GovTech Leaders 2025: Charting New Paths Through GovTech Dilemmas
On October 23d, 2025, the seventh GovTech Leaders conference took place in AC Hotel by Marriott, Vasario 16-osios 5, Vilnius. As usual, the conference was dedicated to public sector innovation, and brought together over 30 speakers — leaders in this field: policymakers, technology experts, researchers, and heads of startups.
The focus of the seventh conference was identifying and finding ways to solve the main dilemmas of implementation of GovTech solutions in the public sector. Each country approaches GovTech innovation differently, despite that, the speakers managed to outline three main quandaries, namely:
Speed vs Trust:
in the ever-changing world, governments are often pressured to “move fast” with the solutions. However, building a trust with citizens can be quite a time-consuming process.
Public Accountability vs Agile Innovation:
transforming outdated systems requires collaboration with the private sector, yet innovation must remain anchored in transparency and ethics.
The European Paradox:
Europe excels at drafting frameworks and policies, but not always at building and testing prototypes fast enough. The future of GovTech depends on turning this creativity into tangible, scalable solutions.
Speed vs Trust
During the Fishbowl section of the GovTech Leaders conference, Zoya Lytvyn, Head of the Global Government Technology Centre Kyiv, Ukraine, spoke about the speed vs trust dilemma. “At the Global Government Technology Centre in Kyiv, the world’s second GovTech centre within WEF C4IR network, we work every day at the crossroads of public policy, government technology, and open innovation. Dilemmas aren’t theory for us — they’re our daily reality”, she said.
Ukraine’s digital transformation journey started in 2019, and it’s a vivid example of navigating dilemmas under extreme circumstances. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine was facing dire straits in the shape of ongoing russian war on Ukraine — which later turned into full-scale invasion — and overcoming the roadblock of post-soviet legacy of mistrust to public institutions. Everyone involved with Ukraine as a digital state had to prove that digital tools could actually rebuild trust and resilience.
In times of crisis and growing global challenges, the way governments operate must evolve. The development of technology outruns both governmental policies and trust of the citizens in the innovations and policies. Hence, the question arises: can – and should – governments adopt start-up-like qualities to meet the urgent needs of their citizens?
It is not to imply that governments should completely transform into businesses, but rather adopt certain “startup mindset” principles while maintaining their core public mission - serve their citizens.
As Ukraine's digital transformation journey demonstrates, governments don't need to choose between speed & innovation and trust & institutional resilience – pursuing both simultaneously is possible.
By creating e-governance / digital services that matched or exceeded the user experience of the private sector, Ukraine reclaimed its citizens' trust and participation.
The achievements are more than tangible: by 2024, Ukraine ranked 30th globally in the UN e-Government Development Index (EGDI), climbing 16 positions in just two years. The country also secured 5th place in the UN Online Services Index (OSI), after Korea, Estonia, Denmark and Saudi Arabia, a leap from 102nd in 2018, and achieved 1st place in the E-Participation Index, rising 56 spots since 2022.
Public Accountability vs Agile Innovation
The second dilemma is transforming the outdated systems in a collaboration with private sector companies. “In Ukraine, we've learned that you cannot improve fundamentally broken systems – you need to transform them entirely or replace them with something new and effective”, says Zoya Lytvyn, “We need private partners to drive innovation, yet we also need to ensure public accountability for final outcomes and ethical use”.
The best example of collaboration between public and private sector in Ukraine is the Diia system. It was developed with private actors, and displays how startup methodologies can enhance – not detract from – public service.
With more than 23 million users, the Diia app has transformed how citizens interact with the government. Each new service was launched as an MVP that was continuously improved through iteration. The Diia accounts for over 130 public digital services through the web portal, and over 60 through the app.
Another example is the Air Raid Alert notifications. The old Soviet-era municipal air raid sirens were often inaudible in many areas, which put a lot of people at risk. Within a few days of the full-scale invasion, Ajax Systems, a home security company together with IT company STFalcon, developed the app in collaboration with our Ministry of Digital Transformation. The Air Alert app solved this critical problem by delivering instant notifications to smartphones — allowing citizens to seek shelter before incoming attacks.
Doing the same thing solely through governmental institutions wouldn’t be possible, as it would’ve required the traditional long-term bureaucratic cycles and processes. So, for Ukraine, the approach of collaboration between public and private sector is not about seeking financial gains, but creating a convenient digital state, from which both sectors can benefit – a vision fundamentally rooted in public service.
The best example of such collaboration is Estonia, which became the first fully digitally transformed country, with 99% of government services available online 24/7. The digital transformation of Estonia became possible through the collaboration between public and private sectors. Firstly, the collaboration leads to innovation. Secondly, such collaboration allows turning cost into value, as private sector contribution returns to state in form of taxes and exports.
The European Paradox
During the “How Do We Move Beyond Pilots to Sustainable Systemic Change?” section of the conference, Arusyak Martirosyan, Head of UX & Service Delivery at the Information Systems Agency of Armenia (ISAA), shared how the country is moving beyond pilots to sustainable systemic change through a holistic e-society architecture — built on interoperability, cybersecurity, and user-centric design. The country still experiences challenges with adopting the digital transformation. While 90% of services are available online, they are far from being user-centric.
Another problem of is partial digitalization, which leads to services’ fragmentation, some features are available online, while others only offline. Yet, Armenia is on the right path with changing its focus from technology per se to services that improve day to day lives of people. The government has already adapted four foundational legal acts moving towards digital transformation, namely: public information law, law on population register, cybersecurity law, and law on electronic identity and e-signature.
Currently, Armenia is entering the final stage of implementing a new generation Passport and ID cards. To improve the digital services it currently offers, Armenia implemented the Citizen Feedback Tool - a standard 5-point rating widget for all public services.
During the “Digital sovereignty starts where procurement decisions are made” presentation, Hessel van Oorschot, Program Manager, SiR Intergov, Netherlands, showed how the governments can build digital independence, when buying technology. According to Oorschot, empowering startups through flexible, challenge-based tenders can turn procurement into a tool of innovation and independence.
The core idea is finding solution for big societal needs through co-creation. Instead of letting Big Tech dictate the future, Netherlands opts for empowering local startups through government opportunities. The startups are offered flexible contracts, yet, with clear outputs. And it works, as currently, the Netherlands government receives almost 2000 proposals on digital solutions from startups.
The Future of GovTech: Navigating The Dilemmas
Kateryna Frolova, Head of the Innovations Gateway at the Global Government Technology Centre Kyiv, opened the conference with a clear message, that it is time to move from experimentation to empowerment — and build a true culture of open innovation in Ukraine and beyond.
Innovation in the public sector is not just about pilots or proofs of concept. It’s about creating an environment where experimentation leads to learning, where ideas turn into policies, and where technology serves people — not the other way around.
Governments can no longer afford to avoid dilemmas — they must learn to navigate them. Staying agile, learning fast, and turning uncertainty into design principles is the new foundation of resilience in the digital age. And, as multiple speakers from the conference showcased, it is possible.