Kharkiv IT Cluster in 2018: 50 IT companies, 42 projects and loyalty program
IT ClusterAn annual meeting of members of the regional IT Cluster was held in Kharkiv on December 17. In 2018, a public organization of Kharkiv IT specialists implemented 42 successful projects, launched a loyalty program for IT specialists of the Cluster`s companies, and the total number of Kharkiv IT Cluster participants reached 50 IT companies of the region.
The annual general meeting of the members of Kharkiv IT Сluster was held in Kharkov on December 17. Kharkiv IT Cluster summed up the outgoing year and outlined the main directions of its activities for the year 2019 at the meeting. According to the results of the activities in 2018, Kharkiv IT Cluster developed and launched more than 40 successful projects in different areas, focusing on educational initiatives and infrastructure development of the city.
One of the milestones of the year was the launch of the unique educational program `Digital media` for 1st year students of Master’s program at the Faculty of Sociology of the Kharkiv National University. V.N. Karazin. Training takes place by the principle of the dual education system, when students receive the theoretical part of aknowledgements in the university, and the practical part – at the workplace. The dual education system was born in Germany in 1969 and today is successfully used in many countries of the world. For Ukraine, the educational program of the Kharkov IT Cluster was one of the first such program in the country.
Another milestone of the year for Kharkiv IT Cluster was joining the Kharkiv Smart City program – a large-scale program for turning Kharkiv into the first `smart city` of Ukraine. The IT Cluster`s team has already selected 10 of the 36 projects, on which in 2019-2020 will work together with the city Reform Office and the Vodafone company, which has built more than 100 smart cities around the world. As part of the program, Mobile ID or `mobile passport` technology has already been launched in Kharkiv – an electronic way to identify a person using a mobile phone, one of three officially recognized by the state in Ukraine. Kharkiv is the first city in Ukraine introducing this technology.
Internal results of Kharkiv IT Cluster continue to grow. The number of participants in the Kharkiv IT cluster is increasing and it reached 50 IT-companies in December. 15 companies joined the community over the year. For employees of participating companies in 2018, the Cluster developed and launched the IT Loyalty platform – an application that provides special discounts and bonuses in stores, food outlets and events. For several months, the application has been activated and about 500 Kharkov IT specialists have regularly used it.