As governments across the world accelerate their digital transformation agendas, one truth is becoming increasingly clear: the real success of e-government initiatives depends not just on delivering new systems, but on building long-term institutional capacity, fostering public ownership, and designing for evolution – not replacement.
At the e-Governance 2025 Conference, Julius Zubė, Development Cooperation Advisor at NRD Companies, offered powerful insights into how sustainable digital infrastructure is created. His key message? It’s not about delivering a sleek new system and moving on. It’s about co-creating solutions that serve the public, evolve over time, and are deeply embedded in national institutions.
You can have the most beautiful and efficient system, but if no one has a vested interest in making sure that it grows and serves the population, it’s a pointless system.
– Julius Zubė, Development Cooperation Advisor at NRD Companies
Digital Infrastructure as Public Reform
Too often, digital public infrastructure projects are approached as technical upgrades rather than deep public reform. NRD Companies challenges this thinking, emphasizing that governments must treat these projects as long-term institutional investments.
From NRD Companies’ perspective, truly effective digital infrastructure is:
- Resilient to changing needs,
- Scalable for national growth,
- Interoperable within government ecosystems, and
- Locally owned, with access to source code and internal capacity for change.
We believe that digital infrastructure should be sustainable. That means not locking governments into relationships they can’t manage or change.
– Julius Zubė, Development Cooperation Advisor at NRD Companies
The Role of Co-Creation
What sets NRD Companies apart is its deep commitment to structured co-creation. This means working closely with public institutions to define problems, identify priorities, and build solutions collaboratively. It’s not about copy-pasting what worked elsewhere, it’s about understanding the unique context of each country.
This human-centered, iterative approach includes:
- Listening to the institution’s leadership and staff
- Applying design thinking methods
- Involving citizens and end users
- Working with local developers and IT companies
A landmark example comes from Belize, where NRD Companies helped the government launch its first digital public services by co-creating three national systems: the Online Business Registry, the Civil Registration System, and the Secured Transactions and Collateral Registry (STCR). Instead of arriving with assumptions, NRD Companies began by asking what the real pain points were, what people needed first, and then built the solutions together with local stakeholders.
Empowering the Local Ecosystem
One of the strongest themes in the interview was the importance of empowering local talent. For NRD Companies, digital transformation is only sustainable if local people are able to support, maintain, and improve the systems after the consultants leave.
To this end, the company developed its GovTech Innovation Accelerator©, a framework inspired by successful GovTech Labs across Europe and beyond. It helps countries:
- Launch their own national innovation ecosystems
- Connect public institutions with local startups and developers
- Enable institutional learning and system sustainability
Through this model, NRD Companies has helped countries like Lesotho implement a national e-Invoicing system aligned with local tax rules, and supported Trinidad and Tobago through the Developers’ Hub, which trains local developers to manage public systems long-term.
Building the Capacity for Change
For NRD Companies, technology is only one component of a much broader transformation. The real focus is on building the capacity to change – within institutions, ecosystems, and societies.
We’re not just delivering software, we’re building the foundation for countries to shape their own digital futures.
– Julius Zubė, Development Cooperation Advisor at NRD Companies
The lesson is clear: successful digital government is never a one-off event. It’s a process rooted in co-creation, shared ownership, and local leadership. And when done right, it empowers governments to serve their citizens better – now and into the future.
