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GovTech Lab Lithuania — National AI Sandbox for Public Services
Lithuania · Vilnius · See the Lithuania profile · See the Vilnius profile
Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 34% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
Lithuania's national GovTech Lab runs funded sandbox cohorts letting public bodies trial AI and emerging-tech tools before rollout. Its 2024 AI cohort tested products in 13 institutions and advanced 6 concepts; the model is now co-replicated across five EU countries through 2027.
3 institutions
Institutions submitting challenges (pilot Challenge Series) (2019–2020)
12 teams
Solution teams in the implemented challenge (2019–2020)
up to 53,000 EUR
Sandbox grant per institution (2024 AI cohort)
13 institutions
Institutions testing AI products (2024 cohort) (2024)
6 concepts
Concepts advanced for further development (2024)
Details
- Maturity
- Scaling
- Promoter
- Innovation Agency Lithuania (Ministry of Economy and Innovation)
- Period
- 2019–2027
- Region (NUTS)
LT01- Keywords
- govtech, AI sandbox, regulatory experimentation, digital public services
Context
GovTech Lab Lithuania was established in 2019 out of the government's 'Create Lithuania' programme as a national unit for testing emerging technology in public services, now housed under Lithuania's Innovation Agency (Ministry of Economy and Innovation). It runs a GovTech Challenge Series pairing public institutions with startups, startup incubation/acceleration, and a funded 'sandbox' mechanism.
Activities
In the pilot Challenge Series (2019–2020), public institutions submitted challenges to be matched with startup solution teams. The programme evolved into a funded Sandbox offering grants to prototype AI-supported solutions; for 2025–2027 GovTech Lab Lithuania leads the country's arm of the EU-funded GovTech4All project, co-developing a 'GovTech AI Sandbox' methodology tested in parallel across Estonia, Greece, Malta, Lithuania and Sweden with European Regional Development Fund support.
Results
In the pilot Challenge Series, three public institutions submitted challenges and one proceeded to full implementation with twelve solution teams. The first AI-focused Sandbox cohort (2024) saw thirteen public-sector institutions test AI-supported products, of which six concepts were advanced for further development.
Conclusions
The programme operates at national rather than neighbourhood scale, and its published results are participation and output counts (institutions engaged, concepts advanced) rather than measured downstream service outcomes.
Implementation
- Indicative cost
- Medium (€50k–€500k) — Sandbox grants of up to approximately €53,000 per institution; EU co-funding via GovTech4All with European Regional Development Fund support for 2025–2027.
- Time to results
- Long (> 3 years) — Established 2019; pilot Challenge Series 2019–2020; sandbox cohorts ongoing; EU co-replication 2025–2027.
- Staffing & skills
- Innovation Agency Lithuania (Ministry of Economy and Innovation), GovTech Lab Lithuania team
Conditions for success
- Funded sandbox grants to de-risk public-sector prototyping
- Pairing public institutions with startups
- EU-level co-replication and methodology sharing (GovTech4All)
Common failure modes
- Published results are participation/output counts rather than measured downstream service outcomes
Where it fits
- Governance type
- national government agency
- Scale
- national, now co-replicated across five EU countries
- Income level
- high-income
Commonly funded by
ERDF — European Regional Development Fund National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
- C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-08-09
- Innovation Agency Lithuania (Ministry of Economy and Innovation) — accessed 2026-08-09
- GovTech Sandbox — official programme page — accessed 2026-08-09
- OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation — accessed 2026-08-09
- GovTech Global Alliance profile — accessed 2026-08-09
Attachments
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