Synergy between human capital in Ukraine and financial capital in the EU will increase competitiveness of IT projects

Ivan Nagornyak, PhD in political science, coordinator on economic issues of the Ukrainian NGO “SD Platform”

Recently, the European Commission has released the Digital Economy and Society Index, a composite index that summarizes relevant indicators on Europe’s digital performance and tracks the evolution of the EU Member States in digital competitiveness.

The Index assesses key dimensions of the European information society: Telecom sector, Broadband, Mobile, Internet usage, Internet services, eGovernment, eCommerce, eBusiness, ICT Skills, Research and Development.

StrategEast has interviewed leading experts from EaP countries on the perspectives of IT development in their countries. Here are the answers from the expert on Ukraine.

In my opinion, Ukraine and the EU should do everything so that they do not compete in the ICT sector, but make Ukraine an integral part of the EU’s Digital Single Market, which is currently being created. Thus, they will avoid many problems that may arise in the future process of further European integration of Ukraine and gain a competitive advantage in the global market.

In particular, it will create better synergies between human capital in Ukraine and financial capital in the EU, which in the long run will increase the competitiveness of such projects in the world.

In turn, the EU should stop being afraid to invest in Ukraine’s IT industry, especially in those developments that may become necessary in the European Union itself, given its ambitious plans to use artificial intelligence and 5G technologies.

What success stories can you name in e-Government services?

The first and main success story is all the initiatives of the Government of Ukraine, which deprived citizens of the need to stand in line to receive several administrative services. And in these reforms, the EU, by the way, often acted as a major donor.

An example is the Centers for Administrative Services, which were funded by the U-LEAD program as part of the decentralization reform.

Also, the Government of Ukraine recently launched the ACTION («Дія») application, which allowed Ukrainians to use electronic driver’s licenses and ID cards.

In general, the implementation of the relevant EU directives, which have allowed the introduction of electronic trustee services in Ukraine, and the movement towards their mutual recognition between Ukraine and the EU is also a great success story.

Can you say that your country possesses a strong human capital skilled in IT?

To answer this question, one should go to the StartupBlink website, which is a ranking of the best countries for startups.

In it, Ukraine ranks 29th. At the same time, Kyiv took 32nd place among the cities of the world and entered the top-ten European cities, taking 8th place.

This means that the IT sector is extremely dynamic in Ukraine. Small and medium-sized enterprises that provide IT services to international companies can now be found in almost every regional center of Ukraine. Previously, such a scale was quite difficult to even imagine.

It is also worth mentioning the European integration reforms that contribute to the development of this sector, in particular in the field of financial services, as well as the protection of intellectual property. Ukraine is already making progress in implementing the Association Agreement in these sectors, but to support the startup ecosystem and expand Ukrainian IT companies’ access to EU markets, the authorities should pay more attention to this process.