International Cooperation

The mission of GovTech Polska is to transform Poland "from analog to digital" and to promote Poland as one of the world leaders in applying emerging "discruptive" technologies, in particular in administration and public services at every level: from offices of the central government to local ones.

Our goals and tasks derive from that mission, such as our participation in international projects and debates, increasing the digital skills of our society through involvement in projects, and a very important dialogue with innovators, both smaller and larger technology companies and start-ups run by youth and students. We want to strengthen our Digital State and the Society - an ecosystem served by technologically advanced public administration: effective, efficient, safe, transparent, and, above all, citizen-friendly and "easy to use with just one click". We want to develop and promote this image of our country at the international arena. We strive to make our State and Citizens among the most technologically advanced societies in the world; that Poland becomes and is perceived as a world leader in digitization and innovation of the public sector; that its employees, recipients, and providers of technological services and solutions (all being Citizens) use advanced technologies at ease.

We are a community of professionals operating in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, coordinating the inter-ministerial group for GovTech. With our daily work, we influence the reality that surrounds us and together we change Poland. As an opinion leader, we act for the benefit of the state and society, supporting our country's efforts in digital transformation. Internally, we are a strong, efficient, and dynamically developing team of professionals. Externally, we want the patterns promoted by GovTech Polska to become good practices in the country. We support the cooperation of companies and technological institutions with public administration. We actively participate in important debates at the international level that affect the creation of digital reality in public life, administration, and state-citizen relations. We cooperate with leaders and authorities in Europe and in the world in the field of digitization and new technologies, especially in public administration.

The aim of the international cooperation undertaken by GovTech Polska and the resulting projects is to develop and expand our program. We want to promote the practical application of innovative technologies - help public administration authorities in the digital transformation, and facilitate citizens' access to public sector services, also on an international scale and outside Poland. We are an active member of various international organizations and institutions. We regularly participate in international conferences and workshops, in work on the forum of international institutions such as the European Union (mainly the European Commission and the European Parliament), OECD, the United Nations (UNDP, ITU, IGF), CivTech Alliance, Creators, and other industry associations. We also develop bilateral relations with other countries - their administrations and innovators, i.e. the broadly understood global govtech and civtech ecosystem. The great advantage of our international projects is the exchange of experiences with partners and fantastic people with whom we work.

Our most important international Partners and Projects

European Union

Representatives of GovTech Polska regularly participate in the work of the European Union, e.g.. on the EU White Paper for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe, a strategy for European data, or the ongoing public consultations on the Digital Services Act (DSA). Digitization is one of the priorities of President Ursula von der Leyen, and Poland and GovTech in particular supports and implements these goals. We also cooperate with the European Parliament, mainly with the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). We are also closely following the analyzes and reports of the European Commission on the digital market, including the annually published “Digital Economy and Society Index” (DESI).

EU GovTech platform - pilot project

In spring 2020, GovTech Polska submitted an application to the European Parliament for funding a pilot project for the EU GovTech competition platform. Drawing on our experience, we want to scale the project and start international competitions with administrations and innovators from other European Union Member States. In June 2020, we received good preliminary grades from the European Commission with recommendations for further proceedings. In September 2020, we had a successful vote by the European Parliament's (EP) Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). We are now waiting for the vote in the EP's Budget Committee (BUDG). We hope to get the requested budget and launch the project in 2021. We will keep you posted on the progress.

Hackathon #EUvsVirus

GovTech Polska, in cooperation with the European Commission and the other EU Member States, helped to organize a pan-European hackathon in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. Justyna Orłowska, Plenipotentiary of the Prime Minister for GovTech, was the Ambassador of the event, while GovTech Polska became the institutional partner of the hackathon. Thousands of teams from over 30 countries competed for the awards. The winning teams were invited to the European Innovation Council. More than 31 teams from Poland took part, and the great winner from Poland was the Covid Genomics team, which previously won first place in our #HackTheCrisis hackathon. More information about the event is available on the website

United Nations

GovTech Polska also participates in the works and consultations of the United Nations, such as the ITU (International Telecommunication Union based in Geneva. We took part among other participants in the WSIS Forum 2020 panel (World Summit on the Information Society). Together with the Ministry of Digitization, we are particularly active in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), where we participate in the works of the IGF Program Committee. Our biggest project at the moment is the upcoming GovTech Festival powered by IGF, which we treat together as preparation, the so-called "Zero Year" to the IGF 2021 in Katowice co-organized by Poland (instead of this year's edition, which was postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic).

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

Representatives of GovTech Polska regularly participate in the work of the OECD, especially the Committee on Digital Government, based on the OECD Council Recommendation on the Digital Government adopted in July 2014. This Recommendation aims to support the development and implementation of digital administration strategies that bring governments closer to citizens and enterprises. Recognizes that today's technology is not only a strategic incentive to improve public sector performance, but can also support the effectiveness of policies and create more open, transparent, innovative, participatory, and trusted governments. However, the proliferation of technological options can create new threats and greater social expectations for which governments are not always fully prepared. Many governments still do not see technology as a common means of shaping public management performance. An inattentive approach to technology that strengthens existing internal government processes only leads to unsuccessful projects and public criticism. The Recommendation enables a fundamental shift from a citizen-centric approach ("citizen-centric approach") to citizen-centric approaches as a co-decision maker responsible for the affairs of the state or its local community. -driven approach ”, i.e. citizens and enterprises as active participants in public life, formulating and defining their needs in cooperation with governments).

The basic principles and values of digital technologies for more open, participatory, and innovative Governments are defined by the OECD Digital Government, which are also adhered to and applied by GovTech Polska.

The next E-Leaders 2020 meeting will be held remotely from October 15-16, 2020, and the theme will be: "Digital Government Maturity: Acceleration or Sustainable Decision?" ("Maturity of digital administration: acceleration or sustainable decisions?"). The work builds on four main pillars to show how countries can and should evolve on their way to digital maturity:

Digital government management and appropriate political levers;

Data management and data ethics;

Advancement measurement;

International cooperation and solidarity in the digital age.

In the long term, efforts are crucial to define and implement a strategic vision and plan to harness the value of digitalisation to benefit all groups of citizens. This means securing the use of digital technologies and data to support governments that are more flexible, responsive, and resilient. Discussions will also be based on the OECD Digital Government Policy Framework to identify and compare good practices in the field:

a) user-centered design,

b) design and provision of public services based on the user and data (user- and data-driven public service design)

c) delivery and service-oriented policies to create a sustainable, inclusive, and trusted digital - a privileged state - bearing in mind reforms that can and should be undertaken to ensure a sustainable and fair exit from the COVID-19 crisis.

CivTech Alliance

Since 2018, GovTech Polska has also been a member of CivTech International Alliance, an informal association of govtechs and civtechs from five continents. The founding member is CivTech Scotland, then we and colleagues from other countries joined, e.g. Accelerate Estonia, GovTech Lab Lithuania, Barbados Tech Accelerator, CivicSoftware Foundation from the USA, CivTech Scotland, NDRC (National Digital Research Centre) from Irelandi, Oost NL from the Netherlands, Sandbox Vlaanderen from Belgium, Danish University of Technology, Creators from Israel and CivVic Labs From Victoria, Australia. Wiktoria w Australii.

Together, we create a space for the exchange of experiences and joint commitment to improve the quality of life of societies using the achievements of advanced technologies. Our goals are to promote, share, and jointly implement good, innovative ideas. We are one of the largest sources of support for Government Technology programs for citizens and public administrations. We are a group of GovTechs at various levels of the public sector - from central to local government and local - or operating for the public sector, which is combined by new technologies for the common good. More information is available on the website

Creators

Our next partner is CREATORS. It is an innovation laboratory located in Israel, Tel Aviv. Supports organizations in the development and implementation of innovative solutions. It is a bridge between corporations and startups.

With the substantive contribution of GovTech Polska, a prepared report entitled “GovTechReport: Public Sector Meets Innovation” summarizing the GovTech sector. First of all, the report is a presentation of what “Government Technology” is and how various govtech entities operate around the world. In addition to the benefits of GovTech programs and their key components, the report highlights the right foundations for building GovTech entities in the public sector. Secondly, the report suggests how to launch Government Technology programs and shows examples from countries, including Poland, of how GovTech works and what benefits have been achieved for the public sector and society thanks to the introduction of such a program.

Bilateral Cooperation

GovTech Polska was created based on the greatest international experience. To introduce public administration to the path of digital development, based on innovations and modern technologies, creating optimal opportunities for implementing digital technologies in public administration and for the government, we were inspired by solutions from Singapore to Israel. We have established bilateral contacts which we develop in a more or less formalized form. We work directly with governmental administration and institutions from a given country or with embassies of accredited countries in Poland.

Among our most important partners are: Great Britain, Israel, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, and Austria. We also started talks with Singapore, Japan, and Brazil.

We have signed the so-called Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), e.g. with one of the pioneers of govtech, i.e. Great Britain and the British Government Digital Service (GDS) in May 2019, and earlier in 2018 with the Scottish CivTech Scotland and with the Austrian IOEB agency responsible for innovative public procurement (Public Procurement Promoting Innovation). The bilateral level helps us to push for interesting ideas on a wider international forum, e.g. in the European Union, the United Nations, or the upcoming EXPO 2021/22.

In terms of international cooperation, Polish diplomatic missions scattered around the world help us a lot: our Embassies, Consulates, Polish Institutes, or Foreign Trade Offices (ZBH PAIH), as well as departments from other government units responsible for international cooperation. We believe that such important topics require efficient communication and coordination of activities, as well as the involvement of all interested entities.

We encourage you to cooperate with us -- govtech@kprm.gov.pl