CivTech supports Ukraine’s innovation journey: an update

Back in March 2025, CivTech shared news of an initial meeting with colleagues from Ukraine that sparked interest on both sides in how challenge‑led public sector innovation works in practice. Since then, that interest has been formalised - and, more importantly, put into action.

From conversation to collaboration

Following a visit to St Andrew’s House, CivTech signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Global Government Technology Centre (GGTC) Kyiv. The aim of the partnership was clear: to support GovTech Lab Ukraine, the country’s first open innovation programme by opening up CivTech’s day‑to‑day delivery model and sharing practical insight into how challenge‑led innovation operates within the Scottish public sector.

This was never about Kyiv copying a model. Instead, CivTech’s focus has been on transparency - making its processes visible and grounded in real delivery. That includes how Challenges are shaped with public sector sponsors, how startups and public bodies work side‑by‑side, and how funding, procurement and risk are managed throughout delivery.

Moving into delivery mode

Since late November 2025, the partnership has shifted firmly into active engagement. At the time, the GovTech Lab Ukraine team was running what they called an ‘Innovation BootCamp’, and there has been strong interest in CivTech’s Accelerator - particularly how it connects real public sector problems with innovative solutions that can be built, tested and taken forward.

Procurement has been another key area of discussion. CivTech’s research and development procurement has been of particular interest, especially the flexibility it creates to engage innovators early while still operating within formal public sector rules. These conversations have gone beyond theory, digging into how decisions are made and Challenges are navigated in practice.

Seeing delivery first-hand has been one of the most rewarding parts of the partnership so far. The CivTech team had the opportunity to join GovTech Lab’s Demo Day online, and it was great to see how the programme runs and the brilliant mix of ideas coming through. And while the Lab’s team was not able to join us in person at CivTech’s Demo Day on 13 May, they were still very much part of the event - with a recorded update being shared on stage so the audience can hear directly from them about their progress and experience.

Alongside this, CivTech has opened up its wider ecosystem, making introductions to partners, stakeholders and networks we work closely with. This has included connections within Scotland’s Ukraine business community, helping to place the work within a broader innovation and delivery landscape.

Mark Elliott, CivTech’s Head of Division, said, “From the very first moment we met the team from Kyiv, it wasn’t a question of whether we should work together, but a question of how and how quickly could we get things going? And in a world far too often troubled and divided, it’s wonderful to be able to do something on an international level that brings people together. And while it might seem that the knowledge transfer is a one-way process, it’s not. We’ve learnt so much from our friends in Ukraine, and personally I hope that one day, soon, we’ll be able to meet there and celebrate what we’ve done together.”

Ukraine perspective

As the GGTC Kyiv team developing GovTech Lab Ukraine has shared, one of the most valuable parts of the partnership so far has been the level of openness within the exchange. Over the past few months, there have been a series of one-on-one learning conversations with the people who built and continue to run CivTech — and those discussions have directly informed elements of how GovTech Lab Ukraine is being shaped and refined.

A particularly valuable aspect of the collaboration has been the willingness to share not only what worked, but also the challenges, iterations and lessons learned along the way. That kind of transparency between international partners is still relatively rare, especially when discussing the realities of delivery and experimentation in government innovation.

A joint Challenge could become an important next step in the partnership — moving from knowledge exchange towards practical co-creation and bringing together CivTech’s experience in challenge-led innovation with the rapid development of Ukraine’s GovTech ecosystem.

"The shift that stayed with me from CivTech is what you measure – not innovation outcomes, but the capacity to build, test, and learn. That is a different theory of government, and it is one we are now designing into GovTech Lab Ukraine. We would be excited to see how those ideas could evolve further through a joint Challenge with CivTech, drawing on Ukraine’s experience of building GovTech in complex conditions." – said Iuliia Drobysh, Partnerships Lead at GGTC Kyiv.

What’s next?

Looking ahead, both teams are exploring how the partnership could move beyond shared learning into shared delivery. Early discussions are underway around running a joint CivTech Challenge in the future - a significant next step that would see CivTech and the GovTech Lab Ukraine team working side‑by‑side on a real public sector challenge.

While the partnership runs for four years from December 2025, we expect our relationship to thrive for many years beyond – we’ll be sharing further updates along the way. If you would like to find out more, you can read our first blog about the partnership here.