Romanian EDGE Institute Delegation Visits Johan Skytte Institute and Meets ECePS ERA Chair to Explore Digital Innovation and Future Partnerships

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Elis Vollmer
On 26 March 2025, the ECePS team, together with colleagues from the Skytte Institute, had the pleasure of welcoming a high-level delegation from Romania's recently established EDGE Institute - a think tank that serves as a catalyst for Romania's digital transformation. The visit to Tartu was part of a wider fact-finding mission to Estonia, during which the delegation engaged with a wide range of public and private institutions across the country to learn from Estonia's experience in digital governance, innovation and transformation. 

The EDGE delegation included prominent leaders from the technology, finance, academia and entrepreneurship sectors who serve as members of the Institute's Board of Directors, including Elisabeta Moraru (Country Director, Google Romania), Mihai Matei (CEO, Essensys Software & Vice President, Concordia Employers' Confederation), Prof Răzvan Rughiniș (Vice Dean, Faculty of Automation and Computer Science, Polyethnic University of Bucharest; Co-founder, Innovation Labs), (CEO, Commercial Bank of Romania), Cosmin Alexandru (Teamology, Entrepreneurship Academy) and Victor Guzun (Digital Transformation Consultant and former Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Estonia), who led the delegation and organised the fact-finding mission to Estonia.

The visit provided an excellent opportunity for the members of the EDGE delegation to learn more about the academic and societal impact the ECePS team managed to achieve with its research on digital transformation in the past five years.  

The visit to Tartu began with a welcome address and an overview of the Faculty of Social Sciences by the Faculty Dean, Prof. Margit Keller, followed by presentations highlighting the University of Tartu's approach to digitalisation, e-learning and cutting-edge research. In particular, Ms Kristina Lillemets and Mr Imre Lall presented the university's digital transformation strategies and AI implementation, while Prof Meelis Kull presented the activities of the Estonian Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence. Finally, Ms Anna Beitane presented ongoing e-learning initiatives and digital education projects at the Johan Skytte Institute.

The session concluded with an engaging discussion moderated by Dr Stefano Braghiroli, Associate Professor of European Studies, which fostered a dynamic exchange of experiences and perspectives. The conversation focused on the role of universities in driving digital innovation, the challenges of integrating AI and digital tools into higher education, and the importance of cross-sector collaboration between academia, government and industry. On behalf of the ECePS ERA Chair team, Dr Vincent Homburg described the history of the ECePS ERA Chair and explained how the Chair’s digital transformation research agenda was implemented and resulted in an impressive array of high impact journal publications and books, collaborative projects with government and industry, and outreach activities. During the further discussion, the participants explored opportunities for joint research, talent development and sharing best practices in digital governance and public sector innovation, underlining the value of long-term partnerships between Estonia and Romania in the digital field.

Reflecting on the visit, Dr. Kristiina Tõnnisson, Director of the Johan Skytte Institute, said: "The EDGE Institute brings together an inspiring group of leaders who are shaping Romania's digital future. At the Skytte Institute and the University of Tartu, we see great value in building partnerships based on shared ambitions for innovation, digital transformation and research excellence. This visit is an important step in fostering long-term collaboration between our institutions."

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