Kharkiv IT Cluster turns 3 years old
IT ClusterKharkiv IT Cluster presented a summary of its activities at the festive meetup, which took place on July, 11 on the occasion of its 3 years anniversary with over 200 participants, friends, colleagues, and partners.
The non-government organization goes back to the year 2015; it was the hard times of political and economical uncertainty, that’s why several leaders of IT companies decided to join their forces for the sake of the common mission to turn Kharkiv into a technological capital of Ukraine with the active e-government systems, friendly environment for business and education. Today it encompasses 38 members and 11 partner educational establishments.
Oleksandr Medovoi, the IT Cluster Supervisory board member and the founder of the Altexsoft brought into focus that initial Cluster member companies are headed by people, able to see the perspectives. They did not ask about personal outcome from that union, they thought about their input into the common welfare. 3 years have passed, and everyone has real values from being a Cluster member.
There are 34 active projects in different areas, which have brought sufficient results.
Educational vector encompasses people of different age, from children to highly skilled professionals. Over 200 school-boys and girls spent a few days in offices of IT companies and got aware of internal corporate processes, so that their choice of the future profession could become more conscious.
School teachers could enjoy seminars on implementation fundamental basics in contemporary applied sciences, which will help them to create STEM-standard courses. Students also received support while participating in the city startup movement. 70 of them took part in the project called Kharkiv IT Unicorns, 30 of them became finalists, and finally one project won the Startup Battle in Dnipro.
In addition the cooperation of business companies and a university has also given its results outcome. Supported by the Cluster team, the curriculum for the new master degree programme on Digital media and strategic communications was developed and is going to be launched in September 2018 at the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University
Cooperation with the local authorities has opened new perspectives for the city technological infrastructure, and partnership relations with the airport help to increase the mobility level.
The Cluster team continues supporting the image of Kharkiv as a comfortable place for living and working in IT industry. During this time several materials appeared in the media. The network of ambassadors is being built as well. They are pleased to share information about their native city abroad.
Legal committee was also happy to present their results. Its participants ensure adequate legal support for the member companies. There were many seminars on new trends of the international legislation, including the GDPR, which have been recently adapted in the European countries.
One of the most informative parts of the Meetup was supported by the international consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers, which presented the preliminary results of the comprehensive research on the Kharkiv IT industry. During half a year they have been gathered the survey data from 40 largest technological companies in the region, which represent over 20% of the local market, as well as information from the key universities. On this basis they made several forecasts and their scenarios are rather positive.
There are 450 active IT companies in Kharkiv. 84 % of them are small sized businesses. The median line of the salaries in the region is 25% lower than that in Kyiv, due to the overvalued ratios in the capital. However, Kharkiv QA specialists earn more on average. The market capacity in 2017 reached 803 million $. Having neither additional help nor obstacles, up to 2025 the industry will grow more than twice and will reach 1.604 bln. $. A more positive scenario and friendly environment promise additional 15% of growth.
Thus, during these 3 years the Kharkiv IT Cluster succeeded to become a centre of the regional IT industry and build the rigid basis to turn Kharkiv into a technological megapolis. With the lapse of time the number of those who share the same values has grown, and the organization is looking forward to new challenges and perspectives.