Baltic States Aiming to Be Global Govtech Leaders

GovTech has stormed into the startup scene like a hurricane over the last years. Pandemic, paired with raising expectations from citizens and increasingly available innovative technologies, encouraged governments to look for out of the box solutions for digital government challenges. 

Baltic states have long been considered the leading examples of digital government. All three countries score way above the average in the European E-Government Benchmark. Public sector teams, such as GovTech Lab in Lithuania, has also ensured that not only legacy digital solutions but also radical innovation is being tested out in the public sector. World Economic Forum have designated Estonia and Lithuania as GovTech leaders in the GovTech Maturity Index. 

And after a few years of wait, the GovTech thought-leaders across the region can finally meet in one place - on June 16th, Vilnius is becoming the GovTech capital of the region and hosting international GovTech Baltic Leader conference. The GovTech Baltic Leaders is a unique opportunity for curious public sector organisations, adventurous startups, ambitious digital companies, and tech activists to gather for a full day of keynotes, discussions, fireside chats, and networking opportunities. This year the speakers will be talking about entrepreneurial public sector, citizen engagement in the digital age, AI-public servant and much more. 

“We often face the perception that public sector and startups are incompatible with each other. However, so many entrepreneurs these days are looking for social impact challenges to solve. And so many digital government issues could be solved by innovations – from better public services to citizen engagement. GovTech Baltic Leaders aims to destroy these barriers. In addition to keynotes and discussions, we will host conversations between public sector officials and startups that have successfully worked together and co-created GovTech solutions,” says Arune Matelyte, one of the organizers and the manager of the GovTech Lab Lithuania. 

GovTech Baltic Leaders will host speakers such as Estonia’s Government Chief Data Officer Ott Velsberg, former Vilnius Municipality CEO, and current COO of a unicorn startup NordVPN Povilas Poderskis, Advisor to the Lithuania’s Minister of Economy and Innovation Erika Kuročkina, Strategic Policy Lead at Canadian Digital Service Michael Karlin, as well as many others. However, major part of this year’s conference will be not just discussions and presentations, but also in person networking. 

“Although digital communication is a lifesaver when in-person connection is not possible, we have seen how much ecosystem growth has happened since the return of live meetups. Our conference agenda and event space will have as many opportunities as possible for in person networking,” says Kamila Gasinska, Partnerships Lead at the GovTech Lab. 

You can join the GovTech Baltic Leader live in Vilnius or online globally. Registration and agenda can be found on govtechbalticleaders.lt.