On September 23, Lviv IT Cluster hosted the official opening of its Kyiv office. The Interaction Office becomes the first representation of the association beyond Lviv. The office aims to strengthen cooperation between the IT industry and different level state officials.
Uniting over 240 IT companies, Lviv IT Cluster is the largest technological community in Ukraine. In more than 10 years, Lviv IT Cluster has brought international events, educational and infrastructure projects, and multimillion investments to Lviv. After the full-scale invasion, the association launched a series of Victory Projects aimed at helping internally displaced people, supporting the Armed Forces, strengthening the Air Force of Ukraine, and improving the level of security in the region.
In times of war, the interaction between the government and the tech industry should be as close and active as possible. During the eight months of the full-scale offensive, the IT industry showed strength and resilience, becoming a pillar of the country’s economy, companies are donating millions to the army’s needs and, at the same time implementing new projects. Therefore, such an active community needs to be heard, and cooperation with the authorities should become stronger and more systematized. These are the goals the Cluster has set. A separate team will work in the Interaction Office, including several employees and the Government Affairs Director.
“For us, setting up an Interaction Office is a logical step in the Cluster’s development. We’ve been cooperating with various authorities on joint projects and initiatives for a long time. An example of such work is the IT Generation project – a joint initiative of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Lviv IT Cluster. Thanks to the project, more than two thousand Ukrainians will have an opportunity to find themselves in IT. We are working on improving the school’s computer science curriculum with the Ministry of Education and Science. The Interaction Office will make our cooperation with various state authorities more systematic, closer, and even more fruitful,” says Stepan Veselovskyi, CEO of the Lviv IT Cluster.
The Interaction Office activities also aim at more fruitful work with IT companies in Kyiv. The Cluster implements a number of projects based on industry requests. As a result, the Cluster member companies participate in a series of initiatives bringing our victory closer, have the opportunity to improve the industry from the inside, join the tech education transformation, have access to unique market studies and business tools, and become members of the community which is united by common values.
“I’m convinced that the Interaction Office activity will enhance cooperation between the Ministry and the Cluster regarding educational projects. We aim to create a large IT hub in Ukraine, which is impossible without high-quality education, so we’ll focus on this issue. Moreover, we will join efforts in solving current challenges of the industry”, – comments Alex Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation.
Currently, the Cluster works on assembling the Interaction Office team. This team will develop the community’s representative office in Ukraine’s capital and fill it with interesting and valuable projects. We have open positions for a GA Director who knows how to build partnerships and create quality networks of contacts and the PR Manager to develop the community’s internal communications, participate in external communications management, and create all-Ukrainian PR campaigns.
The Lviv IT Cluster team is convinced that opening the Interaction Office will further unite the industry, unveil new opportunities and make the IT sphere even more resilient, which will positively affect both the state and the tech industry. The Cluster’s presence in Kyiv will allow the community to be more involved in digitization and support of the tech industry at the state level, study the market needs in more detail, and share the experience gained over 10 years of the organization’s work.
The Interaction Office opening was supported by the USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine Program.