エストニア経済ニュース

2017年1月13日～3月1日のエストニア経済ニュース

●宅配ロボットに巨額の投資
Mercedes-Benz is cooperating with Starship Technologies. Daimler AG and several famous venture capitalists invested 16.5 million euros into Estonian start-up Starship Technologies, which produces delivery robots. This is the biggest one-off investment to a start-up in Estonian history. Shasta Ventures, Matrix Partners, ZX Ventures, Morpheus Ventures, Grishin Robotics and Playfair Capital were among the venture capitalist companies that participated in the investment. This one-time investment puts Starship Technologies directly into 4th place in the list of Estonian start-ups that have received the most investments (in all investment rounds and stages of development) – behind TransferWise, Skeleton Technologies and AdCash. (Postimees, Page 8, January 13, 2017)
 
●E-piim社，チーズ500トンを今年上半期に日本へ輸出
Estonian milk producer managed to enter Japanese market. E-piim became the first Estonian milk producer that secured a long-term contract with a Japanese partner – 500 tons of Gouda cheese will be exported to Japan in the first half of this year. CEO of E-piim Jaanus Murakas said: “It’s definitely a very delightful and groundbreaking news, as we have worked very long and thoroughly for this.” Murakas also thanked the former entrepreneurship minister Anne Sulling (Reform Party) who made a big contribution in finding Estonian milk producers new markets in Asia. (Postimees, Page 9, January 13, 2017)
 
●オイルシェール各社，増産の計画
The volume of oil shale mining will increase. This year, Eesti Energia and Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG) plan to mine more oil shale than last year – for that, both companies plan to extend the working week and hire more employees. VKG plans to increase its oil shale mining volume from 2.3 million tons to 3.9 million tons. According to Eesti Energia, appreciation of the market price of oil and electricity are the incentive. (Postimees, Page 8, January 16, 2017)
 
●UAE企業，ガードタイム社（ブロックチェーン技術）の技術をテスト
Estonian database is being tested in UAE. The biggest private sector health services provider in United Arab Emirates NMC Health will start testing blockchain technology created by Estonian cyber security company Guardtime. Electronic Health Records (EHR) with blockchain technology will bring data integrity, security and trust to the flow of patient's information between the health providers and the patient. (Postimees, Page 10, January 16, 2017)
 
●パイプドライブ社（セールスソフトウェア）に1700万ドルの投資
Pipedrive will receive a big investment. Estonian sales software developer Pipedrive has secured an investment of nearly 17 million dollars from venture capital company Atomico, which is owned by Niklas Zennström. Pipedrive will use the investment for product development and worldwide marketing. In total, Pipedrive has received 30.4 million dollars of investments from venture capitalists. (Postimees, Page 10, January 19, 2017)
 
●モロッコへオイルシェール技術輸出の可能性
Eesti Energia might sell oil shale technology to Morocco. Morocco might be interested in the know-how of oil shale studies and services of the Estonian state-owned energy company Eesti Energia. It is also possible that Eesti Energia would also sell the Enefit-technology to the country to process oil shale. (Postimees, Page 7, January 20, 2017)
 
●オイルシェール企業，解雇者を再雇用
VKG has recently hired 210 people. According to CEO of Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG) Ahti Asmann, VKG has re-employed 210 people since the redundancy of 479 people more than a year ago. This year, VKG aims to recruit 35 more workers. The total number of workers in the group is 1700. (Postimees, Page 8, January 23, 2017)
 
●ABB，200人を雇用
ABB has recently hired 200 people. Swedish industrial group ABB last year opened a business service center in Tallinn’s Ülemiste City. They have hired 200 people as a result. According to CEO of ABB Baltics Bo Henriksson, it hasn’t been difficult to find suitable employees as there were enough candidates. The company also plans to recruit during this year. (Postimees, Page 8, January 23, 2017)
 
●宅配ロボット，米国進出
Starship’s package robots started operating in the US. Starting from last week, the residents of Redwood City and Washington can order their food home with package robots made by an Estonian company Starship Technologies. Initially, all robots will be followed by a supervisor. (Äripäev, Page 6, January 23, 2017)
 
●公共部門でのパスワードカード使用中止の呼びかけ
RIA recommends abolishing password cards. Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) recommends public sector to abolish identification based on password cards by 2019. The agency said that password cards are no longer secure, and that the number of corresponding cases of fraud is rising. RIA proposes the use of ID-cards, mobile-ID, or PIN calculators instead. (Postimees, Page 6, January 28, 2017)
 
●アフリカの学校向け情報システムを開発
An Estonian company wants to take Estonia’s e-school solution to Africa. Estonian IT company Bamboo wants to take Estonian e-school solution to Africa, Central Asia and Middle East. The company has been developing electronic school diary solution for already over a year. The project was firstly initiated in Tajikistan. Projects have also been initiated in countries such as Azerbaijan, Iran, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Mauritania. In total, the company operates in 20 countries and has offices in 6 countries, including Kenya. (Postimees, Page 10, January 28, 2017)
 
●コープ，銀行を買収
Coop will open a bank for people living in rural areas. Retail group Coop Estonia has announced its intent to buy the shares of Eesti Krediidipank from the Bank of Moscow and create a new bank in Estonia that will offer its services through Coop's rural area shops. The name of the new bank will be Coop Pank. CEO of Coop Estonia Jaanus Vihand said that the aim of the new bank is to offer banking services in areas from where major banks have left in recent years. Former head of retail banking at Swedbank Margus Rink will become the head of the new bank. (Postimees, Page 8, January 31, 2017)
 
●軍需企業に補助金
Estonian engineers want to make civilian drones blind. The visions of 4 Estonian defense industry enterprises will receive public funding, as they won the annual defence innovation competition. Milrem received 200 000 euros in support for their project, which involves the creation of a guidance system for unmanned ground vehicles. Skeleton Technologies received 63 919 euros in support, as the goal of their project is to develop the first ultracapacitor based engine start-up module for large military vehicles. Threod Systems received 66 815 euros in support to develop a signal intelligence sensor for small and medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Marduk Technologies, whose project won 70 000 euros in support, is working on a drone detection and disruption platform, which would blind drones in a radius of 1 km. (Postimees, Page 6, February 1, 2017)
 
●ヒーウマー島で国内最大規模の太陽光発電所建設へ
Estonia’s most powerful solar plant will be built to Hiiumaa. A solar power plant will be built near the town of Kärdla on the island of Hiiumaa. While the existing solar plants in Estonia have an output of up to 200 kilowatts, the new plant will have a total of 3240 solar panels and a combined power output of over 1 megawatt. This means that the plant's annual production output will be 1 gigawatt hour. The plant is scheduled to be completed by spring. (Postimees, Page 6, February 3, 2017)
 
●ハイブリット車，倍増
The sale of hybrid cars doubled in Estonia. According to European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), the number of registrations of vehicles using new alternative fuel in Estonia has increased by 92.3% year over year to 825 units in 2016. 765 of these vehicles were hybrid. (Postimees, Page 15, February 4, 2017)
 
●スケレトン・テクノロジー社，欧州投資銀行から借り入れ
Skeleton Technologies will borrow from EIB. The manufacturer of graphene-based ultracapacitors Skeleton Technologies will borrow money from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The loan agreement will be signed next week. (Postimees, Page 8, February 6, 2017)
 
●1月新車販売，＋13．5％
The market of new cars increased by 13.5%. According to the association of Estonian car dealers and service companies (AMTEL), the number of new cars sold in Estonia in January was 2026, which means a 13.5% increase compared to January 2016. Toyota was the most popular car brand with 331 new cars sold, followed by Volkswagen (223) and Skoda (167). Honda CR-V was the most popular model with 95 units sold. (Postimees, Page 9, February 6, 2017)
 
●ノルタル社（IT），ドバイ支店を開設
Nortal started operating in Dubai. Software and business consultations company Nortal opened its representation in Dubai, UAE. According to the Managing Director of Nortal’s Middle East region Peeter Smitti, Nortal has several e-identity and ease-of-doing-business projects in Dubai. Smitti also sees potential in implementing e-health and public finance solutions in Dubai. (Äripäev, Page 10, February 7, 2017)
 
●エストニア企業，軍需見本市に参加
Eight Estonian companies participate in the defense industry fair in Abu Dhabi. Eight Estonian companies are participating in the defense industry fair IDEX 2017 that began in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The Estonian stand features the following eight defense contractors: Defendec, Eli, Galvi-Linda, Milrem, Milectria, Soleest, Terramil and Toci. (Postimees, Page 10, February 20, 2017)
Milrem will sell unmanned ground vehicles to Arabs. Estonian defense contractor Milrem has signed a memorandum of understanding with UAE’s biggest defense industry company IGG Aselsan Integrated Systems (IAIS) to start selling the Arabs unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). (Postimees, Page 8, February 21, 2017)
 
●中小企業，輸出に消極的
Small entrepreneurs have a low interest in entering to foreign markets. Only 8% of Estonian small and medium sized companies plan to enter into new export markets this year. The proportion of such companies was bigger last year. (Postimees, Page 10, February 20, 2017)
 
●エストニア，外国投資を巡りフィンランドと競合
Estonia competes with Finland for foreign investments. A recent study carried out by Finnish economic research center Etlä reveals that Estonia has been considered as an alternative to investing in Finland by 30% of potential investors in recent years. Estonia is by far the most popular alternative to investing in Finland and also the number one destination of Finnish companies looking to move. No fewer than 39% of Finnish companies contemplating a move have considered moving to Estonia. A third of investors highlighted taxation as a vital factor in decisions to move. (Päevaleht, Page 7, February 20, 2017)
 
●ヘルメス社，OECDのシステム開発を受注
Estonian company won a software procurement of OECD. Estonian software company Helmes has won a framework tender for information systems development of OECD with a volume of up to 6 million euros over a period of four years. Helmes is one of Estonia’s largest software companies, employing 250 people in Estonia and Belarus. The company’s turnover in 2016 was 22 million euros. (Postimees, Page 8, February 21, 2017)
 
●トランスファーワイズ社，フェイスブックで送金サービスを提供
TransferWise moved to Facebook. TransferWise started running a new service that will let people set up foreign exchange transactions over Facebook Messenger. With the help of TransferWise’s chatbot, the users of Facebook Messenger can send money to their friends and family in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe. (Päevaleht, Page 9, February 22, 2017)
 
●古タイヤからオイル生産
Eesti Energia will start producing oil from tires. Eesti Energia made first tests to produce oil from old tires in February. If the tests are successful, the company plans to start producing oil from tires from the second half of the year. (Postimees, Page 8, February 28, 2017)
 
●鉄道輸送コスト，バルト三国で最大
Transit through Estonia is more expensive than transit through neighboring countries. A recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reveals that one of the reasons Estonia has lost more trade flow than its neighbors is higher railroad tariffs. Moving a ton of liquid cargo on Estonian railroad costs 2.4 euros, while it only costs 1.5 euros in Latvia and 0.6 euros in Finland. (Postimees, Page 10, March 1, 2017)
 
●2016年GDP：前年比＋1．6％
ICT led Estonian economy into growth. Estonian economic growth accelerated to 2.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016, with the information and communication technology sector contributing 0.8%. In total, Estonian GDP grew by 1.6% last year. According to President’s economic adviser Heido Vitsur, ICT’s contribution to Estonian economic growth has become surprisingly important. Senior economist at Swedbank Tõnu Mertsina said that ICT has been the biggest contributor into Estonian GDP growth in the last five years. (Postimees, Page 10, March 1, 2017)