election of initiatives for the creation of a technological solution from OpenTech

OpenTech is a corporate charitable programme initiated and created by SoftServe employees. The programme systematically develops pro bono digital solutions in the following areas:

• education reforms and transformation;
• ecology;
• healthcare;
• innovations and “smart city” initiatives;
• community empowerment;
• equality and inclusion;
• support for vulnerable population groups;
• support for veterans (Ukraine).

The goal is to create a technological solution that will strengthen the partner’s project.

Projects can be submitted by international or local public organizations, charitable foundations, social enterprises, media, local or state authorities. Political, religious organizations, and commercial institutions are not allowed to participate. 

Countries covered by the selection: Ukraine, Poland, Colombia, Mexico.

Direct monetary funding is not provided. The program involves providing software development services by SoftServe specialists on a free basis (pro bono).

Supported activities under the competition provide that work on the projects selected as winners will start in 2026, according to the timelines agreed with their initiators.

As part of project implementation, the winners are required to:

• review the project implementation roadmap;
• form a team of staff responsible for launching the project and ensuring timely coordination with OpenTech regarding the project;
• provide OpenTech in advance with the necessary information on changes to the project, its structure, and the content of the resource that may affect development;
• provide informational support and communication assistance to the Partner, where needed and possible;
• after development is completed, accept the project from OpenTech and continue supporting it either independently or with the involvement of third parties.

As part of project implementation, OpenTech must:

• form a team of specialists to deliver the project;
• develop the concept and technical specifications for project implementation based on the materials provided by the competition winner;
• develop and launch the product, including the transfer of intellectual property rights to the competition winner.

1. Fill out the electronic participant form on the website.

2. Send additional materials about the project in electronic form.

3. All fields of the registration form must be completed.

The competition for selecting projects to be implemented by OpenTech in 2026 will take place through the evaluation of each project by a jury consisting of the Director of Corporate Reputation and Sustainable Development at SoftServe, Mariia Kucherenko; CTO EMEA at SoftServe, Dmytro Ivanov; the Sustainable Development Program Manager at SoftServe, Yuliia Tarkovska; the OpenTech Programme Coordinator, Taisiia Bratasiuk; the OpenTech Project Coordinator, Oleksii Hrebinko; the OpenTech Project Manager, Volodymyr Krasivskyi; the Lead Designer, Taras Skytskyi; and the Designer, Polina Petrishyna.

Evaluation categories:

• Overall impact of the project on communities or the environment;
• Project scale / number of users of the resource/audience;
• Relevance of the project;
• Availability of technological expertise within OpenTech to implement the solution.

Projects will be shortlisted by the end of March, and the official results will be announced by the end of April 2026. As a result of the selection process, a total of 5 projects will be chosen for the OpenTech team to work on in 2026, in addition to the existing list of initiatives.

• Completed electronic participant form.
• Additional materials about the project (presentations, etc.).

The clarification period regarding participation in the selection lasts 21 days from the date of the OpenTech selection announcement.

After completion of development, the partner must accept the project and continue further support independently or with the involvement of third parties. The transfer of rights is formalized by an agreement and a deed of gift/donation.

The legal terms of the competition provide for signing contractual documentation and regulating matters related to intellectual property and confidentiality.

Before cooperation on the implementation of the selected projects begins, the competition winners and SoftServe sign a Memorandum of Cooperation.

Each project that has successfully completed all development stages and is expected to be released for public access and transferred to the intellectual owner must be transferred under a donation agreement and a deed of donation/charitable contribution, depending on the type of entity represented by the participant.

If the signatory is a charitable, civil society, or non-profit organisation (including public authorities, local self-government bodies, and state-owned enterprises/institutions/organisations), the transfer of the software product and proprietary rights is carried out through a charitable donation agreement and a charitable donation transfer deed. If the signatory is a private legal entity, the transfer is formalised through a gift agreement and a handover and acceptance deed.

The donation/gift agreement and the relevant deed are signed with organisations operating in Ukraine. If a partner organisation operates in other countries, the documentation is prepared in accordance with the applicable legislation of the respective country.

Regarding intellectual property, each participant guarantees that the project idea, technical materials, the product and/or its content do not infringe, in whole or in part, the intellectual property rights or ownership rights of third parties. The participant releases SoftServe from any liability and undertakes to compensate for any damages if such infringement occurs, and to indemnify SoftServe (and its representatives, partners, and successors) for any costs, liabilities, losses, and expenses incurred as a result of such infringement.

After project development is completed, SoftServe undertakes to transfer to the partner, free of charge, the software product and the exclusive proprietary intellectual property rights to the software product and its documentation.

Confidentiality requirements also apply: project documentation, the purpose and method of use, and the project audience presented by participants are confidential and must not be disclosed to other participants or outside the selection process.