Konstantin Vasyuk, Executive Director of the IT Ukraine Association, explained the Ukrainian IT industry has been affected by the conflict, and how it is responding
Ukraine has been at war with Russia since 2014, from the moment of Crimea’s peninsular annexation. For eight years, the military actions never stopped in Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern region. Despite the ongoing conflict, in 2021 the Ukrainian IT industry recorded a growth of 36%, from $5 billion to $6.8 billion in exports. At the same time, the number of specialists increased from 244,000 to 285,000. Over the past three years, the industry has more than doubled in exports and has grown by more than 50% in the number of specialists.
Just unlock your phone and look through the apps: creating funny videos by Reface, learning a new language on Preply, having your home secured by Ajax – without realising it, we are daily users of software created by Ukrainians.
When the US government revealed the plans of Russia to invade Ukraine in February 2022, 92% of Ukrainian IT companies developed Business Continuation Plans to prepare for the eventuality. As outlined in these plans, they moved immediately their specialists who were involved in contracts with foreign clients to the countries of Eastern Europe or to the western regions of Ukraine. When the invasion of the Russian army started on 24 February, IT companies organised the evacuation of all their employees from central and eastern regions of the country.
Many of Ukrainian IT specialists joined the armed forces, in particular those who had experience in military actions during previous years. Those who don’t have any military experience are doing what they can do best – fighting at the cyber front. Thanks to that, many Russians have discovered the truth about this war, despite the massive Russian propaganda wall.
All Ukrainian IT companies are doing their best to fulfill their obligations to foreign clients, even in these extreme conditions, because IT is one of the key export industries of Ukraine. However, the profitability of the IT business may decrease for a short time, because all these companies are also donating huge amounts of their income to support our army and people in need. We do believe that we are doing our best in defending our country, and that the war will end soon. IT, as our key economy sector, will be one of the drivers of Ukraine again.
Read more via DIGITALEUROPE
Join Webinar: How the Ukrainian IT industry is still standing against all odds – 15th March 2022, 13:00-13:45 CET, Online
Executive Director Konstantin Vasyuk and two member companies of IT Ukraine will join DIGITALEUROPE for the webinar “How the Ukrainian IT industry is still standing against all odds“. The event is public and you can register here.
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- Come Back Alive is one of the largest charitable foundations that supports Ukrainian soldiers, founded by the IT specialist Vitaliy Deynega. The organization collected more than 210 million UAH (more than $7M) in 2014. According to Na chasi, the Patreon page Come Back Alive is in the top ten projects by the number of financial donations.
- Army SOS, which develops drones;
- Everybody Can, an organization that supports internally displaced people;
- Help on the Ministry of Defense website.