The number of days of war in Ukraine will soon reach three digits. It continues in all spaces: on the land, in the air, in the water, and in the emerging battlefield – cyberspace. TIME writes that this is the first war using artificial intelligence; WIRED emphasizes on the STEM education and management of Ukrainian IT companies during the war; Financial Times produced a movie about Ukrainian defense tech development; The Recursive wonders whether Ukraine can become a Silicon Valley in the defense technology industry.
All possible sub-sectors of information technology are involved in the war to preserve the state. Two years ago, at the beginning of the invasion, the world was stunned by the resilience of Ukrainians. Time goes on, but we continue to believe, and most importantly, to fight for our victory on all fronts, including the technological one.
Tech Changes on the Eve of the War
The war erupted immediately after two important events for the Ukrainian tech sector: the launch of a special legal regime for IT companies — Diia.City, and the opening of the technology and entrepreneurship university SET University.
The main advantage of Diia.City is that it allows businesses to operate openly, profitably, and conveniently – just like in Estonia, Singapore, or Delaware. The team of the country’s main state innovators, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, has combined comfortable tax conditions with effective tools that allow companies to build a transparent corporate structure, attract foreign investment more easily, and use additional mechanisms to protect intangible assets. Key players in the Ukrainian tech scene like Nova Post, Epam, MacPaw, Reface, Ajax, Genesis, Sigma Software, Luxoft, Monobank, Softserve have already joined the program and become residents of Diia City.
SET – Science, Entrepreneurship, Technology – is a university of innovation. Aiming to reform Ukraine’s education system by focusing on the country’s strengths (entrepreneurship and technology), SET is continuing to operate even during the war. The university is preparing the ground for Ukraine’s future right now – students are studying leading technologies such as Cyber Defense, Solution Architecture, Information and Cybersecurity Management with international education and business leaders. “There is a great mission to make Ukraine an innovation hub in Europe. And this is possible only through education, because education is the foundation of everything,” emphasizes Iryna Volnytska, President of SET University.
Non-stop ProactivITy
Everyone says that Ukraine is resilient. Another appropriate word to describe Ukraine’s tech sector since the start of the war is agility. At the public and private sector level, the IT industry has tactically changed its development vector not just quickly, but instantly. The market adapted to the new realities, organized itself, and started acting.
ACT 1. The Army of Drones Project. This complex program involves drone procurement, delivery, replacement, pilot training in order to constantly monitor a 2 470 km frontline and support an effective response to enemy attacks. Powered by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
ACT 2. Economic driving force. The private sector of the industry faced a real relocation crisis. However, it continues to implement projects, create new products, create jobs for people, and pay taxes. The IT industry actively supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Since the first days of the war, IT companies have been donating millions to charities, purchasing weapons, vehicles, drones, equipment and other necessary equipment to bring victory over the enemy closer.
ACT 3. Brave1 Cluster. Ukraine launched a defense tech cluster BRAVE1 to stimulate development of military innovations and defense technologies. “Ukraine has to become a country that is rapidly developing, learning and actively using technology. Especially in the military sphere. Our goal is to build a system with a quick launch of defense tech projects. To make bold decisions and create the best conditions for the development of companies that develop military technologies,” — said Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development and Minister of Digital Transformation.
ACT 4. Unstoppable Innovations. Thus, despite the military needs, Ukrainian entrepreneurs continue to work on creating innovations, attracting investments and receiving awards around the world. Headway, BetterMe, Releaf, Preply, Esper Bionics, Awesomic — champions of the world’s market, tireless innovators and visionaries who conquer the world and make it a better place.
ACT 5. Endurance of supporting organizations. IT clusters, associations, communities, funds, accelerators, incubators, NGOs have also been active since the beginning of war. They have worked and continue to work to support the tech sector with information delivery, they create jobs for people, organize community networking, organize pavilions at the world’s largest technology conferences, and engage international partners and international expertise. «Civil society organizations are very important players, they are supporting the horizontal links and solidifying the basis for democracy, uniting and highlighting proactive players. We give our input to the common victory,» — commented Nataly Veremeeva, Director at TechUkraine.
We continue working for our TECHable Future
Everyone involved in the IT sector has been working on its own front for these two years. It is critical for Ukraine as a country to maintain and increase the pace of development of the IT sector. The tasks Ukraine is facing are clearly outlined in the Global Transformation Strategy of Ukraine, developed and presented by the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Among them: the importance of a clear action plan for the education development strategy (edtech and STEM education); de-shadowing of Ukraine’s economy using blockchain; medtech, development of regenerative medicine and biotechnology; focus on the development of human capital and science; inclusion of space technologies (SpaceTech) in the priority sectors of innovation. To read the full text of the strategy, please follow the link.
We do not stop, we continue working for our victory and TECHable future.
