For the first time ever, Ukraine will host a Pavilion at Web Summit, the world’s largest technology conference, this year held in Lisbon, Portugal. The Pavilion will feature startups, IT service companies, foundations and innovations. This impressive Ukrainian presence was made possible thanks to the combined efforts of co-organisers from both Government and industry, including the Ukrainian Start-up Fund, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of Ukraine in Portugal, Sigma Software Group, Ukrainian Hub, Еuropean Business Association, iplace Digital Agency and partners Digital Future, Kyivstar, Parimatch Tech, Rocket, Fondy, Avenga, ISSP, Concord Fintech Solutions, UNIT.City and IT Education Development. Organisers will also host a presentation showcasing the Ukrainian technological ecosystem within the official Web Summit program along with a Ukrainian dinner. Today, Ukraine’s IT industry is growing five times faster than the global average and its current infrastructure includes 5,000 IT companies, 250,000 developers and five Unicorns. Ukrainian startups raised $2bn in VC investments in six years and by 2025, the industry is projected to generate $10bn.
Dmytro Senik, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine and Chief Digital Transformation Officer commented: “Ukrainians are known worldwide for their IT skills and creativity. As the Government is introducing a special legal framework for IT companies – Diia City – we expect further development of Ukraine as a European hub for innovation and R&D.”
Maksym Liashko, co-CEO of Parimatch Tech, added: “As an international product company with Ukrainian roots, we support Government initiatives to build up and develop technical expertise in the country. Our largest development centre, located in Kyiv, monitors the trends in the world of technology and, whenever possible, applies them to our products, thereby raising the level of Ukrainian engineers. We are grateful to our partners and the state for the opportunity to be involved in this demonstration of Ukrainian technical expertise to the whole world.”