Technoid leader: Kersti Kaljulaid, president of Estonia

KERSTI Kaljulaid, president of the Republic of Estonia, lets out the big secret behind her country's amazing journey from poor nation to one of the world's most digitally advanced societies - an oft-touted case study of the transformational benefits of digitalisation.

The secret is simple. Instead of relying on expensive proprietary technology, the Baltic state, as far as possible, designs its digital services and systems using cheap and off-the-shelf technology that has been around for a long time and "tested and tried for millions of times", says Ms Kaljulaid.

She spoke to The Business Timesvia video conference during her visit to Singapore in July (she was in a travel bubble and hence could not meet physically). The Estonian president was on a working visit and participated in the inaugural Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) Summit organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority.