{"id":14299,"date":"2026-10-19T11:10:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T08:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aire-edih.eu\/?p=14299"},"modified":"2026-10-19T11:29:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T08:29:31","slug":"investment-is-key-to-industrial-competitiveness-but-estonian-companies-remain-cautious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aire-edih.eu\/en\/investment-is-key-to-industrial-competitiveness-but-estonian-companies-remain-cautious\/","title":{"rendered":"Investment Is Key to Industrial Competitiveness, but Estonian Companies Remain Cautious"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the AIRE Club held during Robofest, Raul Kirsim\u00e4e, Head of Industry at Swedbank, warned that low investment levels are holding back the competitiveness of Estonian industry.\u00a0At the same time, the bank\u2019s data shows that companies investing actively achieve significantly higher profit margins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Estonian industrial output grew until 2021, but the outbreak of the war in Ukraine interrupted this trend, and output has yet to return to its previous level. According to Raul Kirsim\u00e4e, the long-term picture is positive: industrial value added has doubled in nominal terms over the past fifteen years and increased by approximately 50% when adjusted for inflation.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevelopments over the past four years, however, give cause for concern, as growth has stalled. The same applies to investment. In nominal terms, investment has remained roughly stable, but adjusted for inflation, it has declined in Estonian industry in recent years,\u201d said Kirsim\u00e4e.<\/p>\n

According to Kirsim\u00e4e, this is paradoxical because the need for investment has actually increased as robotics solutions develop rapidly and their potential applications expand. \u201cWe must also recognise that labour-intensive business models are no longer sustainable given Estonia\u2019s demographic outlook. We need to think about how to achieve more with our existing teams than we did yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world is moving faster<\/strong><\/p>\n

International comparisons show that Estonia has room for improvement. South Korea has more than 1,200 robots per 10,000 employees, while Singapore has over 800. These countries were already leaders in robot adoption eight years ago and have since increased their use of robots by 50\u2013130%.<\/p>\n

According to Raul Kirsim\u00e4e, this is a moment for honest reflection in Estonia and a chance to ask whether we can keep pace. \u201cDo we want to carry on as before, or should we significantly accelerate investment? Various studies show that introducing even a single technology, such as a robot, can increase productivity by around 7\u20138%. Combining several technologies can deliver gains of several tens of per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the bank\u2019s data shows<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swedbank analysed ten years of financial data from Estonian industrial companies. The companies were divided into four groups according to their investment activity. The group investing most actively had an EBITDA margin twice as high as the group investing the least. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.<\/p>\n

Kirsim\u00e4e stressed that caution is needed when drawing conclusions about causality, as profitable companies also have more money available to invest. Nevertheless, the relationship has remained consistent and strong over the ten-year period.<\/p>\n

The more successful companies share several characteristics. They:<\/p>\n