The creation of the Union was initiated by Ukrainian IT companies, which took an active part in the development of the legislative framework for the launch of Diia.City and became some of the first residents of the new legal space. The special legal and tax regime for the IT industry Diia.City officially began its operation on February 8, 2022, and on February 17, an application for registration of the residents’ union was submitted to enable effective communication with the state, international, and national partners as well as sustainable development of the space in the next 25 years.
Unfortunately, the full-scale invasion of russia into Ukraine hindered the plans of the Union’s founding companies, but did not stop them – on August 18, 2023, the Public Union “Diia City. Association of Residents” was officially registered. Representatives of the founding companies – EPAM, SoftServe, Sigma Software, NIX, and AltexSoft – were elected to the board of the organization.
“Despite the fact that we are currently concentrating as much as possible on practical help to the front and are doing everything possible to accelerate our Victory, we believe that the development of the IT industry in Ukraine should not stop. That’s why we also take active actions in this direction,” said Viktor Shalnev, Director at NIX.
These five companies are long-time members of industry associations, they took an active part in the formation of the basis for the launch of Diia.City, they cooperate with the team of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, so they plan to bring their experience in building the IT community and creating effective interaction to the new Union.
“United by a common goal, the national IT Ukraine Association and Diia.City create the basis for strengthening the IT industry through the power of the community. The strong should be united in order to jointly develop a legal space, a favorable tax environment, take care of education and CSR issues, and implement projects important to the industry. The IT Ukraine Association was one of the first to publicly support the law on Diia.City, ready to share the successful experience of community development and many years of experience in the development of the Ukrainian IT industry,” said Olena Samborska, President of the IT Ukraine Association.
The goal of the Union’s activity is to implement self-governance of Diia.City residents, stimulate business interaction between them, unite the efforts of Diia.City residents and resources for the development of the digital economy in Ukraine as well as increase in its investment attractiveness.
“We strive to create an association where the voice of various companies would be heard: small, medium, large, product, service or startups. Our almost 20-year experience in community building and active participation in the launch of the Diia.City project shows that every opinion is important. Therefore, we will be guided by the quota principle in the management and supervisory bodies of the organization,” said Taras Kytsmey, founder of SoftServe.
Diia.City resident companies that have received confirmation of their status from the Ministry of Digital Transformation can join the Union. The organization is open to representatives of all spheres of technological business – service, product, educational – in order to ensure maximum diversity and inclusiveness, as well as maximum consideration of the interests of all representatives of the IT industry.
“It is important for us to create an organization that will represent the interests of all participants of the Diia.City space. We believe in the principles of inclusiveness and democracy – it is important for us to create a mechanism so that every company’s opinion is heard. We also see a great potential for Diia.City to grow, and therefore we decided that it would be logical to involve various associations in order to create an organization that would represent the residents. Such associations can unite even those companies that are currently not members of Diia.City. We believe that this will help the development of the space and the further companies joining it.
During the launch of Diia.City space, many hours of cooperation were invested to take into account the “red lines” that are important for the IT business. Therefore, one of the key tasks of the association – in partnership with residents and other industry associations – is to develop the space, while preserving the conditions and not opposing it to the current working mechanisms of the IT industry in Ukraine,” says Oleksandr Medovoy, founder of Altexsoft.
The association of Diia.City residents will become an effective consolidating center that will operate on the basis of openness and dialogue among all participants. This is how residents of Diia.City will be able to ensure transparent and sustainable operation of the space for years to come.
“There are many IT associations in Ukraine, and I have always advocated their unification. Therefore, our company is now a member of the main unions and associations in the country. Among them are IT Ukraine, the American Chamber of Commerce, Kharkiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia and other IT clusters. In addition, we are co-founders of the EBA IT Committee.
Uniting residents of the best tax regime Diia.City for product and service IT companies is the next step in the consolidation of our efforts, therefore representatives of the most influential associations of the country will join the Supervisory Board of the Union. Thus, we will be able to form joint initiatives with the Government of the country, taking into account opinions of all representatives of the IT industry, as well as maximally influence the development of IT in Ukraine together with the most important areas for its existence, such as the development of the startup ecosystem, service IT business, venture investments and IT education,” emphasized Valery Krasovsky, CEO and co-founder of Sigma Software.
The Supervisory Board will join the representatives of such industry associations as the National Association of IT Ukraine, the EBA IT Committee, the Kharkiv and Lviv IT Clusters, and others.
“EBA always actively cooperates with the State, and in particular in such an important direction as the development of the IT industry, which currently ranks first in the export of services from Ukraine. This is very important for the country’s economy, especially during the war, when many industries have significantly decreased.
In 2010, the EBA IT Committee was established and since then it has done a lot starting its activities with the preparation of a strategy for the development of the IT ecosystem and IT education. During this time, many laws were created together with the Government. The IT committee was actively involved in the building of the Diia.City legislative framework together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and partners in the IT industry. The special tax regime Diia.City is very important and convenient for the development of the IT business, therefore we are happy to join the Supervisory Board of the association of resident companies in order to jointly develop the IT component of the state’s economy,” explained Svitlana Mykhailovska, EBA Deputy Director, representation of the interests of EBA members.
The democratic principles laid down in the basis of the space create a favorable environment for other similar associations of Diia.City participants.
“When creating the legislative framework for the Diia.City tax and legal regime, we, representatives of IT associations and major industry players, advocated the possibility to create several self-regulatory organizations (SROs) for Diia.City residents. And we are glad that this opportunity is being used. So, we welcome the creation of another SRO by a number of leading Ukrainian technology companies. Democratic principles are undeniably important, especially when it comes to common interests. We are sure that the work of one more organization, whose goal is also to protect the interests of Diia.City residents, will benefit the development of the IT industry in the country,” said Olga Shapoval, Executive Director of Kharkiv IT Cluster.
The association of Diia.City residents faces an important task — to form a mandate to represent the IT industry in cooperation with the authorities.
“Lviv IT Cluster is one of the largest sectoral associations of IT companies in Ukraine. We are able to hear the needs of Ukrainian IT companies of various sizes and directions, understand their challenges and difficulties. Based on this, we form solutions and projects that have a positive impact on the environment for the development of the IT industry in Ukraine. We are impressed by the “cooperation” approach embedded in the architecture of this very association of Diia.City residents. We consider this approach to be the only effective one in forming the right to represent the interests of the entire IT industry. Therefore, we are glad to be in the Supervisory Board of the Union. Lviv IT Cluster, as well as other honorary members of the Supervisory Board, will always uphold the principles of proper self-governance and equality for all members of the Diia City Residents’ Union,” says Stepan Veselovskyi, CEO at Lviv IT Cluster.
In order to protect the rights of participants and achieve the goal of the organization, the following tasks are formed in the Charter:
“Diia.City’s residency conditions allow planning business development for the entire economic sector in the long term. And this unique opportunity can be the driver of another powerful stage in the development of the IT industry in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. In its turn, the Union “Diya City. Association of Residents” will focus on the representative function and contribute to solving the current challenges of the industry. In particular, the expansion of the Diya.City space, the digitalization of the country and the creation of equal opportunities for access to education and improvement of the quality of IT education. There is a lot of work ahead, which requires the unification of our efforts,” comments Yuriy Antoniuk, Vice President, Head of EPAM CEE.
Diia.City space already includes more than 600 residents, and the number is regularly increasing. The new association of residents plans active cooperation with state authorities, in particular, with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, which is key for the IT industry.
“The Ministry of Digital Transformation fully supports the desire of Diia.City resident companies to unite in order to consolidate efforts for the development of the IT industry. From our part, we are as open as possible to dialogue with the association, ready to help solve problematic issues, listen to their initiatives and wishes. The history of the Diia.City project has shown that it is the joint interaction of the state and business that is an effective tool in supporting the economic stability of the country,” said Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Oleksandr Bornyakov.
Companies that share the values of the Public Union “Diia City. Association of Residents” and wish to become its member, can request additional information about the organization’s activities using the feedback form on the Association’s website.
The creation of the Union was initiated by Ukrainian IT companies, which took an active part in the development of the legislative framework for the launch of Diia.City and became some of the first residents of the new legal space. The special legal and tax regime for the IT industry Diia.City officially began its operation […]
https://itcluster.lviv.ua/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/fb.png
