GovTech Lab Luxembourg

Introduction

The Luxembourg State has set up a GovTech Lab combining GovTech and open innovation in order to accelerate the development and further improvement of digital public services.

The GovTech Lab, which is the result of a cooperation between the Ministry for Digitalisation and its technological arm, the Government IT Centre (CTIE), sets out to encourage and support a culture of innovation and change within the State.  The GovTech Lab draws on the expertise of external stakeholders (private sector, research, education) to develop new solutions for revising existing government procedures and workflows.

The essence of the Lab can be summarised as follows: experiment, exchange, innovate.

Why a GovTech Lab in Luxembourg?

One of the Ministry's strategic axes is to accelerate innovation within the state. The GovTech Lab constitutes an integral part of the actions that the Ministry for Digitalisation is implementing in this area.

What does GovTech mean?

The term GovTech is relatively recent and refers to the use or development of technological solutions aimed at advancing the digital transformation of the public sector with a view to improving the quality of services to citizens and businesses and making better tools available that are dedicated to the public administration's efficiency.

More specifically, GovTech technologies represent and underpin the evolution towards a digital government characterised by user-friendliness, security, accessibility and efficiency regarding the services offered to citizens.

Its literal meaning is  "technologies for government", on the lines of FinTech (technologies for finance) or MedTech (technologies for health). However, GovTech encompasses a broader catalogue of actions intended to make the public sector more agile and more oriented towards innovation in order to make public services more functional technologically.

What does open innovation mean?

In general terms, open innovation is the set of innovation processes based on sharing and collaboration. It aims to use knowledge from outside its usual environment to avoid working in silos.

This external knowledge enriches innovation activities and constitutes a major asset: ideas are better connected to existing needs and more in tune with users' expectations. Development solutions promote the quality of the ideas obtained and increase the speed of technological development.

Open innovation applied to public services seeks to make use of existing external knowledge, that is to say, to introduce innovative ideas, skills or technologies from businesses, start-ups, the self-employed/freelancers, students or researchers willing to support and strengthen innovation in public services. This methodology is already widely present in the private sector and with the GovTech Lab, it is making an entry into the Luxembourg public sector.

The missions of the GovTech Lab

The GovTech Lab has two missions in order to meet the objective pursued by the Ministry for Digitalisation and the CTIE.

Accelerating innovation in the Public Sector through calls for challenges and calls for solutions

The calls for challenges issued by ministries and administrations, collected via the GovTech community or through the annual "Tech-in-GOV" process, are converted into calls for solutions in order to identify and develop innovative solutions in an iterative process. The GovTech Lab uses two different instruments to collaborate with external actors: the innovation partnership and SpeedUP.

The innovation partnership is a process, which takes an average of 8 to 14 months and allows for broader participation by external players thanks to a less restrictive public procurement procedure. As part of this partnership, applicants are first asked to submit their concept papers. Later in the process, they present their innovative solutions to a jury, composed of members of the Ministry for Digitalisation, the CTIE, the administration that put forward the challenge in question and external experts, chosen according to the subject of the call for solutions.

The SpeedUP is a second way to launch calls for solutions. Its purpose, duration and procedure differ from those of the innovation partnership. It may involve the search for an innovative or existing technological solution, but also a legal analysis or a concept proposal. In the case of SpeedUP, interested economic operators can participate in this type of public contract by submitting a tender for the delivery of the desired solution, study or concept.

The development of a GovTech community in Luxembourg

The GovTech Lab complements the existing ecosystem of players who develop and promote innovative solutions. The development of the GovTech community in Luxembourg aims to promote a culture of innovation within the state. This community consists of civil servants interested in GovTech, as well as external actors such as start-ups, researchers and companies. The GovTech Lab network is mainly developed through various types of events organised on its premises. These can include hackathons, designathons, exchange rounds, workshops or training courses.

Those interested can join the GovTech community by subscribing to the Newsletter of the GovTech Lab.