A new open innovation model pairs tech companies with ministries to design, test, and scale digital solutions for citizens.
Today GovTech Lab Ukraine announced that three startups from Ukraine and Europe have been selected to pilot digital solutions for public services in Ukraine’s first open innovation programme for the public sector.
GovTech Lab Ukraine is an open innovation programme in government technology implemented by the Global Government Technology Centre Kyiv (GGTC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the World Economic Forum, and with the support of Switzerland through the EGAP Program, which is carried out by East Europe Foundation.
GovTech Lab Ukraine enables government institutions to work directly with startups to design and test digital solutions before scaling them. This approach helps reduce the risks of large-scale digital projects, accelerates innovation cycles, and allows both public institutions and technology companies to develop solutions grounded in real operational needs—ultimately improving public services and strengthening the digital economy.
This year, GovTech Lab Ukraine focused on three challenge areas developed together with government partners: legal assistance, urban development, and tourism management.
During the programme, seven startups worked with public-sector teams to refine user needs, test hypotheses, and prepare pilot concepts, which they presented at Demo Day. The solutions were reviewed by an Advisory Board that included representatives from government, international organisations, and the GovTech ecosystem.
Winning startups and their pilot solutions
Obriy AI to pilot automated legal assistance for Ukraine’s justice system
In partnership with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the “Automated Legal Assistance” challenge is designed to expand access to basic legal guidance for citizens while easing the operational burden on Ukraine’s Free Legal Aid service.
As demand for legal support rises amid ongoing wartime and reconstruction pressures, scalable digital tools are becoming essential to maintain timely and consistent service delivery. The winner, Obriy AI, will pilot its SURE platform to support legal aid operators.
The enterprise-grade solution deploys AI agents capable of understanding legal intent, retrieving information from approved knowledge bases, and assisting staff in responding to citizen inquiries — all while adhering to strict security and data-governance requirements. The pilot is expected to reduce workload for legal aid professionals, shorten response times, and improve the consistency and quality of frontline legal support.
citytax UAB to modernise Ukraine’s tourism data infrastructure
In collaboration with the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine, the “Data-driven Tourism Management” challenge aims to strengthen how tourism data is collected, analysed, and applied in policymaking.
As Ukraine looks to rebuild and reposition itself internationally, transparent and reliable tourism data will be essential for informed decision-making, fair taxation, and long-term sector development. The winner, citytax UAB, is a Lithuanian GovTech company building digital infrastructure for public-sector tourism management and local taxation.
It will pilot a digital platform for accommodation registration and tourist-tax administration, introducing standardised identifiers, structured data flows, and AI-based screening of accommodation listings. The solution enables authorities to detect unregistered properties, improve tax compliance, and generate more reliable tourism data. Designed to integrate with existing public-sector systems and align with European regulatory frameworks, the platform supports scalable rollout beyond the initial pilot phase.
Itera wins challenge to digitise Ukraine’s construction oversight
In partnership with the State Inspectorate of Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine, the “Transparent and Efficient Urban Development” challenge set out to modernise one of the most critical bottlenecks in Ukraine’s reconstruction: construction permitting and regulatory compliance.
As the country rebuilds, improving the transparency, speed, and accountability of urban planning processes — particularly around complex documentation and regulatory requirements — is essential to restoring infrastructure at scale.
The winner, Itera, is a Nordic software and innovation company with more than 30 years of experience and a strong team based in Ukraine. Itera presented an AI-powered solution that automates the extraction, structuring, and verification of complex construction documentation.
The system conducts compliance checks against current regulations and introduces auditable workflows alongside role-based dashboards, helping authorities streamline permit issuance while strengthening transparency and oversight in the rebuilding process.
Over the next 12 weeks, startup teams will work together with government partners to develop and deploy the proposed pilot solutions in real operating environments. Each team will receive up to $100,000 to implement and test their solutions in partnership with Ukrainian government institutions.
Support for selected challenges is provided by Mastercard, partner of the data-driven tourism management challenge, and East Europe Foundation, partner of the automated legal assistance challenge. Infrastructure resources across all three challenges are provided by De Novo, enabling startup teams to design and test pilot solutions.