Public-sector innovation rarely happens in isolation. More and more administrations are exploring how to work with startups and GovTech actors to solve concrete service challenges, test new approaches, and create public value. But effective collaboration requires more than enthusiasm. It depends on the right governance, trust, alignment, and implementation conditions.
This 8-hour in-person workshop is a practice-oriented session designed for public-sector professionals who want to understand how to collaborate more effectively with startups and GovTech providers. It explores how these partnerships can support innovation in public administration while also addressing the realities of public governance, institutional constraints, and delivery challenges.
Grounded in a real GovTech use case, the workshop invites participants to reflect on the full collaboration journey: identifying a relevant challenge, assessing solution fit, understanding the roles of different actors, managing risks, and thinking through experimentation and scaling. The focus is not only on innovation as an idea, but on what makes collaboration work in practice.
Participants will explore ecosystem thinking, public value creation, innovation partnerships, trust-building, stakeholder alignment, and concrete implementation challenges. The session is designed to help them move from abstract interest in GovTech to a more structured and actionable collaboration approach.
What participants will learn
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
- explain the opportunities and constraints of working with startups and GovTech providers
- analyse a collaboration scenario in terms of actors, risks, governance, and expected public value
- identify enabling conditions for successful public innovation partnerships
- formulate an initial collaboration approach for a concrete public-sector challenge
Who this workshop is for
This workshop is particularly relevant for public-sector professionals involved in digital transformation, innovation, service design, policy implementation, or partnership building. It is well suited to managers, innovation leads, service owners, project teams, and anyone interested in more effective public-sector collaboration with external innovators.
Practical aspects:
DATE: November 2026
LOCATION: Brussels
PRICE PER PARTICIPANT: 480 € excl. VAT (minimum of 15 participants to run the course) – travel, accommodation and dinner not included.
This course is eligible under the AI4Gov-X extracurricular activity funding scheme, allowing enrolled or accepted participants to request reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible costs, including travel, accommodation, and registration fees, up to a maximum of €5,000 per person.