Ukraine, the world's acclaimed capital of Freedom, welcomes dreamers, innovators, and creators from all corners of the world to visit its national pavilion at Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon. Local businesses, government institutions, and tech-wired activists are again uniting their efforts to present the booming domestic tech ecosystem to the world. The Ukrainian Startup Fund, together with GIST, is organising the largest delegation of startups in history, which will include 24 Ukrainian startups. Following the first Ukrainian pavilion in 2021, which was visited by 15,000 people, organisers are keen to repeat the success.

Despite the Russian aggression, which shocked the entire globe at the end of February, the Ukrainian IT sector has shown incredible resilience and determination even in the country’s darkest hours. It remains the only industry in Ukraine that has shown growth during the war.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine, the export volume of computer services for the first half of 2022 has reached $3.74 billion, which is 23% more than for the same period in 2021. Ukrainian start-ups and tech companies raised almost $350 million in the first six months of 2022. The country’s tech talent pool has nearly 300,000 developers.

Why visit the Ukrainian pavilion

Today tech entrepreneurs and innovators across Ukraine are more networked than ever, and they are accelerating growth through international connections. Here are the top three reasons why you should pay attention to and visit Ukraine’s stand at this year’s Web Summit:

1. To meet people that represent the IT industry of the fighting country and find out how they keep things growing even during the war, turning Ukraine into the largest European tech hub
2. To get acquainted with the top achievers and game changers and to learn how Ukrainians can help grow international businesses
3. To realize that the best time to invest in Ukraine is now and not after the war

The organisers & partners

The general partner of the project is UNIT.City innovation park. The project has become possible thanks to the co-organisers – Ukrainian Startup Fund, Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Embassy of Ukraine in Portugal, Sigma Software Group, Ukrainian Hub, the Еuropean Business Association, – and partners –  Flyer One Ventures, Bitcoin Magazine Ukraine, SID Venture Partners, and Sigma Software Labs. Information support is provided by Tech Ukraine, Kyiv IT Cluster, and IT Dnipro Community.

“Digital infrastructure has proven its superior resiliency during the full-scale invasion. As well as the digital economy, it still operates, keeps pace, and develops. Our team has a grand vision to make military tech and security solutions expertise and the top export of Ukraine. To do so, we have everything needed: talented and educated people, a growing startup ecosystem, unique wartime experience, and probably the most important thing – bravery to fight for our bright future,” says Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

"As Ukraine bravely fights for its freedom and independence, the UNIT.City team is working to inspire Ukrainians to transform entrepreneurial culture, the IT sector, educational technology, and Web.3.0. In Europe and the world, our country must be known not only for the courage of the Ukrainian army but also for the extraordinary potential of our talented young people and the IT community," says Vasyl Khmelnitsky, Founder of UNIT.City.

Olesya Malyovana, a Co-founder of Ukrainian Hub, believes that creating the Ukrainian tech ecosystem pavilion is more important than ever. “When communicating with potential international partners, we create a narrative of Ukraine as an innovation hub. This in turn increases trust and becomes the main source of strategically correct information.”

Olena Bakalo, the co-organiser of the Ukrainian pavilion adds that despite a full-scale war, Ukraine is very open to international cooperation.

“About 15 years ago, Ukraine’s information tech sector began to flourish. And then, an IT committee was established within the EBA, which has been reinforcing this tendency and delivering updates on booming Ukraine’s IT industry. Even now the industry continues to go from strength to strength with the number of strong players ready to unite for a common future increase in the market as evidenced by the number of members joining the Association,” noted Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director at European Business Association.