Estonia, historically a leader in digital governance, is now adapting as other nations also advance in this area. Although there are many services and benefits in Estonia, their large number can often cause confusion among citizens and entrepreneurs, with the service or benefit not reaching the end user, leading to dissatisfaction. Additionally, managing a large number of services and benefits represents significant costs and administrative burdens for the state. This requires the state to be able to provide solutions that are customised to meet the specific needs of each individual.

The transition from universal services to personalised ones, which focus on the unique needs of each individual, requires the development of new solutions that go beyond the traditional concept of a digital state. In a personalised state, public services are reconceived with a focus on prioritising citizen needs, crafted to ensure that the complexities of the public sector remain invisible to the user. This vision assumes that state services are inherently digital but also advances further by introducing sophisticated, data-driven personalised services. These offerings are not only more efficient and user-friendly but also proactive and customised for each individual, ensuring that the public sector not only meets but proactively anticipates the specific needs of its citizens. 

The primary objective of the analysis is to enrich the political decision-making process by deepening the understanding of the personalised state among key stakeholders, including the parliament, public sector institutions, and also the general public. The purpose of the study is to assess the possibilities and the impacts of data-driven personalisation of Estonia’s public services and benefits in the social and education sectors. By providing specific examples, we aim to enhance understanding of how data-driven personalisation can impact citizens’ daily lives and contribute to the country’s future development. 

The study is divided into three stages. The first stage focuses on developing and validating selection criteria for the current level of personalisation and the potential for personalisation of existing social and educational services and benefits. The second stage seeks to pinpoint social and educational services and benefits that hold the greatest promise for personalisation. Finally, the third stage evaluates the impact of personalising the selected services and benefits identified as having the highest potential in the preceding stage. The research is a collaborative effort between Civitta, responsible for overseeing the first two stages, and Praxis, tasked with executing the third stage of the study.