Our Digital Identity Technologies Department has a new Head of Sales and Partnerships: Florian Marcus! He will be responsible for charting the Department’s foray into new markets and industries while strengthening existing relationships that have helped to establish Cybernetica’s reputation – not just as one of the integral parts of Estonia’s digital journey, but also of providing expert consultancy and state-of-the-art technology around the world.
Can you tell us more about your background?
My academic background is firmly within Political Science and International Relations. When I first moved to Estonia almost a decade ago, I was amazed by the degree to which this society was truly digital and – above all – I couldn’t help but think: Why does this work here? Why not in most countries that, quite frankly, are both richer and are so big that they could literally throw thousands of experts at digital infrastructure problems as much as they throw them at physical infrastructure problems?! That’s the question that got me hooked. After serving the Estonian Government Office as an Adviser during Estonia’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, I joined the e-Estonia Briefing Centre where I had the chance to explain the various facets of the Estonian digital experience to political and business leaders from 100+ countries, and then went into the consultancy business, supporting governments around the world alongside Estonia’s first CIO. Now I’m excited to take the Digital Identity Technologies Department to the next level and beyond!
Your ascension to the role coincides quite nicely with planning for the next year. What does 2025 have in store for you and your Department?
At the risk of sounding contradictory, I see 2025 as a year that forces us to both go wide and deep.
Why wide? Because eIDAS 2.0 and the bourgeoning EU Digital Identity Wallet Space create a continent-sized market where both governments and big industry players like banks and telcos must think hard about how easy or hard they want to make client on-boarding, authentication, and general interaction for their users. Because Post-Quantum Cryptography developments at our very own Research Institute mean even deeper cross-departmental work and direct effects for our product offering. Because the multi-polarisation of our global order already today dictates the questions our prospective customers ask – the (justified!) interest in supply chains of physical goods is evolving into focus on the supply chain of digital goods and tools. In short: There are plenty of exciting dancefloors and we must be prepared to show our best moves everywhere at once.
Why deep? Because the degree of digital maturity around the world is growing and the demands of inbound customers, the level of quality of public tenders, and the content of discussions at conferences around the world reflect that state. Whereas ten years ago you would be happy to have a client ask you about biometric authentication, today we are knee-deep in discussions around digital sovereignty, adaptive capacity-building, and resilience and business continuity planning. I sincerely enjoy this because a customer who asks good questions can also tell good work from sub-par stuff. This only works in our favour.
Plenty of exciting things on your plate then! What do you do outside of work?
Besides spending time with my wonderful wife and our delightful daughter, I am pursuing my PhD at TalTech, researching the performance of various combinations of political and digital governance around the world. This question has driven much of my professional life and I’m happy to now have it as my research question, too. Beyond my studies, I greatly enjoy golf and disc golf, go-karting and walks with our Labrador Cookie.
One wish for this year?
World peace and health for everyone, but to approach it from an angle which I can actually influence: More conversations with more people excited about more digital transformation for greater societal well-being. I often speak at conferences – from the UN’s Internet Governance Forum to industry-specific summits – to discuss various angles of digital transformation and am grateful for every interaction with people who want to change things for the better. If you, dear reader, are in the same boat we should talk!