In 10 months of 2022, the IT industry brought $6 billion in export revenue to the economy of Ukraine and showed 10% growth compared to the same period of the previous year. This is almost the only sector of the domestic economy that is growing despite the war. And, probably, he will restore the economy of the country after the victory.

Even before the war, the Ukrainian-British initiative Project Ukraine launched several technological projects in our country, and with the beginning of a full-scale invasion, it began to help Ukrainians in a peculiarly innovative manner.

In the partner material, the Project Ukraine team talks about its goals and objectives, as well as about innovative projects and plans to build a full-fledged Silicon Valley in Ukraine.

Affiliate material?

Project Ukraine appeared in 2021 to help Ukraine break out of the outsourcing trap

In 2021, a group of British and Ukrainian entrepreneurs from the IT industry decided to implement a number of innovative projects in Ukraine, in particular, in the field of education, hotel business and retail. This is how Project Ukraine was born. Its founders are convinced that our country has incredible technological potential and that we are worth something more than being an outsourcing platform for the West. This became the goal of the project.

In the same year 2021, Ukraine took first place among Eastern European countries in terms of the attractiveness of IT outsourcing. Our country was named the best in the world for hiring programmers. These achievements are actually disappointing, because Ukraine sells “raw materials” – the knowledge, skills and time of our IT experts, while the finished IT product has great value.

In order to become a technological state, Ukraine needs to shift its emphasis from the supply of raw materials to the manufacture of products.

“In Ukraine, we saw incredible potential, – says Arthur Corwin Powells, co-founder of Project Ukraine, a Briton with Ukrainian roots. – It is Europe’s last hope and the only place to replicate Silicon Valley’s success.. We have developed ambitious plans. Their implementation would have an incredible impact on the economy of Ukraine. In November, we started bringing together talented Ukrainians to work together on decentralized deep data products. We broke through the web3 hype to create data-driven attribution in key areas.”

The launch of the projects was preceded by a huge effort to find and attract foreign stakeholders. Already at the initial stages, it was agreed that at least 50% of the development would be carried out in Ukraine.

Education Studios: an educational project where children learn in a meta-universe with augmented reality

One of the first projects was named Project Ukraine Education Studios. It is based on an innovative ecosystem in which the child learns thanks to mobile gaming technologies. Children explore an exciting futuristic environment: they study objects from the perspective of different sciences – mathematics, physics, etc., create projects and grow their avatars that reflect their talents and interests.

The adventures continue in a social metaverse with augmented reality, thanks to which children get an interactive experience. They can play alone or with classmates or teachers. The latter in this system become real influencers: teachers create their own game worlds, where students from all over the world flock, and can monetize their creativity.

The developers say that the main advantage of the educational game platform is that children gain knowledge through interesting tasks, and instead of individual subjects, they study the world in general.

Become part of the Project Ukraine team

Start Up Ukraine: a platform that helps attract foreign investors

Another project that started before the start of the full-scale invasion is Start Up Ukraine. Its goal is to find the best Ukrainian entrepreneurs in order to create opportunities and technological products with them that would improve the social and economic life of Ukrainians.

The Project Ukraine team began developing a special portal that would become a bridge between Ukrainian business newcomers and foreign investors. In particular, British, because the United Kingdom is the second country in the world (after the USA) in terms of investments in startups. Since 2012, the government’s Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme has been operating in the country, which guarantees tax benefits for investors, if they finance startups. If the startup is not successful, the state compensates the investor for about 50% of his investment. So, one of the tasks of Start Up Ukraine is to ensure that British investors take advantage of this program and invest in Ukrainian projects.

Rebuild Ukraine and Find Refuge: projects that help Ukrainians during the war

With the beginning of a full-scale war, Project Ukraine launched new projects, to respond to problems arising from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Rebuild Ukraine is a project designed to help Ukrainian visionaries in the field of design, architecture and engineering to rebuild cities affected by the war. Work is currently underway on an online platform that will bring together Ukrainian specialists and Western partners and investors who wish to join Ukraine’s post-war recovery.

One of the initiatives within Rebuild Ukraine is an innovation center, which is being built with the support of investors from the USA and Britain. Similar institutions already exist in the West, their graduates receive grant funds for the development of their own business.

Another important area of ​​work was the development of a portal to help Ukrainian refugees, Find Refuge. As the Ombudsman of Ukraine, Dmytro Labunets, recently reported, 7.9 million citizens left the country because of the war. Many of them need one or another help, including counseling. You can find it on Find Refuge. The portal connects those who are willing to help with those who need help.

The founders of the project say that work with Ukrainian refugees is only the beginning. In the future, all those affected by the war in their home country and in need of assistance will be able to apply to Find Refuge.

Become part of the Project Ukraine team

The plan is to build Silicon Valley in Ukraine

“Project Ukraine is a global project with Ukraine at the center,” says Arthur Corwin Powells. “We want to shine a light that finds dragons in the dark, and we need people who are ready to fight them.”

Project Ukraine has far-reaching plans. One of them is to build a full-fledged Silicon Valley in Ukraine.

“It sounds ambitious,” admits Arthur Corwin Powells, “but that’s the way the world works. A terrible war will end in victory. And new opportunities will open up for Ukraine. There are already many people in the world who sincerely want to help Ukraine. Our task is to convert this assistance into the construction of a new technological state. We will be a small part in the mechanism, but the one that works flawlessly.”

Project Ukraine does not give up its original dream – to help the world with innovations created in Ukraine, and believes that this time will come soon.

Project Ukraine is currently looking for the best technical talent for new projects, related to artificial intelligence, next-generation social networks, metauniverses, data standardization, etc. This is not just a stable job with a decent salary, but an opportunity to participate in the development of truly useful, socially oriented products that will change Ukraine and the world.

Affiliate material?

Become part of the Project Ukraine team

This is affiliate material. Information for this article was provided by a partner.
The editors are responsible for stylistic compliance with editorial standards.
You can order material about you in the format of a PR article here.