolf (Austria), Supelsaksad (Estonia), T+Huis (Netherlands), Teixidors (Spain), Velvet Creative (Estonia), Vestel (Turkey), and Viteo Outdoors (Austria). 

There will be a winner in each of the following categories:

‘Best management of design in a large company’

'Best management of design in a medium company’

‘Best management of design in a small company’

‘Best management of design in a micro company’

‘Best management of design in a public or non-profit organization’ 

The registration to the gala have started Aug 4. Please RSVP by August 15th the latest to DME Award Ceremony organizer Ilona Gurjanova (leart@estpak.ee) and Barbara Cruz (barbara@edc.nl). 

DME nominees are especially encouraged to attend, as they will be called on stage to collect DME Trophies (Category winners) and Certificates (Honourable Mention) during the Award Ceremony. If you are planning to attend the ceremony with more than 3 guests, please inform us as soon as possible so that the proper arrangements can be made.

The entry fee for other guests is 32 EUR. Tickets can be bought in advance with payment to:

Eesti Disainerite Liit
EE302200001120185723
SWIFT: HABAEE2X
"DME gala"

Product development the Coca-Cola way

The process of innovation at the Coca-Cola Company (CCC) was introduced by Victor Behrmann, head of the group’s competence centre for Europe, Eurasia and Africa, who spoke at the product development day in December.
The CCC’s innovation centre in Brussels belongs to the global network of innovation centres, which covers 108 countries and constitutes 40% of the CCC’s business operations. The Brussels centre produces 500 innovations a year. The centre’s activities include product innovation; development of packaging and sales & marketing tools; and quality control. The group’s product portfolio includes coffee, water, flavoured water, sports drinks, energy drinks as well as juice and juice drinks, carbonated soft drinks, teas, syrups and milk-based products.

Estonia poised to export itself out of the crisis

We are now doing better and that is mainly thanks to the recovery of the demand of the foreign markets. But that does not mean that we are doing well.
A person also remains a person in the crisis and he wants to do well. However, our path from doing better to doing well is full of all kinds of obstacles, and when we do not see them, we will not reach our goal. The first issue in exporting ourselves out of the crisis is the dynamics and structure of the global market, primarily of our main trading partners. The following questions concern our competitiveness and increase thereof as well as the inflow of new foreign investments and everything they depend on.
As the 4-5% economic decrease of the European Union in 2009 was this year replaced by a one-two per cent economic increase, it was only natural that our manufacturers’ export to Europe began to recover quite fast. It is also natural that in the conditions of increased competition some productions of a very high wage level have been transferred here from the Scandinavian countries. However, we cannot take the beautiful export increase figures exactly one to one when assessing our success, because we lack information about the extent of the value that has been added to our new export production in Estonia when compared to the amount that has disappeared. What is important is not the export growth in itself, but the amount of value that has been added to our export products.
The information is very important when assessing the current state of our economy and the future perspectives, as by tallies and even within one and the same tally, the added value – that is the work made in Estonia – can considerably vary. This way, the same export volume of fuels could constitute a mere mixing of imported products and, therefore, have a considerably less value added than our own crude shale oil. Unfortunately, oil is not our only such export article. Another example could be the means of transportation. It equally includes those vehicles where only the registration plate has been changed here together with the trailers that have been made here from scratch. But with the same volume, the difference in the meaning of those two for our economy is enormous.
What is even more complicated is assessing the impact of export increases both on GDP and employment when significant changes occur in the export structure, such us now. This year, we have begun to export electricity, timber sector products, electronics, and food. Electricity, timber and food is ours, but additional electricity is not very labour intensive, and timber sector products vary from very simple to complicated ones; in electronics, however, it is largely based on imported materials and components like in the sewing industry and other subcontracting. But the knowledge is only sufficient for asking questions that cannot be answered right now. Despite the fact that highlighting the value added to exports is not an easy task and it can only be done precisely over an extended period, it would still be possible to give some working indications.
With a stable export structure, such assessments would not be required, because no big differences between the pace of export growth and the added values thereof would occur. But in the case of steep changes in export structures, one should remain cautious when assessing the meaning of export growth. A simple parallel could lead to misleading conclusions. Let us recall the initial arrival of Elcoteq, which was accompanied by the all-time fastest growth in Estonian exports, though the company never employed more than two to three per cent of the labour employed in our industrial production, and besides they performed relatively straightforward work. Naturally, it did not increase the fact that at that time the value added in Estonia remained fairly frivolous when compared to the cost of the imported components, the value of four thousand jobs, but that considerably distorted our perception of the increase in our export capacity.
But in spite of all our local calculation difficulties, it is obvious that the general economic background in the world has become fairly favourable for us and it will probably stay like that for quite some time. Although, when writing this story on 1st November 2010, we did not know yet whether the new American stimulus package would be a billion US dollars or just a half a billion, it is completely certain that the world’s central banks will not let any significant economies fall back into recession and that means foreign demand will not disappear in the near future. The rest depends on us, however.
Therefore, we should concentrate our attention on other factors from now on – primarily on new ideas and productive investments and, what is most important, on the existence of the required labour and preparation thereof. Unless the number of productive investments and jobs begins to increase fast, there is no reason for us to talk about success.
Besides, we need to understand and admit that the crisis in Estonia was not just a financial or cyclical one. We suffered and still suffer much more due to several structural inconsistencies waiting to be solved. For example, there must be something very wrong when we have to talk about labour scarcity now that the number of jobs has decreased by more than one hundred thousand compared to the time before the crisis, exactly as we did a few years ago in the condition of almost complete employment; when the beginning of our cyclical recovery remained later than in most of the countries and in spite of the billions allocated for enterprise development, the appearance of ambitious growth companies is hardly perceptible.
It seems that the disappearance of domestic jobs has now put us in front of a very complicated problem. Although Estonians have been going abroad to work in the past few decades, it has never been as massive as today. Neither have Estonians ever been such world citizens in speaking foreign languages as the young people who enter the labour market do today. And if a few years ago the steady increase in the minimum wage kept people from going to work abroad, then now we cannot rely on the fast increase of income any longer. Therefore, the scarcity of regular jobs and a multiple difference in wages keeps taking the labour away from us, just like it was predicted at the peak of the crisis. It should not surprise anyone that those who have stayed here waiting for work are largely unqualified or are qualified in fields that seized to exist during the crisis and would probably never return to Estonia. But what is the point in investing into such an environment?
Also, we should not forget that it is not enough for us to merely restore the pre-crisis export level, because then we would not have developed at the expense of the money earned by export, but by spending foreign loans in the internal market. If we want to reach the pre-crisis level with our economy, with the help of exports we have to earn the sum of money that equals to the growth of foreign loans before the crisis. True, a part of that required money comes to us itself – in the form of investments from Scandinavian countries. But considering current experience and the existence of skilled labour, we should not make any illusions. The average wage level in those companies cannot be higher than the average of the existing foreign companies. But anyway everything is OK here.
The situation is much more complicated in another part, and that is our own contribution. Firstly, not many of our own entrepreneurs have orientated their production towards the export market. The export of our domestic undertakings constitutes only a third of Estonia’s total exports. It is only natural. Entering foreign markets requires ideas, contacts, experience, and resources. When one has a good idea, it is usually possible to find financial backing, but it is much more complicated with the last two areas. Contacts are not just exchanging business cards or being present at the same reception. It involves learning in the right school, long-time belonging to the right clubs, etc. Experience is gained when working with the right men or paying for such schooling yourself.
Estonian companies with an average of nine people are not capable for that, of course. Unfortunately, it is a habit here to unfairly comfort ourselves: the size of the average company in most of the countries throughout the world is about nine employees. But the statistical average is still an average and does not say anything on which companies the competition position of one or another country relies.
When talking about Estonian export capacity, however, we must also consider such information that is never reflected in the statistics: who are the owners of the company and what is their strategy. Therefore, you should not be surprised when it appeared in the survey by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Tartu that the main obstacle for companies in foreign ownership not entering foreign markets is the will of the owner.
But in spite of all hardships, we have no other choice than to export ourselves out of the crisis and overcome all the obstacles. It would be wise for us, however, to firstly take a look in the mirror without wearing rose-tinted glasses.

Estonian Association of Designers organized a mission to China

The Estonian Designers´ mission to China took place from October 4^th until October 17^th, 2010. The Designers visited the cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou, where at their presence the exhibition Astonishing Estonia was opened. Moreover, several business meetings were held at the Enterprise Estonia Shanghai office, as well as, at various design organizations, companies and museums.

On October 8^th, a seminar covering the possibilities of different design services for the Chinese market was carried out at the Estonian EXPO pavilion. Representatives of three leading Chinese design companies gave a presentation about the market conditions in China, while presenting the work of designers in China. At the roundtable talks the Estonian designers took the chance to present their own works. The Chinese specialists were particularly impressed by our furniture designers’ work and complimented that these models are definitely comparable with the best Scandinavian models.

At the same evening, the exhibition Astonishing Estonia was opened in the Estonian EXPO Pavilion. In the exhibition, a selection of the plywood furniture, tables-chairs and lamps, as well as park benches in a city environment were presented. All items are depicted as miniature models with printed background posters on the walls. The exhibition was opened by the Commissioner General of the Estonian Pavilion at the EXPO Toomas Tiivel, the exhibition curator Tõnis Vellama and the representative of the Estonian Association of Designers Ilona Gurjanova. Present at the opening ceremony were several representatives of the local design companies, art critics from Shanghai’s art and design museums, colleagues from other pavilions and representatives from Tallinn’s twin city Hangzhou.

Eesti Disainerite Liit korraldas missiooni Hiina

Eesti disainerite missioon Hiina Rahvavabariiki toimus 4.-17. oktoobrini 2010. Külastatati Shanghaid ja Hangzhoud, kus avati ka Eesti disaininäitused "Astonishing Estonia". Eesti Disainerite Liidu esinaise Ilona Gurjanova sõnul olid plaanis mitmed töökohtumised EASi Shanghai esinduses, erinevates Hiina disainiorganisatsioonides, - firmades ja - muuseumites.

8. oktoobril toimus Shanghais Eesti EXPO paviljonis seminar võimalustest Hiina disainiteenuste turul. Ettekannetega esinesid kolme juhtiva Hiina disainifirma esindajad, kes rääkisid Hiina disainiturust ja disainerite tööst Hiinas. Järgnes ümarlaud, kus Eesti disainerid tutvustasid oma töid. Hiina disaineritele jätsid eriti sügava mulje meie mööblidisainerite tööd. "Need mudelid on ju parimate Skandinaavia mudelite tasemel!" leidsid Hiina spetsialistid.

Paviljonis avati ka näitus "Astonishing Estonia". Näitus on valik viimaste aastate vineerist mööblist, laudadest-toolidest ja valgustitest ning EXPO peateemaga sobivalt linnapinkidest. Kõik need on valmistatud miniatuursete mudelitena ja taustaks trükitud ka plakatitele. Näituse avasid Eesti paviljoni peakomissar suursaadik Toomas Tiivel, näituse kuraator Tõnis Vellama ning EDL esinaine Ilona Gurjanova. Avamisel osalesid mitmete Hiina disainifirmade esindajad, kunstiteadlased Shanghai kunsti- ja disainimuuseumidest, kolleegid naaberpaviljonidest ning Tallinna sõpruslinna Hangzhou esindajad.

Shanghaist siirdub näitus Hangzhou loometööstuse messile.

Regional discussions of national plan “Estonia 2030+” begin

Last Monday, the first public discussion on compiling the “Estonia 2030+” national plan took place in the hall of Rapla County Government outside Tallinn. It was the first of the five regional public workshops the objective of which is to introduce the process for compiling the national plan and get feedback according to the specifics and needs of the region. The second workshop took place in Kohtla-Järve last Thursday.

The Minister for Regional Affairs, Siim Kiisler, said that the national plan is a tool in making decisions for the future. “When targeting the state development for the coming decades, the positions in quite a few fields must be thought through and clearly argued,” Kiisler said. “In making such big decisions, we must involve as many interested parties as possible. In addition to the scientists, politicians, and officials, every person in Estonia must have the opportunity to have a say.”

The compilers of the national plan, the Estonian Development Fund, and the Estonian Institute for Futures Studies of Tallinn University give an overview of the Estonian space development vision and the objectives of the state at the seminars. Workshops that take place at the end of each day of discussion give the participants an opportunity to provide feedback and to participate in compiling the national plan.

According to the account manager of the national plan, Kaur Lass, an efficient discussion on regional specialisation and the importance of current county centres emerged at the end of the first discussion. “In order to strengthen the regions, the necessity to increase co-operation between local authorities such as Paide and Türi, for example, was pointed out,” Lass explained.

The next workshops will take place on 3rd November in Haapsalu, 4th November in Pärnu, and 8th November in Tartu. Registration for discussions and additional information on the compilation process of the national plan is available at www.eesti2030.ee.

Garage48 winner becomes a company

The Defolio project that won the Garage48 contest earlier this year is set to be launched before the end of this year.

“It is probable that Defolio will become a real company,” said Tõnu Runnel, one of the brains behind the idea. Defolio is a web environment for designers in which they can, for example, keep and show their design files to clients. A first in the world, however, is the third function that will also allow designers co-operate with one another in the environment. The use of Defolio will be predominantly free of charge, though there will be a charge for those who use additional services besides the basic package.

As all the seven people concerned are working Defolio as a hobby, it has not reached further than was done within the 48 hours in the process of Garage48. “There will be a working camp in November where the next part will be programmed,” Runnel told. The first two functions – file library and demonstration – should already be completed this year. According to Runnel, co-operation between the designers has not been finalised, and he did not want to give any promises on this matter yet.

Nominees DME Award 2010

On October the 12th, the DME Award 2010 Jury Members gathered in Lisbon at the Centro
Português de Design – organizer of this year’s award - to judge the entries for the 4th
edition of the Design Management Europe Award.

The internationally renowned members of the DME Award 2010 Jury were Anna Calvera (ES),
Beata Bochińska (PL), Bruce Wood (UK), Celine Abecassis-Moedas (PT) and José Rui Marcelino
(PT). Biographies >>

Nominees
The selected nominees are:
§ Bam constructions, UK
§ Revigrés, Portugal
§ Zelmer, Poland
§ Artweger, Austria
§ Figueras, Spain
§ Estiluz, Spain
§ Larus, Portugal
§ Puff-Buff, Poland
§ D4E1 - Howest, Belgium
§ Sociale Zaken Werkgelegenheid, The Netherlands
§ Acquaefuoco, Italy
§ Waar, The Netherlands

Within the six categories:
§ ‘Best management of design in a large company’
§ ‘Best management of design in a medium company’
§ ‘Best management of design in a small company’
§ ‘Best management of design in a micro category’
§ ‘Best management of design in a public or non-profit organization’
§ ‘Best management of a first time design project’

The winners will be announced at the DME Award Ceremony in Lisbon on the 10th of December
2010 in MUDE, the Design and Fashion Museum of Lisbon.

Updates on DME Award Ceremony can be found at: www.designmanagementeurope.com and
www.innovationfestival.eu

Swedish Business Awards in Estonia handed out

Fastest growing Swedish company in Estonia, corporate social responsibility and young entrepreneur of the year are the three categories that have been awarded during this year’s ceremony of the Swedish Business Awards, writes Estonian Free Press.

AQ Lasertool OÜ has won the award for the fastest growing Swedish company in Estonia. The company produces parts for commercial vehicles and for track-bound traffic and also is related with the manufacturing parts for special aluminum and steel products.

In the category of the young entrepreneur of the year, Anni Arro won the prize thanks to her Kohvik Komeet, located on Solaris Keskus rooftop.
Read more: http://bbn.ee/article/2010/10/27/Swedish_Business_Awards_in_Estonia_handed_out

Regio Starts Testing StreetView Technology Locally

The Estonian geoinformation company Regio has started using Google's StreetView technology, consisting of directional cameras, GPS units and laser range scanners, to amass a database of information on the outlines of buildings and other objects. The company said it would not be gathering information on wireless Internet access points, which have proven controversial in some other countries due to allegations that Google inadvertently captured data payloads while panning for unsecured WiFi connections.

If the Regio project, which starts on October 28 and runs through the end of the year, proves successful, the material could be used in the future in Google StreetView. The program consists of a collection of panoramic photographs that create seamless 3D type images of city streets.

Read more: http://news.err.ee/sci-tech/3c3b2cfa-bcf0-4cea-b3a7-acd71ef458c4

An Estonian company’s innovative approach to live video streaming

An Estonian website called Kullaauk.ee will soon enable all event organisers to sell digital tickets to people who wish to stream their events online.

To date, offering live Internet streaming has been a relatively expensive undertaking, one of the most costly aspects of which has been the rent of streaming servers. This means that event organisers have had to pay server administrators for their events to be broadcast online. Luckily, a new solution has now arrived.

The service available on the website Kullaauk.ee and developed by an Estonian company called Dragees OÜ will soon enable all event organisers to sell digital tickets to those who wish to view their events online. This means that if a viewer considers an event to be attractive enough to pay for viewing it, the organiser will collect the proceeds. Organisers will no longer need to pay for the use of a streaming server and, in addition, they will have no need to develop any new solutions either as a complete and ready-to-use platform has already been developed for them.

In co-operation with the Estonian Football Association, Kullaauk.ee has been enabling users to stream the league championship live since this September. In the first six months of 2011, live streaming will also be made available via smartphones. Streaming medium quality live game videos online is free but HD video streaming requires the viewers to pay a fee through their Internet bank accounts.

According to Siim Raadik, a member of the management board of Dragees OÜ, other sports associations and organisers of music events and seminars will also soon be able to access this solution the aim of which is to help organisers grow their audience via live online streaming, thereby increasing the proceeds received by selling numerous events to people who find it too difficult or too expensive to attend the events in person.

Innovation magazine HEI is first Estonian publication in iPad

Estonia’s largest innovation magazine HEI (Hea Eesti Idee – Good Estonian Idea) is the first publication in the Baltic states and one of the first ones in the Nordic countries to be freely readable in the Apple tablet computer iPad format in its concise special edition.

Estonia’s noteworthy innovative success stories from this year’s HEI magazine have been put into the iPad format in both English and Estonian. iPad allows the magazine to be considerably more interactive. Instead of one picture, tens of photos, video clips, and audio files can be added to the story. Various references and links can be created to other pages. iPad allows for TV programmes and commercials to be brought to the magazine, for instance.

“The objective of the editing of the innovation magazine is to show this project’s new trends and opportunities to the media and to introduce the achievements and ideas of Estonia to English speaking readers all over the world,” the Account Manager of HEI, Raivo Murde, said.

Interest towards the iPad has considerably increased worldwide. 3 million iPads were sold in the US alone in its first 80 days. The sales forecast for this year is 12 million tablet computers sold and they predict that 17 million iPads will be sold worldwide next year. iPad will be on sale officially in Estonia later this year. In Estonia, the forecasted number of the tablet computer users in the next few years is about 10,000.

In the tablet computer format, several international magazines can be read for free, as well for a fee, such as Time Magazine, The New Yorker, People Magazine, Sports Illustrated Magazine, etc.
To read the magazine, the iPad user must enter the Apple web store iTunes and from there download the HEI to the tablet computer for free. The relevant link is also on the HEI website: http://hei.eas.ee/.

HEI innovation magazine by Eesti Päevaleht is published at the request of Enterprise Estonia (EAS) within the framework of the Innovation Awareness Programme. The magazine is published on paper 10 times a year and distributed for free.

Maybe we should become a power importing state?

At the end of September, the European Commission made a decision, which did not mention Estonia for a change, but the meaning of which could be unexpectedly important for Estonia. Namely, a commission led by Joaqu?n Almunia granted Spain the right to subsidise its oil shale production for another four years. “It’s a controversial decision that environmentalists do not welcome,” the New York Times concluded.
A few weeks before the decision made by the European Commission, Elering, which is an Estonian state-owned company, submitted a so-called reliability report forecasting how much power will be consumed in Estonia in the next 15 years and what kind of changes will take place in production capacities at the same time. The message of the report is simple and concrete: by 2017, the capacity of Estonian power production will be considerably decreased and, if new investments will not be made, there will be a deficit in production capacities. In 2016–2017, the deficit could be about 900 MW; in the period of 2020–2025, however, it could already increase to about 1,400 MW.

These figures highlighted by Elering are based on a calculation on which power production capacities would be closed in Estonia in the next few years and which ones would be added. We can be quite certain of the ones to be closed: conservation of the block in Iru, conservation of two blocks in the Balti Power Plant, closure of the Ahtme station and, the largest, the shutdown of six blocks in the Narva Power Plant in 2016. The last one is a significant issue, which means the disappearance of 948 MW production capacities.

There is slightly greater uncertainty concerning the capacities that would be added. There will be a combined production plant in Pärnu (in 2011), Enefit oil factory (in 2013), the first block in the Elering’s emergency reserve plant (in 2013), and two new blocks in the Narva Power Plant (about twice 300 MW) in the years from 2015–2017, which will be the largest. “But there is uncertainty concerning two blocks,” the Managing Director of Elering, Taavi Veskimägi, admits. Uncertainty because in the opinion of Eesti Energia the market-based construction thereof is not profitable and there is no permit for state aid from the European Commission. That is where the Spanish coal power station case mentioned at the beginning of the article comes in – it does not give a hundred per cent guarantee to the Estonian state that we can also provide state aid, but in any case it is a case to refer to.

It is a separate issue, of course, about how much and when the Estonian state would be able to help the state-owned Eesti Energia power company. When the European Commission was discussing the Spanish state aid case, the Estonian government was wrestling with next year’s state budget, and it turns out there was still a shortage of money, so they decided to increase returns instead of implementing cuts. “The biggest treasure was again found in the dividends of state companies,” Raimo Poom writes in Eesti Päevaleht. This means that instead of supporting Eesti Energia the hand was pressed into the wallet of Eesti Energia.

There are no independent experts

Energy is an utterly contradictory and complicated issue in Estonia. Bystanders cannot grasp it; there are no independent experts. So-called experts always have their own peculiarities and/or represent the interests and understandings of a clan about where energy should move in the future. There is an enormous amount of unpredictability and loose ends in the issue. The two biggest hindrances are uncertainty concerning the Lithuanian nuclear project (Visaginas nuclear power station) and the fate of the Narva blocks. When these become clear, they will determine further development trends to a great extent, Taavi Veskimägi says.

A few conclusions about Estonian energy as of 2010 can still be made:

Firstly, the deficiency of the production capacity required to cover peak consumption will arrive by 2016. Elering forecasts a deficiency of 900 MW, and already 1,400 MW a few years later. It is impossible to cover such a huge difference in capacities, because there is not enough time to build.

Secondly, as we are talking about the deficit of peak consumption, it does not mean that Estonia will be short in its own production capacities all the time and all year round. Still, there will be periods when we ourselves produce more than we are able to consume and, therefore, we are also able to export power in the future. By the way, the current production capacity in Estonia is about 2,200 MW, but the all time consumption record at 17:40 on 27th January of this year was 1,577.5 MW.

Thirdly, the only way to compensate the deficit occurring in 2016–2017 is to import power. That meets the European Union understanding about the future of energy (a functioning electricity market and good connections) and that development trend has also been decided in Estonia (Estlink 2, connection to the Scandinavian electricity market). Unlike building new power production units surrounding a lot of uncertainty, there is consensus on connections and the money is available. These will be built.

Fourthly, in the end the question goes back to whether we agree with the situation where there are moments in our power consumption when we ourselves are not able to produce enough and we import power instead. Or we say that no, such a situation is not right; it is just a temporary solution and Estonia nonetheless has to build more production capacities to cover the occurring deficiency, whether to completely or at least considerably decrease that deficit. Now we have chosen the second path. According to the national development plan, Estonia must be also able to generate its own power during peak consumption.

Time flies, but there are still no solutions. Estonia has been lingering here itself, but partially these are the external factors independent from us that are to blame. Are the Lithuanians are able to build a nuclear power station? Would Europe also be able to develop a single market in energy? What happens to state subsidies and favouring local power at European level? When these questions are answered, the decision will be for us to be made.

Currently, the state of Estonia has foreseen in the development plans that Estonia must itself be able to produce the power required for peak consumption. There is an image in the heads of many energy fanatics about Estonia as a huge power exporter. That is an extremely expensive objective of doubtful value. Would it really be feasible to spend 30, 40, or 50 billion kroons in grants, subsidises, and support in any other ways to be able to produce the entire power required for a rare January cold on the surface of Estonia. At the same time knowing that we do not need that production capacity for the majority time of the year and knowing that the production capacity might not be competitive without state aid for most of the year.

Maybe it is also more reasonable and less risky to build Estlink 3 and Estlink 4 in addition to Estlink 2, and just import power in times of peak consumption. And if we really build new capacities, be they nuclear power station, cow manure burning, or new power wind turbines, let them be made solely for business purposes and without the support of the tax payers. If it is feasible, build. Eesti Energia wants a nuclear power station. Why not, please invest, but do not put your hand in the wallets of the taxpayers.

Tallinn Airport CEO: we are talking to two Chinese airlines

Rein Loik, chairman of Tallinn Airport, said this week at a meeting with members of the parliamentary committee on economic affairs that the airport was actively working on the plan to turn Tallinn into the main hub in Northern Europe for Asia-bound flights.

Responding to the idea put forward by MPs that Tallinn as the closest EU capital to China must make better use of its favourable location and developed infrastructure, Loik confirmed that Tallinn Airport has held talks with two Chinese airlines.

Erik Sakkov, board member of Tallinn Airport, said today to aripaev.ee that the success of Finnair in Helsinki shows that the plan was realistic. "But it is difficult to say what is the likelihood that Estonia will become a similar hub," he said.

"We are working in this direction, but if something is agreed, it is the airlines themselves that will announce it," said Sakkov about the airport's efforst to attract Asian airlines to Tallinn.
Sakkov did not specify which Chinese airlines Tallinn Airport has been negoatiating with.

Sakkov added that while in nine months, Tallinn Airport served just over one million passengers, the full-year target for next year is 1.8 million.

Read more: http://bbn.ee/article/2010/10/20/Tallinn_Airport_CEO_we_are_talking_to_two_Chinese_airlines

Will there be garbage wars in the future?

Increasing consumption in the developing world is leading to increasing waste, leaving less room for trash producers in the developed world to send their debris. In the United States, state and local governments will tighten existing regulations and raise disposal prices in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Louisiana, and other places that accept much of the trash from major garbage producers such as New York.

Trash producers in the developed world will ship much more of their debris to repositories in developing countries. This will inspire protests in the receiving lands. Beyond 2025 or so, the developing countries will close their repositories to foreign waste, forcing producers to develop more waste-to-energy and recycling technologies. Ultimately, it may even be necessary to exhume buried trash for recycling to make more room in closed dump sites for material that cannot be reused. Waste-to-energy programs will make only a small contribution.

Baltic Startups Community kicked off

Aalto Venture Garage guys have been seeding the idea of creating the community of startups and founders in the Baltic Sea region. This would cover countries startup from North - Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. People from St. Petersburg, Denmark or Norway are welcome to join. Lets create our own "Valley" here in around the Baltic Sea.

The main idea of the community is to use the same online tools and marketing channels that we have, get together regularly and get to know each other, use each-others services and promote new services, events, initiatives and so on.
Blogs: arcticstartup.com, testmarket.eu - follow, comment and contribute
Events Calendar: arcticstartup.com/events - follow and add your startup events
Groups: LinkedIn and Facebook - network with fellow founders
Database of Founders and Startups: arcticindex.com - list yourself and your startup
Business plans: HumanIPO.com - submit idea, find advisors and angel funding
Please take part of the community events, write news and participate actively in discussions. If you have ideas or you would like to contribute, please raise your hand either in LinkedIn and Facebook groups.

It is easier to wear a cardigan than to build an energy efficient house

Urmas Luure, architect of the passive house of Palamuse community office, tells us why there are not many energy efficient houses in Estonia and how the house designed by him emerged.
Each person would probably like for all their utility costs to be as low as possible. Then why do you think they do not build more energy efficient buildings?

All activities start from thinking and the decisions that develop from this. Probably, the term “energy efficiency” is only beginning to reach people’s minds. In order to build energy efficient houses, the client and the architect, as well as the later user of the building (if by a chance it is not the client) must be aware of what the energy efficient house brings about.

Insulation and efficient technology devices (such as, reheat ventilation, airtight caps) are not enough to decrease utility costs. In the case of designing, everything starts from determining the site plan, the typology of the building, and the room programme.

It is not possible to construct every house according to the criteria of a passive house, which has brought about the term “low energy consumption building”. Two important factors for buildings to be energy efficient are the client and the architect. Both must know what and to whom they are jointly planning. This involves thorough knowledge about the needs and use of the future building – the number of people and devices, number of guests, time distribution of the use of the building, and so on and so forth. New approaches do not emerge overnight, as one must give time for the building to prove itself energy efficient and that is has a comfortable indoor climate.

The first energy efficient houses that are built are based on the experiences and theories of someone else, however. Or in this case, on examples from Central Europe. Another reason why they are not popular probably lies in the fact that houses become too complicated when everything is controlled by sensors and automatics, and for smaller buildings the investment into technology simply does not pay off; it is easier to put on a cardigan and let fresh air in through the window. It works very well. Each building needs a decent master who has the know-how and is capable of taking care of it. In the end, everything comes down to the awareness of people and their attitude towards their surroundings. But let time tell; at least for the time being, energy efficient houses are popular.

Concerning the results of the design contest of the Palamuse community office, several doubts subsequently emerged meaning the issue had to be reverted to the Union of Estonian Architects. What is your view on this?

With regard to this matter, I can only rely on what I have heard and my own opinion. When the idea contest was launched, the members of the Union of Estonian Architects were not involved in the jury. The membership should (at least in theory) ensure competent and independent architectural quality. Time has shown, however, that it is difficultly to make good architecture in an energy efficient manner at a reasonable cost. Also, reasonable cost is not defined, as the client and the builder are mainly interested in as cheap a cost as possible.

The relationship between the cost and quality is the biggest issue in architecture these days. In the Union of Estonian Architects, they discussed whether the jury was competent enough, which should be the case with a public representative building. The more professional the jury, the better should be the result. It is a pity that Estonian contests are not two-phased, as in this case, the client, experts, and politicians would have had time to make the right decisions and give their instructions for further design. Planning is an activity where things must be thought through and compromises (even bad ones) made to reassure others in the excellence of the future building at all levels (aesthetic, function, further usage).

Another issue was probably at the level of the rural municipality where there was a discussion between various political parties and local people about whether it is feasible to build and take the loan in the first place. Of course, the whole area of how and how much it is attempted to influence the activities of the jury in public procurements and other contests would be a nice topic for research. Actually, the decisions of the jury have an immense impact on the further wellbeing of the building.

When designing such a house, did you have to break through any brick walls, or did you have to explain anything more or have more trouble than usually?

As it concerns fairly new terms and steeper demands, there was a lot of learning and studying. As an architect, I had to approach the special designs with an utter seriousness and understand what was going to happen in the rooms with the temperature, air humidity, and the amount of fresh air. The project was certainly one of the most interesting ones I have worked with. I did not have to explain much to the client; they trusted who was working on it.

I was assisted by the Energy Efficient Building Core Laboratory of the University of Tartu, Institute of Technology, and ventilation designer Teet Tark from Hevac OÜ. For such a building, co-operation and the readiness to change the solution, if necessary, in order to retain the whole concept is especially important.

Did you encounter any problems with the material?

In regard to materials, I think we could probably have managed without the grass roof for the Palamuse community office (it added a supplementary load to the supporting structure). The construction and placement of the furniture was probably complicated by the unusual geometrics of the building (rounded walls on three radii).

We had a problem with the builder when choosing the bricks, as they wished to replace the manually formed bricks for cheaper ones. We came to an agreement on that one, though. However, we did not back down from the brick pavement surrounding the building, as it was an architecturally significant element.

As the materials were foreseen in the project and the builder had worked out their cost in relation to them, we saw no reason in changing it. Therefore, the responsibility of the designer is fairly big in what is foreseen in the project, and once it has been agreed with the client, there is no need for third parties to get involved. Such redesigning in the course of construction ends up in a chaos.

Unfortunately, my own surveillance remained null, as by the time of the construction I had left the office where the designing took place. I am not happy with the indoor illumination where the incorrect lighting was installed and the result does not bear any criticism; also the ceiling beams were placed lower in the exterior of the building and, therefore, visually “the ceiling falls on one’s head”. That convinced me to go there to observe and react.

Authors of the Palamuse community office: architects Urmas Luure and Tõnu Rebane. Interior design: Marit Vendel and Tõnu Rebane

What has happened to the Estonian (ICT) innovation?

As was published in the spring, the Estonian position in the global IT ranking compiled by the World Economic Forum, is steadily decreasing. Later, it was also mentioned at the international meeting of Estonian friends that “Estonia cannot ride on the success of Skype for too long” (Estonian National Broadcasting ERR, 19th August 2010).
What could be done in the long term to improve the situation? How could more export led technology and innovation solutions be developed in Estonia? How could Estonia become an exporter of technologies instead of consuming new technologies? I will try to address this from the perspective of information technology, though I think my point of view could be extended to other fields, as well.
It has been claimed that there is no point for Estonia to strive towards exporting new technologies, as new technologies are not created here. This statement is only partially true. A significant part of technological innovation enhances combining new technologies, creating prototypes, testing, and first-time application.
I have worked in the field of information and computer technology (ICT) as a researcher in two very different states – Finland and Australia – which are quite similar in their approach to innovation. For about eight years, I was working in the information technology department of the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), and subsequently for three and a half year in Australia, at the University of Melbourne. Efficient structures have been established in both states for promoting innovation through the co-operation of undertakings and research establishments.
In the light of Australia and Finland, I could not help but notice the divide between research and innovation and the weak co-operation between universities and undertakings when I returned to Estonia. Here, they primarily talk about universities in the context of teaching and of the preparation of the labour force. On the other hand, the innovation projects financed in Estonia are primarily targeted at developing specific products. Universities as the “theorists” are somewhat excluded from such projects. In the sense of innovation, however, they are already late in developing specific products! For example, the conclusions of the ICT development monitoring of the Estonian Development Fund claim that the majority of technologies that will reach the mass usage by 2018 are already in the world’s top laboratories. Even if we do not apply for creating those technologies ourselves, the key issue of innovation in Estonia is how to be among the first ones to combine and apply of new technologies, and to develop and test prototype solutions based thereupon.
They also talk about little co-operation in a recent study published under the aegis of the Tallinn University of Technology “Analysis of 15 Estonian IT export cases”. The authors of the study, Marko Rillo and Madis Talmar, aptly note about Estonian ICT companies, “if competitors are not initially trusted, it is worth contacting a university or other suitable foundation who try promoting such co-operation on a daily basis”.
A significant obstacle to innovation in Estonia seems to be the financing of research and product development by various organisations. As a result, research projects are often too theoretical and impracticable, and product development projects cannot rise to a higher abstraction level from developing specific products to determining where the research and development is heading in this particular field in the world in the first place. I will bring an example of a project conducted in Australia in which I participated as a guest researcher. An Australian company that deals with the manufacture of air traffic simulation systems for airports chose the University of Melbourne as their research and development partner in order to reach a new quality level in air traffic simulation systems by applying multiagency system technology, which, to date, has not completely left the laboratory, and not to just “repair” the existing products.
Also, Finland, and I again rely on my own experience, is undoubtedly a technology exporting country. What is behind it? Firstly, as in the case with VTT, Finnish companies co-operate significantly more with universities and other research establishments than those of other European Union Member States. According to the data of the Statistics Finland, 36 per cent of undertakings co-operate with universities in Finland, and 28 per cent with other research establishments. According to the Eurostat data, the respective figures in Estonia are between five and ten. In the field of ICT, the situation is even worse: according to a study compiled by Praxis, the Centre for Policy Studies, regarding companies in the Estonian information and communications technology sector, only 5% of companies operating in the field of product development considered co-operation with universities very important. Most of the joint projects of Finnish companies and universities are financed by the Finnish Agency for Technology (TEKES) through its various programmes. Some of its most recent programmes include, for instance, “Climate economy”, “Revolution of wireless data communication” and “Learning environments based on social networks”. It is very important that the TEKES research programmes are prepared in open seminars and workshops with participants from employer organisations and professional unions, companies, universities and research institutions, and public authorities. As a rule, the consortiums of the joint projects performed within the framework of study programmes consist of one or two universities or research establishments, and three or more companies. Through the support of TEKES primarily, but also through the aid of other organisations such as Sitra (Finnish Innovation Fund) and Finnvera (the Finnish equivalent to Enterprise Estonia), innovative solutions have already been favoured in Finland for several decades. Nokia did not appear in an empty vacuum either, as behind it there was intense radio technology applied research performed at the Helsinki University of Technology.
Also, significant brain potential has been accumulated in Estonian universities that should be used more productively in developing innovative solutions and not just for preparing the labour force. Current co-operation forms do not favour it. Only a small amount of companies fit in research and development centres (TAK) and the circle of projects are fixed already at the time of the foundation of TAK. On the other hand, the projects financed by Enterprise Estonia (EAS) are too attached to specific products.
In Australia, effective co-operation between undertakings and universities is encouraged through research grants from the Australian Research Council designed for co-operation with the industry (Industry Linkage Grant), through which a university or a research establishment jointly work with one or several companies at a problem. A comparable co-operation form in Finland is the joint projects of research establishments and undertakings financed by TEKES. In the case of both project formats, a significant objective is the development of “proof of concept” type prototypes comprising new technologies. The current financing scheme of Enterprise Estonia does not allow for the application of such projects. There is an applied research project type, but EAS does not facilitate the creation of prototype solutions in those projects, as in the opinion of EAS, that would already be product development. But would it? Pursuant to the European Union Commission Regulation 800/2008 (General block exemption Regulation), product development includes “the development of prototypes used for trading purposes and the development of test projects if the prototype is necessarily a commercial end product…”. As the prototype created as a result of an applied research project is not a commercial end product, the problem could lie solely in a wrong interpretation of the above-mentioned regulation.
In conclusion, I think that a dynamic innovation support structure through the co-operation of companies and research establishment should also be established in Estonia. A simple way for that seems to be the amendment of the financing schemes of EAS so that the “proof of concept” type prototype could be the result of the applied research. Also, the joint applied research of Estonian universities and companies should be favoured, as there are too few of them at present. Furthermore, the Estonian Science Fund could think of implementing a grant format with a condition to include one or more companies.
In order to achieve something significant, the objective should be set further. One way to increase Estonian exports is to find new co-operation forms for universities and companies in order to promote technological innovation in Estonia in the field of information technology and beyond.

(The author expresses his personal opinions in this article, which may not necessarily coincide with the official position of the Tallinn University of Technology.)

Idee Äss 2010 konkursi võitjad on selgunud.

In.ee registreerunud kasutajate lemmikuks osutus idee number 2- E-Leiubüroo. Idee esitja- Oliver Vesi.

Tallinna Ettevõtlusameti Komisjon, kuhu kuulusid Harri-Koit Lahek (Patendiinfo keskus), Epp Vodja (Junior Achievement Eesti), Krista Kink (Tallinna Ettevõtlusamet) ja Jaanus Vahesalu (Tallinna Ettevõtlusamet) valis esitatud ideede seast parimad.

Auhinna nominendid on:
I koht Anna Tamm – Õpetusliku sisuga heliklipid ühistranspordis
II koht Oliver Vesi – E-leiubüroo
III koht Roland Oskar – Ühistranspordi sõidugraafikud LCD ekraanil


Tallinna Ettevõtlusamet võtab võitjatega ühendust ning auhindab võitjaid Rahva Raamatu kinkekaartidega alljärgnevalt:
I koht – kinkekaart väärtuses 500 krooni
II koht – kinkekaart väärtuses 300 krooni
III koht – kinkekaart väärtuses 100 krooni


Tallinna Ettevõtlusameti poolt välja kuulutatud ideedekonkursil "Idee Äss 2010", võisid osaleda kõik noored vanuses 7-26 eluaastat.

Ideedega saad tutvuda SIIN


Kõigi Ideeäss 2010 konkursi ideedega seotud küsimusi ootame info@in.ee.

IN.EE tiim

Lisainfo: http://www.tallinn.ee/est/ettevotjale/Konkursi-Idee-Ass-2010-tulemused 

Vali oma Lemmik Idee Äss 2010 konkursile esitatud ideede seast.

Kas oled mõnikord mõelnud, et miks küll on nii raske, igav, tüütu, ohtlik või kole? Kui jah, siis oled kindlasti mõelnud ka kuidas saaks asju paremaks teha.

Milline asi või tegevus teeks Tallinna linnas sinu või sinu sõprade elu lihtsamaks /huvitavamaks /turvalisemaks/ilusamaks?


Tallinna Ettevõtlusameti poolt välja kuulutatud ideedekonkursil "Idee Äss 2010", võisid osaleda kõik noored vanuses 7-26 eluaastat.

Alates 2.oktoober on kõik laekunud ideed veebikeskkonnas www.in.ee kõigile nähtavad ning in.ee registreerunud kasutajatel on võimalik ideede seast oma lemmik valida.

Ideedega saad tutvuda siit

Oma lemmikule saad anda hääle gallupis, mis asub www.in.ee avalehel.
 
Kolme parima idee autorid avalikustatakse 07. oktoobril In.ee (www.in.ee) ja Tallinna Ettevõtluspäeva (ettevotluspaev.tallinn.ee) kodulehel.

Võitjatega võetakse ühendust auhinna kättesaamiseks.

Esseekonkurss "Roheline Uuendus"

Tänapäeval räägitakse üha rohkem keskkonahoiust, rohelisest mõtlemisest ja jätkusuutlikust käitumisest keskkonna suhtes. Nüüd on võimalus oma mõtted ja ideed seonduvalt rohelise mõtlemisega esseevormis kirja panna ja auhindugi võita.
Noorteprojekt Rohelised Uuendused kuulutab välja keskkonnasäästu ja rohelise mõtlemise teemaliste esseekonkursi noortele.

Kuidas osaleda?

Konkursil osalemiseks:
mõtle välja lugu ja pane see esseevormis kirja. Saada essee emailitsi Rohelistele Uuendajatele rohelised.uuendused@gmail.com

Viited, millest inspiratsiooni ammutada, leiad siit

Tähtaeg

Konkursi tähtaeg on 30. oktoober 2010. Võitjad kuulutame välja 1. detsember 2010. 
 
Esitamine
Saada essee emailitsi Rohelistele Uuendajatele rohelised.uuendused@gmail.com
Essee juurde lisa oma andmed: nimi, (e-posti) aadress, kool, klass, ka juhendaja andmed (kui on).

Esitada võib nii eesti-, vene- kui inglise keelseid töid.

Rohelised Uuendused võib konkursile esitatud töid kasutada autoriõiguse seaduses sätestatud ulatuses, tingimustel ja korras, s.t hariduslikel ning teaduslikel eesmärkidel.

Hindamine
Esseid hinnatakse kolmes vanuserühmas: 6-11aastased, 12-15aastased ja 16-26 aastased noored.
Kriteeriumid, millest hindamisel lähtutakse:
teemast kinnipidamine – essee keskendub keskonnasäästule ja rohelisele mõtlemisele;
asjakohasus – esitatud faktid ja väited on tõesed;
meeldejääv teostus – töö annab lugejale kasulikku teavet, on õpetlik ja/või jääb meelde oma mõtlema-paneva/ kaasahaarava teostuse poolest.

Žürii

Parimad esseed valib välja žürii, kuhu kuuluvad Rohelised Uuendused noortealgatuse esindajad ning rohelise mõtlemise eestvedajad Eestis.

Auhinnad

Auhindadeks on vinged ning rohelise telefonid ELISAlt, rohelist mõtlemist innustavad raamatud EPL Kirjastuselt ja DVDd Briti Nõukogult ning muudki keskonnasäästlikku ja rohelist Roheliste uuenduste partneritelt- Adidaselt ning Coca-Cola Hellenicult.
 
Konkursi võitjad kuulutatakse välja 1. novembril. Võitjatega võetakse ühendust.

Kutse Keskkonnamüra konverentsile

MTÜ Ökokratt on valmistanud ette Keskkonnamüra konverentsi 2010, mis toimub 21. oktoobril 2010. Tallinna Tehnikaülikoolis  Ehitajate tee 5, Tallinn, auditoorium 226, VII korpus.  Keskkonnamüra konverents 2010 keskendub keskkonnamüra mõjule tervisele ja Eesti olukorra analüüsile. Konverentsi ettekandjateks on Soome, Rootsi ja Saksamaa teadlased ning Eesti keskkonnamüra spetsialistid-eksperdid. 

Konverents aitab valdkonna spetsialistidel teostada välisõhu saasteennetuslike, tehniliste ja oskusteabe meetmete väljatöötamist ja juurutamist, keskkonnastandardite rakendamist, pöörab tähelepanu müraprobleemile keskkonnamõju strateegilisel hindamisel ning tutvustab parima võimaliku tehnika ja puhtama tootmise alaseid uuringuid.

Link Keskkonnamüra konverents 2010 kavale ja ettekannete kokkuvõtetele, mis on meile edastatud

Konverents toimub nii eesti kui inglise keeles ning võimaldatud on sünkroontõlge. Konverentsil osaleja saab konverentsikoti koos konverentsi raamatuga, kus on kõikide ettekannete materjalid tõlgituna koos keskkonnamüra käsiraamatuga „Keskkonnamüra mõju tervisele“.

Konverentsil osalemiseks on vajalik registreeruda meie leheküljel  ning tasuda osalustasu 150 krooni. Registreerumisel palume täita kõik andmeväljad - osaleja nimi, perekonnanimi, töökoht, amet, e-posti aadress ja telefoninumber -, et kontakteeruda osalejaga kiirete küsimuste korral.
Konverentsil osalemistasu arve esitamiseks palume märkida kontaktisiku, arve tasuja nimi ja postiaadress koos sihtnumbriga.
Konverentsile olete registreeritud päraste arve tasumist MTÜ Ökokratt arvele ning teadet Teie e-posti aadresssile. Registreerunute nimekiri avaldatakse meie kodulehel www.okokratt.ee.

Osavõtjate arv on piiratud ning seetõttu on eeliseks varajane registreerimine meie kodulehel.
Registreeruda saab kuni 10.10.2010 või kuni kohtade täitumiseni.
 
Konverentsi sihtrühmaks on omavalitsuste spetsialistid, riiklike ametkondade spetsialistid, arendajad, planeerijad, arhitektid ja ehitajad.

Keskkonnamüra konverentsi toetavad SA KIK, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool, AS Tallinna Sadam, Keskkonnaministeerium, MTÜ Ökokratt, Roadservice OÜ, Insinööritoimisto Akukon Oy Eesti filiaal, ELLE OÜ, Ramboll Eesti AS, Alkranel OÜ, Hendrikson & Ko, Sennheiser.

Eelmise Keskkonnamüra konverentsi kohta, mis toimus samuti Tallinna Tehnikaülikooli ruumides saate teavet lingilt: Keskkonnamüra konverents 2008 (http://www.okokratt.ee/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=128)