On October 9, within the IT Arena 2021 tech conference, Lviv IT Cluster introduced Lviv Tech, a platform for Lviv IT businesses to connect with customers and clients worldwide, which was created with the support of the USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine. The event was attended by Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and Ivan Babichuk, Supervisory Board Chairman of Lviv IT Cluster.
Lviv Tech is an important initiative for Ukraine to promote the Lviv IT sector (and, subsequently, the Ukrainian one) on the worldwide market. This initiative is exceptionally crucial for small and medium-sized businesses that do not have enough possibilities to advertise themselves. Lviv Tech is a B2B platform that combines the features of an online catalog and a marketplace. Lviv IT Cluster members can develop a thorough company profile to find consumers. Potential clients may select a suitable company by utilizing Lviv Tech platform’s search engine and filters and then contact the company directly to begin working together.
“At the moment, Ukraine does not have its analog services to Lviv Tech. The new platform’s benefit for small and midsize enterprises is helping them to find consumers without further expenditure in marketing and sales,” stated Ivan Babichuk, Supervisory Board Chairman of Lviv IT Cluster.
The platform was developed with the support of the USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine. At the 2019 Strategy Session, the member companies of Lviv IT Cluster launched the initiative. Work on the project’s execution proceeded throughout 2020-2021.
Andriy Sadovyi emphasized the importance of creating initiatives to promote IT business in the city and stressed: “We aim to move Lviv in the direction of transformation into a global technology hub. Currently, I mention the number of 30,000 IT specialists in Lviv, because it’s not just people who work in companies.” According to Ivan Babichuk, the IT industry indirectly creates an additional 40,000 job opportunities and is responsible for almost a third of the city’s GRP – equal to $1.3 billion.
“The speed of Ukraine’s digital transformation and IT sector development is impressive. According to a survey of the e-commerce market in Ukraine, conducted by the USAID Competitive Economy Program in 2020, the e-commerce market grew by nearly 40 percent since 2019. Therefore, we are confident that Lviv Tech will help Ukrainian IT companies to gain many more new clients and create even more well-paid jobs in Ukraine.” David Anderson, Chief of Party, USAID Competitive Economy Program (CEP).
During the event, the speakers discussed the current state of the IT industry in Lviv and ran back the history of Lviv IT Cluster, which celebrated its 10-th anniversary on October 9 within the IT Arena conference. During these ten years, Lviv IT Cluster has launched several dozen projects in the spheres of education, infrastructure, promotion and analytics. The synergy of IT companies, education and local governments are the components that make Lviv IT Cluster a successful and dynamic organization that initiated the development of IT clusters in Ukraine. Lviv Tech is one more example of combining the efforts of technology businesses for the common goal of increasing the region’s competitiveness.
