Kharkiv IT Cluster met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky

11 September 2020 y.

On September 2, in Kharkiv, business representatives met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on the premises of the Scientific Library of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University. Kharkiv IT Cluster represented the IT industry of the Kharkiv region. The representatives of the organization shared their vision on key growth points for the IT business in the Kharkiv region and Ukraine in general. Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the meeting with the representatives of Kharkiv IT Cluster. “IT in Ukraine is a goldmine. We have many talented young people with a mathematical mindset. Some countries have gas or oil, and we have IT. Therefore, the government is loyal towards IT specialists." Kharkiv IT Cluster representatives were Roman Katerynchyk, member of the Supervisory Board, and Olga Shapoval, director of the organization. On behalf of Kharkiv IT Cluster, Roman Katerynchyk presented information on two key problematic issues:

• unstable regulatory environment;
• lack of systematic state policy in the development of IT education.

The participants discussed the maintenance of the current taxation conditions while ensuring legislative changes to level the risks for IT business and protect it from illegal actions of law enforcement agencies. Simplification of visa and formal procedures for attracting foreign talents are also necessary for the sustainable development of the IT industry.

Education

The discussion on the educational issue affected all levels of education, from schools to universities. Roman noted the lack of systematic promotion of learning English and mathematics at the state level, as well as the provision of informatics classes with modern hardware. The lack of a transparent legislative mechanism for public-private partnerships also does not facilitate the attraction of business funds to invest in schools and universities. Roman commented: “In IT, work is looking for a specialist and not vice versa. Therefore, Ukrainian IT industry needs to increase the state order for such specialties in higher education institutions." Volodymyr Zelensky agreed with the relevance of these issues and assured that the government aims at preserving and developing the IT industry in Ukraine and the Kharkiv region particularly.