What the Ukrainian think tank GovTech Global Government Technology Center is working on. Exclusive dev.ua
The head of GGTC Kyiv, Zoya Lytvyn, spoke about the main areas of the center’s work.
The head of GGTC Kyiv, Zoya Lytvyn, spoke about the main areas of the center’s work.
According to her, the Global Government Technology Center, which is part of the World Economic Forum’s network of C4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution) centers, officially launched on December 18. «The task of our center is to collect the best local expertise in the field of GovTech and make it available to the whole world,» Lytvyn emphasized on March 6 during the GovTech Meetup.
The Ukrainian center became only the second center in the world focused on digital governance technologies, after the similar German one.
The center works in four main areas:
- GovTech Observatory is an analytical team responsible for implementing research in the field of digital transformation, technologies and innovations in public governance, and also formulates recommendations for improving the GovTech ecosystem of Ukraine.
- Innovation Gateway is an initiative to create Ukraine as a key platform for testing innovative solutions in the field of GovTech.
- GovTech Board is the world’s first community of digital ministers and their teams to share experiences and implement best practices.
- Future Comms is a program to promote Ukrainian digital solutions at the global level, in particular through the World Economic Forum platform.
President of the Eastern Europe Foundation Viktor Lyakh noted that Ukraine has all the prerequisites for the active implementation of GovTech solutions. He recalled that Ukraine has reached fifth place in the world in terms of the development of government electronic services (E-Government Development Index) and first place in terms of the level of digital participation of citizens.
dev.ua spoke with the heads of the GovTech Observatory departments, Tetyana Prykhodko and Kateryna Frolova from Innovation Gateway, about the role of their departments at GGTC Kyiv.
Tetyana Prykhodko worked on projects of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, in particular in the field of regional digitalization. This experience demonstrated that the Ukrainian government has a demand for data-driven decision making, implements projects based on KPI, which allows making the result more measurable and comparable in dynamics. The full-scale invasion complicated the implementation of many initiatives, in particular, the destruction of critical infrastructure. For example, according to a KSE study, direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure due to the war increased to $170 billion, of which losses to digital infrastructure and the telecommunications sector are estimated at $1.2 billion.
According to Tetyana, the analytical direction of the GovTech Observatory studies GovTech initiatives in Ukraine and the world, and also generates ideas for the development of domestic GovTech at the global level. «For our country, this is a strategic issue of exporting Ukrainian solutions, because the demand for such technologies is growing. „Diya“ has already become a well-known brand, but the Ukrainian GovTech ecosystem contains much more initiatives that may be interesting for other countries,» said Prykhodko.
The key partner in the government of GGTC Kyiv is the Ministry of Digital Transformation. «Thanks to its cooperation with the World Economic Forum and the support of the initiative by the Eastern Europe Foundation within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian program EGAP, the Global Government Technology Center was opened in Kyiv. This is one of two such centers in the world,» said Prykhodko.
The head of the GovTech Observatory noted that regular participation in international forums (Davos, Washington, European summits) helped build trust in Ukraine. «About 20% of Ukrainian GovTech solutions appeared after 2022, which indicates the government’s ability to create innovations even in difficult times. The key factors for success were changes in organizational culture: the creation of CDTO (Chief Digital Transformation Officer) positions, the introduction of digital literacy courses, the development of open data and acceleration programs. These steps allow Ukraine not only to introduce technologies into the public sector, but also to become a global player in this area,» Prykhodko said.
Kateryna Frolova previously worked at Twitter, Snapchat in Sales and Partnerships, as well as at a Tech startup in Paris. In 2023, Kateryna returned to Ukraine and became the CDTO of the Coordination Center under the Cabinet of Ministers, where she developed digital solutions for adoptive parents and foster families. She told dev.ua in more detail about the Innovation Gateway: «This is a direction for piloting innovations. In general, it is about creating a platform for startups, researchers, scaleups, small companies. We create platforms to solve public sector challenges that can be solved with the help of innovations.»
The Global Government Technology Center actively collaborates with GGTC Berlin and business representatives, and aims to involve governments, civil society organizations, and businesses in its work. One of the center’s strategic objectives is to ensure Ukraine’s compliance with European digital governance standards by 2030, which will be an important step on the path to EU integration.
The launch of the Kyiv GovTech Global Government Technology Center was first announced by the Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, who stressed the importance of launching the center for transformational solutions in the field of digital governance. «Thanks to the center, Ukrainian startups and innovators will be able to exchange experience with foreign partners and accelerate digital reforms in Ukraine,» Fedorov wrote in Telegram.
Read the country’s main IT news in our Telegram
Read the country’s main IT news in our Telegram
IT specialists in the civil service earn an average of $1,000: what salaries can IT professionals in the GovTech field expect?
IT specialists in the civil service earn an average of $1,000: what salaries can IT professionals in the GovTech field expect?
Ukrainian IT companies created the GovTech Alliance
Ukrainian IT companies created the GovTech Alliance
The world’s second GovTech center has opened in Kyiv. What areas of work will it focus on?
The world’s second GovTech center has opened in Kyiv. What areas of work will it focus on?
