GovTech Polska signs MoU with UK digital agency

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The Government Digital Service has signed a memorandum of understanding with its Polish equivalent.

The MoU, which was signed last month, is aimed at “strengthening the partnership” between GDS and GovTech Polska. The government claimed that the agreement will allow the two organisations to collaborate on standards and common practices, as well as sharing expertise and promoting each other’s work. 

The arrangement will, the government hopes, also help grow the overall value of trade between the two nations, the annual value of which currently stands at £16bn. Another goal of the MoU is to support the growth of the technology industry in both Poland and the UK.

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Justyna Orłowska, director of GovTech Polska, said: “Due to the collaboration of the strongest players on the govtech arena in Europe, I believe the govtech scene will grow rapidly, as both Poland and Great Britain have lots of experience and best practices to share with others. Setting a great example for other countries is just the start of innovations throughout the public sector in all of Europe.”

GovTech Polska was established little more than a year ago. Its creation came on the back of a successful hackathon initiative in which the country’s Ministry of Finance invited software developers and other tech professionals to propose technological ideas for combatting fraud. 

Since then, it has run a number of competitions to help central and local government entities in Poland seek tech solutions to their public-service challenges.

Its website says: “GovTech Polska was created with a goal of finding innovative solutions to real problems facing the administration by employing cutting-edge technical and digital tools. With its launch, we are filling in another piece of the Polish administration’s ecosystem of innovations. GovTech Polska is tasked with designing entirely new models of cooperation between all levels of administration and the innovators.”

GDS has a number of MoUs in place with similar entities around the world – including an agreement with GovTech Singapore that was also signed last month.