BERLIN — Estonian companies are showing increasing interest in bringing their technology to Silicon Valley, said Andrus Viirg, director Enterprise Estonia, a technology promotion agency in San Jose. "We've seen a definite increase in the number of Estonian companies coming to visit, especially in the IT sector, Viirg said.

Some 60 Estonian companies have visited Silicon Valley in the past 12 months, he said. From those 60, two companies have opened offices: Micromesh, which develops components for electronic microscopes and Modesat, a developer of satellite communication software.

In addition, several other companies are seriously considering offices, Viirg said.

Enterprise Estonia is planning to expand office space to accommodate the growing interest in Silicon Valley.

"Estonian IT and electronics companies have been running after Estonia government contracts," he said. "But now this era is already over and they have to look much further and start exporting their technology that was developed in Estonia."

Another factor is cost. The strength of the Estonian kroon and the weakness of the US dollar has made it cheaper to get established in the US than in Europe, he said.

Enterprise Estonia offers the companies a base and contacts. The agency also organizes trips for Estonian companies to the US as well as US companies to Estonia.

"The companies here know that Estonia is where Skype was developed, so we are already on the map," he said.

The biggest challenge for an Estonian company is stepping into an area with strong competition.

"The Nordic mentality is maybe too slow compared to Silicon Valley, especially in marketing products," he said. "But you can learn that once you're set up here."

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