The Estonian Business School is pleased to announce the 7th EBS International Summer School on Digitalization and Sustainability, taking place from 9 to 13 August 2027 on the EBS campus in Tallinn, Estonia.
Run as an international scenario planning workshop, the one-week programme brings together students, professionals, policymakers, academics, and speakers from business to explore how digital transformation and sustainability will shape alternative futures. Through expert insights, discussions, and collaborative work, participants will examine the opportunities, challenges, and choices emerging at the intersection of these two major forces of change.
Estonia provides a unique setting for these conversations. As one of Europe’s leading digital societies and startup ecosystems, it offers participants the opportunity to experience digitalisation and entrepreneurship in practice. EBS itself was ranked first among European business schools for startup creation efficiency in the Redstone University Startup Index, produced by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Trier.
The Summer School has a strong track record of bringing leading international voices to Tallinn. Previous speakers have included Nobel Prize laureate Bengt Holmström (MIT), former Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas, and Governor of the Bank of Estonia Madis Müller, alongside representatives from organisations including McKinsey, PwC, Nordic Investment Bank, Milrem, Helmes, Sunly, and Starship.
The full 2027 programme will be published in spring, with several speakers already confirmed. They include Anna Broughel from Johns Hopkins University, specialising in sustainable energy transition policy; David Ramiro Troitiño, Jean Monnet Chair and expert in EU digital development and e-governance; Carmen Kivisild, co-founder and CEO of AI-driven techbio startup Elnora AI; Meelis Kitsing, Professor and Rector of Estonian Business School and expert in digital ecosystems and political economy; and Shahab Anbarjafari, Chief Data Scientist and Director at PwC Finland, specialising in data science, computer vision, and machine learning.
Participants will leave the Summer School with fresh analytical tools, an expanded international network, and a clearer understanding of the choices shaping digital and sustainable development.
Participation in the Summer School is available for a fee of €990 for applications submitted by 1 May 2027, increasing to €1,190 thereafter. The application deadline is 15 June 2027, with payment required by 1 July 2027 to secure a place. Upon successful completion of the programme, participants will receive 6 ECTS credits.
We warmly invite students, professionals, and policymakers from around the world to join us in Tallinn in August 2027, register here.
Welcome to the most advanced digital society in the world. In a country where 99% of public services are online, and everything can be signed digitally, technology is embedded in the culture. No wonder it is also the start-up nation of Europe.
Estonia is roughly the same size as Switzerland. But with 6x fewer people, just 1.3 million, we compensate in other ways. As any tiny overachiever would. Our superpower? Startups.
So far, Estonia has been a successful testbed for 10 unicorns: Skype, Playtech, Wise, Bolt, Pipedrive, Zego, ID.me, Gelato, Veriff, and Glia.
Tallinn Old Town
How about some thin and agile? Estonia has worked hard to alleviate the pain of building your business. Think of it as a fast, invisible OS that gets out of your way.
You’ve heard the pitch: Run your business almost entirely online, automatically report pre-filled taxes in a few clicks, and use mobile ID to sign legal documents on your phone. It’s true, and it works.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eesti/@58.2810995,14.9501635,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x4692949c82a04bfd:0x40ea9fba4fb425c3!8m2!3d58.595272!4d25.0136071!16zL20vMDJrbW0?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMxOS4yIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
The summer school focuses on trends, uncertainties and complexities in intersections of digitalisation and sustainability on a global level. The course helps participants to learn multifaceted nature of digitalisation and sustainability in national and international level. Through lectures and workshops it demonstrates how to use different social science methods in order to get a better grasp of future trajectories. It also helps participants to summarise and communicate complex issues in the intersection of digitalisation and sustainability in an easily understandable way. The course improves decision-making and teamwork skills through capstone assignments.
Combining our diverse business, economic, policy, and management perspectives offered by the summer school’s distinguished faculty, lecturers, and speakers will provide fundamental ingredients for generating new ideas. We are well on our way to making this event a summer tradition at EBS, providing a platform for future leaders to gather at EBS and turn their ideas into reality.
The programme has a strong record of attracting leading voices. Previous speakers have included Nobel Prize laureate in economics Bengt Holmström of MIT, former Prime Minister of Estonia Taavi Rõivas and the Governor of the Bank of Estonia, Madis Müller. Representatives of the Nordic Investment Bank, McKinsey, Milrem, PwC, Helmes, Sunly and Starship, among many others, have also shared their perspectives with participants. The full programme for 2027 will be published in spring. Several speakers have already confirmed their participation.