#4: Arnaud Castaignet on Estonian e-Residency, Digital Societies and the Future of Governance

The Long Game with Mehdi Yacoubi

My guest today is Arnaud Castaignet. Arnaud is the head of communications & policy at Skeleton Technologies and the former head of public relations of the Estonian e-Residency. Arnaud is also the former digital communication officer of former French President François Hollande. Estonia is a fascinating country, well known for its digital society, and Arnaud is the best person to understand everything related to Estonia and the future of governance.

Estonia is the first country in the world to offer e-Residency. E-Residency is a government-issued digital identity that gives you access to the e-services that have helped to power the Republic of Estonia for decades, including the freedom to run a global, EU-company online from anywhere in the world.

We start the conversation by talking about how Arnaud ended up in Estonia. Then Arnaud gives a great explanation of the Estonian digital society and the mindset shift that led to the e-Residency. He explains the value of transparency in the country and describes how Estonia helps other countries set up the same model. After that, we cover the details of the e-Residency and how it helps entrepreneurs worldwide succeed by creating an Estonian company. We finish the conversation talking about the sauna culture in Estonia and the underrated book Arnaud enjoyed recently.

My favorite part of the conversation was when Arnaud explained that the value of optimism is crucial in Estonia and may be the reason for this great success.

Please, enjoy my conversation with Arnaud Castaignet!

You can find the show notes here.

The topics we cover in the discussion:

• The Estonian digital society
• The mindset shift that led to the e-Residency
• The importance of transparency in Estonia
• The value of optimism
• How Estonia is helping other countries set up digital residencies
• Why aren't more countries replicating the Estonian model?
• Estonian diplomacy
• How the e-Residency helps entrepreneurs succeed in Estonia
• The limits of the Estonian model and the future of digital societies
• The importance of functioning institutions and the case of charter cities
• The link between the digital society and the crypto state
• The culture of Sauna and cold exposure in Estonia
• The books Arnaud enjoyed recently

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