UkraineInvest conference: how to raise the bar of technological development in Ukraine
On December 11, 2020, was held the first annual international conference organized by UkraineInvest. The purpose of the event is to demonstrate the realities of the changing business environment, highlight investment opportunities and reform progress in Ukraine. As part of the panel “Ukraine: investment harbour in the time of change” experts from the public and private sectors shared their successes in the technology sector and discussed the country’s IT industry’s future potential.
The thematic discussion speakers were:
- Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister — Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine;
- Lenna Koszarny, Founder and CEO of Horizon Capital;
- Yuriy Lazebnikov, Managing Partner of Techiia.
The panel was moderated by Nicholas Tymoshchuk, CEO of UFuture holding company, who began the panel discussion with an emphasis on the importance of developing the competitiveness of the Ukrainian IT sector and science.
"UFuture believes in and invests in Ukraine as a potential technology leader. Travelling around the world, we saw how many resources and efforts had been put into developing science and technology, both on the part of the authorities and private investors in developed countries. Especially in Western Europe and North America, science, technology and innovation are very attractive to venture investors. The amount of investment in this sector is outstanding. Therefore, as a player in the global IT arena, we need to pay attention to our global competitiveness," said the top manager.
Mykhailo Fedorov shared the results that testify to the country’s leadership in the field of digitalization.
"Today Ukraine is taking the fastest steps towards building a digital state — we are the first in the world to create electronic passports, the fourth in Europe to launch virtual driver licenses, we have the fastest opportunity to register a business online and this list can be continued for a long time. We have every opportunity to make an even greater leap towards Ukraine's global competitiveness, which is political and business support and access to investment. We have now registered the Diia City bill as the best tax system in the world, and now we are discussing with experts for the sake of its future improvement".
Olena Kosharna spoke about investing in long-term projects that can bring Ukraine to the forefront of technological development.
"When we build a portfolio, we pay attention to projects that can create a digital ecosystem. We invested $200 million in Data Group because the telecommunications structure is still essential for the country. Also, we are funding international software developer Ciklum and focus on payment platforms. Our portfolio includes players with sophisticated and exceptional cutting-edge technologies. We further plan to invest in the Ukrainian IT sector, since there are many opportunities in the world that Ukrainian companies should successfully use. The proof is the leadership of the job search engine Jooble, the second only to the largest company in the market Indeed".
Yuriy Lazebnikov told, in particular, how you can achieve organic development by creating businesses in different segments.
"One of our programmers came up with an idea to create an outsource within the company. It became a continuation of the ecosystem and reinforced the whole cycle of services for our clients. If outwardly it seems that these are different directions of the holding, then internally, they strengthen the work of each other".