As governments seek alternatives to fragmented systems and vendor lock-in, Ukraine's experience with Liquio demonstrates how reusable digital infrastructure can accelerate service delivery while strengthening digital sovereignty.

From Standalone Projects to a Reusable GovTech Ecosystem

Governments around the world face a common set of challenges when digitalising public services. Custom-built systems are often expensive, difficult to maintain, and slow to scale. According to research by McKinsey and the University of Oxford, large public-sector IT projects exceed their budgets by an average of 45%. At the same time, per the U.S. Government Accountability Office, around 80% of federal IT spending in the United States is dedicated to maintaining legacy systems rather than developing new capabilities.

Fragmentation creates an additional challenge. When ministries and public institutions build separate systems, each new initiative becomes more expensive and complex, while citizens are left navigating multiple disconnected platforms.

As concerns about technological dependency continue to grow, digital sovereignty has become an increasingly important policy objective. In June 2026, the European Commission proposed the European Technological Sovereignty Package, recognising digital dependence on external suppliers as a strategic vulnerability. Governments are looking for ways to maintain control over critical digital infrastructure while accelerating service delivery and reducing long-term dependence on individual vendors.

As Ukraine expanded its digital government ecosystem, there was a growing need to deliver new services quickly, consistently, and at scale. Rather than building each service as a standalone project, Kitsoft developed Liquio — a GovTech low-code platform that provides a reusable foundation for digital public services.

Building Digital Services on Reusable Infrastructure

Rather than creating every service from scratch, Liquio is a GovTech low-code platform developed by Kitsoft that provides governments with a common digital foundation for developing and scaling digital public services. It combines open-source technologies and reusable architecture, and is available in both a commercial edition and an open-source edition. The platform enables government teams to use reusable components, connect to registries and other public-sector data sources through X-Road, and integrate with digital identity systems and other services through open APIs. Government teams also retain full ownership of source code and documentation.

The platform combines open-source technologies, low-code development tools, and process management based on Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). By reusing components and integrations, government institutions can launch new services faster, reduce development costs, and reduce duplication. The average time required to launch a new service on the platform is approximately six weeks.

Supporting National Services and Recovery Programmes

The strongest demonstration of the platform's capabilities is its use across Ukraine's digital government ecosystem. More than 200 digital services have been developed on Liquio and deployed across national and sector-specific platforms.

The most prominent is Diia, through which more than 24 million citizens access public services and digital documents. At the municipal level, Kyiv Digital serves more than 2 million users, providing access to transport, city services, public participation tools, and communication with local authorities.

Another example is Diia.AI — the world's first AI assistant for public services that enables not only consultations but also the full execution of government services through natural language interaction. Citizens can request official documents using conversational language and receive them within minutes, without navigating forms or portals. The solution demonstrates how reusable digital infrastructure can support the next generation of citizen–government interaction.

The same platform approach has also supported some of Ukraine's most critical wartime and recovery initiatives:

• RD4U, the digital claims system connected to the International Register of Damage for Ukraine in The Hague, enables citizens to submit claims for war-related losses through Diia. As of June 2026, more than 130,000 claims had been submitted, creating a digital foundation for documenting losses and supporting future compensation mechanisms.

• eRecovery is a digital compensation programme for citizens whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the war. The service enables applications, verification, and compensation procedures to be completed entirely online, reducing bureaucracy and accelerating access to support. As of June 2026, more than 206,000 Ukrainian families had received compensation through the programme, with total payments exceeding UAH 103.9 billion (approximately USD 2.3 billion).

• e-Veteran provides veterans and their families with access to government services, benefits, and support programmes through a single digital entry point, including dedicated services for veteran entrepreneurs and digital veteran credentials through Diia.

Collectively, these examples demonstrate how reusable digital infrastructure can support service delivery across multiple sectors while maintaining consistency, reducing duplication, and accelerating implementation.

Scaling Through Partnership and Knowledge Transfer

An equally important part of the Liquio approach is building institutional capacity. Implementations are accompanied by knowledge transfer, training, and certification programmes that help government institutions and local technology partners independently maintain and expand digital services over time.

Alongside platform development, Kitsoft has been building a broader Liquio ecosystem. Eight companies have already completed training and certification programmes and are independently developing solutions on the platform. This approach expands the pool of implementation partners, spreads expertise beyond a single vendor, and supports the long-term development of digital public services across Ukraine and internationally.

Lessons for Governments

Ukraine's experience highlights that digital transformation is not only about launching new services. It is also about creating the foundations that make future services easier to build. Several lessons emerged from this approach.

• Open source alone does not guarantee digital sovereignty. Governments also need internal expertise, knowledge transfer, and long-term operational capacity.
  

• Interoperability and reusable components often generate more value than isolated digital projects. The ability to reuse integrations, workflows, and service modules can significantly accelerate future development.
  

• Knowledge transfer should be treated as a core part of implementation rather than an optional activity. Training programmes, certification, documentation, and support for local technology ecosystems help ensure that governments can continue developing and scaling services independently over time.
  

• Sustainable digital transformation requires investment not only in technology, but also in people. Building internal capacity and supporting a broader ecosystem of implementation partners reduces dependency on individual suppliers and strengthens long-term resilience.

Ukraine's experience shows that the true value of digital transformation lies not only in individual services, but in a government's ability to continuously create new ones. Reusable digital infrastructure is what makes that scale possible.