Author: Alex Borg, Project manager
Across Europe, a growing community has been experimenting with novel forms of innovation procurement, often referred to as GovTech. GovTech4All represents the first European effort to create a dedicated GovTech incubator. But what exactly is GovTech?
In broad terms, it can be defined as a public-private partnership, often involving start-ups, to develop digital public service solutions that address specific challenges rather than simply following rigid, traditional procurement methods. Like many big ideas, there are multiple definitions, but most focus on innovative procurement practices, the inclusion of private sector actors (typically start-ups), and the principle that the challenge itself is the starting point.
A European Single Market for GovTech
The GovTech4All incubator brings together leading GovTech initiatives from across Europe under one roof to support the procurement of high-quality digital public services that are interoperable and user-centric by default. The ultimate aim is to help build a European Single Market for GovTech.
From a legal standpoint, GovTech4All is a Digital Europe Programme project that operates under a Framework Partnership Agreement, with successive rounds of implementation delivered through Specific Grant Agreements (SGAs). Each SGA builds on lessons from the previous one, much like a series of rocket launches, each refining the next. The first SGA has been completed and work on the second is already under way.
The consortium remains permanently open to national digital public agencies and top-tier GovTech organisations from throughout Europe that wish to join this growing network.
Achievements of the First Round
During the first round the consortium delivered three innovative pilots in partnership with civil society, research institutions, national digital agencies, and private sector GovTech advocates. These pilots addressed cross-border data security, the complex processes citizens face in accessing social benefits, and the limitations of traditional procurement approaches.
The three pilots were:
- Secure information in cross-border data spaces: a post-quantum cryptography and fully homomorphic secure data space using the Once-Only Technical System for the exchange of skills and qualification data.
- Personal regulation assistants for social benefits: rules-as-code (OpenFisca) powered personal assistants enabling citizens to assess entitlement to benefits and claim them more easily.
- A start-up challenge for innovative procurement: the use of the design contest regulation and open innovation process to procure energy-efficiency solutions in five municipalities across Europe.
Several of these pilots have already progressed to minimum viable products that are now deployed in real-world settings, moving well beyond the pilot stage. At the same time, the consortium has cultivated a vibrant community with a distinctly European spirit. GovTech4All has effectively become the continent’s GovTech home base, fostering a dynamic “club effect” in which collaboration and shared learning flourish. Whereas the consortium once actively sought new partners, national digital agencies and leading GovTech organisations are now approaching the initiative themselves. GovTech4All has become a recognised destination for public sector innovation in Europe. In fact, the community has grown from 21 organisations in 14 European countries to 32 organisations in 20 countries, extending beyond the European Union from Iceland to Ukraine.
This momentum was evident at the GovTech4All European Consortium Summit held in Bilbao this summer, which attracted stakeholders from across Europe and beyond, including policy makers at local, national and European levels, civil society representatives, and members of Europe’s thriving start-up reservoir. Organised by LANTIK with the support of all partners, the summit illustrated the project’s growing impact and the central role of community in any successful ecosystem.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
The project was not without its challenges, yet each difficulty contributed to a deeper understanding of how to harness Europe’s extensive network of world-class start-ups, private sector actors and innovation champions within the civil service. These insights are now helping to shape excellent public services for European citizens while strengthening competitiveness on a continental scale.
A primary barrier involved semi-formal obstacles to cross-border procurement. Although the single market has removed many formal restrictions on cross-border service provision, several indirect requirements continue to hinder opportunities. Language conditions for tender applications can deter start-ups, and mandatory registration on specific platforms creates further complications. Informal issues such as risk aversion towards both cross-border procurement and engagement with start-ups add to the challenge, as smaller providers are often perceived as less reliable than established local or large organisations. Nevertheless, the consortium succeeded in achieving cross-border procurements despite these obstacles, and by identifying the barriers early, it has taken the first essential step towards overcoming them.
Securing the reuse of solutions developed during the first round of implementation proved another difficulty. While many of the innovations will feed directly into forthcoming pilots, the wider goal is to ensure that these mainly open-source solutions are adopted by additional stakeholders across Europe. To meet this objective, the consortium has established a strategy aligned with the Interoperable Europe Act. This plan includes adding the solutions to the Interoperable Europe Catalogue and placing strong emphasis on dissemination and stakeholder engagement to attract further reusers, with the catalogue serving as the central repository.
Finally, the project faced considerable variation in the technical capacity and organisational maturity of its partners. Participants ranged from nimble, highly innovative SMEs such as Gobe to large national digital agencies like DINUM, each bringing different levels of expertise and resources. What might have been a weakness instead became a defining strength. The diversity of maturity levels and organisational cultures fostered mutual capacity building, enabling partners to support one another and elevating the collective intelligence of the consortium. This collaborative spirit and shared commitment to solidarity became a hallmark of the project, transforming diversity into a true asset.
Moving into SGA2
With lessons learned, a united community, and strong achievements, the consortium is now embarking on a more ambitious second round. Eight new pilots will focus on themes such as a digital services marketplace, an AI-powered accessibility assistant, GovTech AI sandboxes, an all-in-one public service super app, and new applications of rules-as-code.
This phase emphasises reuse and scalability of existing solutions and the integration of emerging technologies such as AI. The goal is to move fully beyond prototypes and deliver solutions with tangible real-world impact. And further to this, GovTech4All aims to make innovative procurement methods and user-centred, interoperable digital services the norm rather than the exception.
Europe faces turbulent political and economic times. The Draghi report has raised concerns about a weakening economy, while geopolitical shifts and conflict on Europe’s borders threaten long-held stability. And to further compound these concerns, poor digital public services have been linked to citizens’ erosion of trust in government. GovTech4All is certainly not a panacea, but Europe must use every tool available, including its dynamic start-up ecosystem, to strengthen public service delivery, competitiveness and above all the European ethos. By fostering innovation and collaboration, GovTech4All offers a vital contribution to meeting these challenges.
