Vilnius, Lithuania – 17.02.2026 – citytax UAB, a Lithuanian GovTech Start-up specialising in digital infrastructure for tourism management and tourism taxation, has been selected as the winner of the tourism challenge under GovTech Lab Ukraine, Ukraine’s first national open innovation programme connecting government institutions with startups to co-create smart public services.
GovTech Lab Ukraine selected three startups from Ukraine and Europe – citytax, Obriy AI, and Itera – to pilot digital solutions in partnership with Ukrainian government institutions. The selected projects focus respectively on enabling data-driven tourism management, improving access to legal assistance, and increasing transparency and efficiency in urban development processes.
The programme attracted 67 applications from startups across Europe. Following a multi-stage evaluation process including expert review and jury assessment during Demo Day in Kyiv, one startup per challenge area was selected to proceed to implementation. Each winning team will receive up to USD 100,000 and will work with its respective government partner over the next 12 weeks to develop and test its solution in a real operating environment.
citytax UAB was selected as the winner of the Data-Driven Tourism Management Challenge, implemented in partnership with the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine. According to the consolidated jury evaluation, citytax received the highest overall score among the submitted solutions. The tourism challenge was sponsored by Mastercard, supporting innovation in digital tourism infrastructure.
The citytax pilot will introduce a digital platform for accommodation registration and tourist-tax administration, including standardized identifiers, structured data flows, and AI-based screening of accommodation listings. The system is designed to improve compliance, enhance transparency, and enable more reliable tourism data for policymaking.
Importantly, the pilot is structured to align with EU Regulation 2024/1028, enabling Ukraine, through this implementation, to become the first country to operationally implement a tourism compliance framework compatible with the regulation in practice.
“This result confirms that our solution addresses a real public-sector need and can be integrated into existing administrative systems,” said Julian Ipsen, Co-Founder of citytax UAB. “We are proud to contribute Lithuanian GovTech expertise to Ukraine’s digital transformation efforts.”
“With EU Regulation 2024/1028 redefining digital governance in tourism, this pilot positions us at the forefront of a scalable European digital ecosystem, including Ukraine’s alignment with EU standards. Built on an open-source foundation, our secure and interoperable infrastructure reduces vendor lock-in
while enabling regulatory compliance and sustainable cross-border expansion across the EU,”says Virginijus Kandrotas, CTO at CityTax UAB.
About GovTech Lab Ukraine
GovTech Lab Ukraine is Ukraine’s first open innovation programme in government technology. It enables government institutions to collaborate directly with startups to design, test, and validate digital solutions before scaling them nationally. The approach reduces implementation risk, accelerates innovation cycles, and strengthens the digital economy.
GovTech Lab Ukraine is an open innovation programme in government technology implemented by the Global Government Technology Centre Kyiv (GGTC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the World Economic Forum, and with the support of Switzerland within EGAP Program, which is carried out by East Europe Foundation. More information can be found at https://www.kyivgovtechcentre.org/govtech-lab.
About citytax UAB
citytax UAB is a Lithuanian GovTech start-up developing digital infrastructure for municipal tourism management and tourism taxation. The company focuses on compliant, interoperable systems that support transparency, data reliability, and evidence-based public decision-making.
Media contact:
Virginijus Kandrotas
Founder & CTO
citytax UAB
virginijus@citytax.app
http://www.citytax.app
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