Sven Oja
Title: The role of the IME proposals in the adaptation of research, development, and innovation policy in transition-era Estonia
Supervisor: Dr. Jaanus Müür
Opponent: Dr. Erkki Karo
Defense: 9 June 2025
Abstract: Transition from one economic system to another is a tedious and slow process. To catch up in development to the level of advanced industrial countries, it is necessary to achieve a series of reforms increasing the capacity of an independent state. This paper overviews Estonia's political, economic, social, and technological environment during the transition period, the formation and reforms made in the research, development, and innovation field, and their correspondence to policies proposed by the IME concept. This research employs a qualitative, document-based approach to reach the findings, utilizing sources like academic literature, political documents, and historical records. In the discussion, the author concluded that policies were mainly adopted from Sweden and Finland but adapted to the local environment. The second main finding is that the IME proposals and subsequent policies shared both features and differences. The common emphasis was on knowledge-based and economic development, the link between technology and science, and more general intellectual capital. The differences were mainly due to limited financial and knowledge resources.
Keywords: Estonia, transition, innovation systems, IME concept, catch-up, policy adoption, policy transfer, re-structuring
