How Design Thinking can support the establishment of an EU GovTech ecosystem

GovTech is a relatively new domain of joint interest for public administrations and the private sector. It is recognised to bring social, economic and environmental benefits to (i) the government by driving administrative efficiency, (ii) to citizens by improving quality of services, and to (iii) business by creating the conditions for start-ups growth. In order to provide services that more effectively satisfy citizens' needs and expectations while also complying with government regulations, the GovTech sector is currently exploring how to embrace design thinking and approaches for effective citizen engagement. Building upon the triangulation of knowledge from the existing body of scientific and grey literature, the paper explores how design thinking can support the establishment of an EU GovTech ecosystem. It reports on the methodology developed in the context of the GovTech Connect project that combines (i) design thinking with (ii) co-design and (iii) service design with an experiential learning process. As a result, it points out how design thinking principles and phases can be adapted and adopted to set up a better collaboration between the GovTech actors (public administrations, start-ups and SMEs, nonprofits, and research centers). Ultimately, it discuss