What happens when a startup from a small Mediterranean island steps onto the global stage at the United Nations to pitch alongside world-leading innovators? For Violetta Skittidi, co-founder of legal-tech platform Formulaw.ai, it was a moment of both recognition and responsibility. It meant proving that meaningful innovation can come from places often overlooked. Representing Cyprus at the 2025 UN STI Forum in New York, Formulaw.ai joined a high-level roundtable to discuss how science, technology, and innovation can accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, from gender equality to inclusive economic growth.
In this exclusive interview with The Future Media, Violetta reflects on the experience, the global justice gap her team is tackling, and what it takes for a startup from Cyprus to get a seat at the table. And make it count.
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First off, congratulations on Formulaw.ai being part of the Tenth Annual Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) 2025. How did this opportunity come about, and what did it mean for you personally and for the company?
Thank you. It was both a proud and humbling moment for me and our team at Formulaw.
The opportunity came through Invest Cyprus, which has been a consistent supporter of innovation and entrepreneurship. We first crossed paths at GITEX in the UAE, and stayed closely connected ever since. Earlier this year, the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) invited Invest Cyprus to nominate a startup working on solutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. That’s how we found ourselves standing in the ECOSOC chamber at the United Nations.
Our vision has always been to help small businesses gain access to affordable legal services for the betterment of the economy. To share that mission on a global stage, and to tie for best pitch alongside two exceptional companies, was a milestone we won’t forget.
What felt surreal was that in 2018, I represented ECOSOC at a Model UN conference in Budapest. This year, I sat in the ECOSOC chamber as a founder, representing Cyprus and pitching a real-world solution to a real problem. It was a sharp reminder of how far ideas can travel when built with purpose.
Formulaw was created to close the justice gap for small businesses. Being recognised at the UN showed that meaningful change can come from anywhere, not just the usual names in tech. We were proud to represent Cyprus at a time when the country is investing in both innovation and human rights, reflected in its recent election to the UN Human Rights Council. The support we received from Invest Cyprus, the Permanent Mission to the UN, and the DCO was unwavering. We returned with clarity, momentum, and a renewed sense of responsibility.
The STI Forum focuses on the role and contributions of science, technology, and innovation to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 Agenda. This year’s forum reviewed five SDGs:
- Goal 3. Ensure health and well-being for all;
- Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;
- Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
- productive employment and decent work for all;
- Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for
- sustainable development; and
- Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
How does Formulaw.ai’s work contribute to these goals?
Our work at Formulaw aligns most directly with SDGs 5, 8, and 17. While SDG 16 wasn’t formally reviewed this year, we made a deliberate point to reference it throughout.
For us, access to justice isn’t optional. It is foundational.
Our core mission is to democratise legal infrastructure. We help small and medium-sized businesses understand contracts, manage risk, and operate confidently, even without in-house legal teams. That speaks directly to SDG 16. It is often sidelined in innovation circles, but without fair and accessible legal systems, there is no meaningful growth, trust, or inclusion.
One number we reference often is that over five billion people globally lack meaningful access to justice. That includes thousands of entrepreneurs in the global south who are building in complex markets, blocked by legal barriers. That is the gap we aim to close.
SDG 8 is also central to our mission. Our software helps reduce friction in legal workflows so businesses can save time, reduce costs, and focus on what they do best: growing.
As a woman founder in legal tech, SDG 5 is personal. I am a member of Women in Tech Cyprus, a Northeastern Women Who Empower Innovator award recipient, and was recognised in Deloitte’s Fast 50 as a woman innovator. Gender equality isn’t just a principle, it is built into how we lead and who we include.
SDG 17, which is about partnership, is where we are now focusing. We’re not just building software. We are building relationships with institutions like Invest Cyprus and the DCO to explore how startups can plug into the public systems and increase access to legal services at scale. Our participation at the STI Forum was part of that broader effort to create real collaboration between government, technology, and the people who need both.
What we are building may be technical, but the impact we aim for is structural.
What exactly did you present or take part in at the forum? Were there any reactions or conversations that stood out?
We took part in a high-level roundtable hosted by the DCO, where we presented Formulaw as a case study on why legal access should be viewed as economic infrastructure.
Our pitch focused on the growing gap in access to affordable legal services for small businesses and how that gap directly impacts both entrepreneurship and inclusive economic development.
We tied this to SDG 16 and SDG 8, and explained how tools like Formulaw can make legal processes more accessible and scalable for businesses that are typically underserved.
A standout moment was speaking with representatives from the UN Secretary-General’s office about the broader role of legal tech in inclusion and growth efforts. It was clear this conversation is gaining traction, and there’s an opportunity for startups to shape it.
Something else that stuck with us was hearing that only 17% of the SDGs are currently on track. That was a crucial reminder of how much work still needs to be done and why conversations like this matter. This is especially important because startups aren’t just reacting to these challenges but are shaping the trends that could move things forward.
During the discussion, we also made the case that meaningful innovation doesn’t always come from the top down. It can (and should) come from the ground up, especially from founders working in emerging ecosystems. That message seemed to resonate.
Coming from Cyprus, did you feel there was a unique perspective you brought to the table?
When you come from a smaller country, you tend to operate with limited resources, so you approach problems differently.
We don’t have the scale or infrastructure of major markets and tech ecosystems, so we learn to be extremely resourceful and build creative, agile, and sustainable solutions from day one.
That perspective came through during the Forum, especially in conversations about how access to legal infrastructure isn’t just a challenge in developing economies, but is also a hurdle for startups and SMBs in smaller, highly regulated markets like Cyprus.
Overall, our message was that innovation doesn’t have to come from big countries or big budgets. It can come from identifying real, local pain points and building scalable solutions around them.
Did you hear or learn anything from the other participants, such as founders, policymakers, or researchers, that made you think differently about your own work, or Cyprus’s potential in tech?
Yes. One of the key takeaways from the roundtable was just how universal the underlying challenges are. Whether startups were working in healthcare, AI safety, or legal access, we all seemed to be addressing gaps in infrastructure that weren’t built with accessibility or scale in mind.
That shifted how we thought about Formulaw — not just as a contract tool, but as part of a broader push toward infrastructure that works for small businesses, especially in emerging markets. Legal tech isn’t often framed as foundational, but it should be.
We also gained a lot from the policy perspectives shared during the discussion. Conversations with UN Kersten Jauer (UN Executive Office of the Secretary-General), Vincenzo Aquaro (UN DESA), Maria Chepurina-Deswel (Partnerships Officer at the UNSG office), and Amir Dossal (Global Partnerships Forum) helped us understand how startups like ours can play a role in delivering digital public goods, and how alignment with international priorities like cross-border interoperability and inclusion can amplify our impact.
The experience was also a reminder that Cyprus doesn’t need to stay on the sidelines. We may be a small ecosystem, but we have the capacity and the responsibility to contribute to shaping future-ready infrastructure that works beyond our borders.
What’s next for Formulaw.ai after this experience?
The forum gave us more than visibility. It gave us validation that the problem we’re solving is systemic and global.
After speaking with both UN representatives and founders tackling similar barriers in other sectors, we left with a clearer understanding of how legal access fits into broader digital inclusion efforts. We’re now focusing on:
- Scaling across common law markets with underserved SMBs,
- Deepening partnerships with institutions that care about access to justice
- Exploring collaboration with public bodies interested in embedding legal technology into their digital infrastructure goals
We’re also refining our AI tools in ways that align with cross-border interoperability and localregulatory needs. This is something the policymakers at the forum highlighted as crucial.
What kind of support do you think Cypriot startups need to get more representation on global stages like this?
The first thing Cypriot startups need is coordinated visibility. Opportunities like the STI Forum often come through nomination or referral, and we were fortunate that the DCO and Invest Cyprus opened that door for us. More startups would benefit from structured pathways that connect them to global platforms and policy conversations.
But representation isn’t just about showing up. Startups need support translating their work into frameworks that resonate with policymakers, whether that is through the SDGs, digital development targets, or legal interoperability. This kind of framing is critical yet rarely expressed.
Regional collaboration is just as important. In fragmented markets like ours, navigating overlapping regulatory systems is a cost few startups can absorb. What we need are cross-border sandboxes that allow innovation to scale within aligned regions such as the GCC, ASEAN, or similar blocs, without having to repeat the compliance process in every jurisdiction.
Finally, government procurement needs to become part of the startup playbook. In small markets, governments are often the largest buyers but the slowest to adopt. A modest pilot with a ministry carries more weight than months of pitching, yet startups are rarely in the room when procurement criteria are set. Giving them a seat at that table could unlock real momentum.
For founders in Cyprus trying to get their ideas seen and heard, what is one piece of advice you would share with them now that you have taken a seat at the table?
Honestly, just keep building and talking about what you’re working on, even if it feels like no one’s listening at first.
Our endgame was never to talk at the UN. We were just trying to solve a real problem, and when the opportunity came through from the DCO, we were ready to talk about it because we’ve been doing the work behind the scenes.
You don’t need to have a huge network or perfect pitch. Just be clear on what you’re solving and why it matters, and be open to sharing that with people. Most of the support we’ve had came from simply starting genuine conversations.
