Even though the war hit suddenly, and many expected Ukraine to decline massively, our homeland stands strong, and its tech sector thrives despite the odds.
The Ukrainian IT community showed bulletproof resilience. Tech specialists enormously support the economy, join IT armies, volunteer, raise funds, drive wartime innovations — and with all of that, they continue to deliver world-class services, just as they have done for many years.
In this article, let’s overview the Ukrainian tech industry and discuss its deeds and achievements in 2022.
Content
1. Ukrainian tech resilience: economic frontline
2. Ukrainian tech resilience: working during wartime
3. Driving wartime innovations and projects
4. Volunteering initiatives amid adversity
5. Future of Ukraine’s Tech
Ukrainian tech resilience: economic frontline
Before we move any further, let’s appreciate the fact that IT is Ukraine’s third-largest export industry, having more than 200k specialists and covering 4% of GDP. In 2021 alone, the Ukrainian tech industry grew by 36%, bringing the country $6.8 billion in export earnings.
So, as the war broke out, it was crystal clear who would be among the key fighters on the economic frontline.
Now, the tech sector accounts for almost half of Ukraine’s total exports and is one of the few export fields showing growth and positive dynamics.
Here are just some astounding stats to consider:
Despite the war, team mobilization, and relocation, Ukrainian IT generated a whopping $2 billion in the first quarter of 2022, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
Given the circumstances, that’s a marvelous increase of 28% compared to the equivalent period in 2021, when the figure amounted to $1.44 billion.
While the Ukrainian army is heroically defending the country on the battlefield, tech businesses fight the battle for the Ukrainian economy, support the homeland financially, consciously pay taxes, and some even do this ahead of time.
According to recent data from the National Bank of Ukraine, for nine months of 2022, IT exports have grown by 13% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 5.5 billion.
We are convinced that everyone should do their best where they are. And as the industry with the highest ROI for the country, we feel responsible for Ukraine’s future and do the best we can do — custom, high-quality data-driven software.
Ukrainian tech resilience: working during wartime
From the first days of the war, Ukraine’s tech business has proved its high level of professionalism. Companies have successfully adapted to the new reality: 85% managed to completely or almost completely get back to pre-war levels, 63% noted a positive financial result, and 13% — an increase in income in the range of 25–50%.
Well-defined business contingency plans and the experience of the global pandemic set up the processes for remote work, allowing Ukrainian employees to keep working from elsewhere during the russian invasion. While the safety of the people has been goal number one, goal number two is to ensure that the company continues delivering high-quality services to its clients.
As a result, Ukrainian tech companies retained 95% of contract volumes, and 77% gained new customers during the war.
Driving wartime innovations and projects
Several brand new services and remarkable digital products have arrived to address the needs the war provoked. Here we’ve highlighted the most important ones:
Air alert
Air Alert by Ajax Systems is one of Ukraine’s most downloaded apps, with more than 11 million active users.
Urgently organized and produced just within one day, Air Alert app notifies the user about an air raid in seconds, sometimes even outpacing the actual outdoor sirens. This app works even if the smartphone is in sleep or quiet mode.
Since its release, the app has gone through multiple updates, and now it even has an in-built air alert map that allows users to overview the status of all Ukrainian regions and see the duration of alerts and alarm stats of each area.
Apart from the Air Alert app, the team also developed a Telegram bot that sends messages and alerts users about incoming dangers.
Diia
Diia, a Ukrainian e-governance app by the Digital Transformation Ministry, proved to be remarkably efficient during wartime.
Long before the war, it was already a sensational tool supporting over 50 government and public services and serving as a digital ID.
Today, the app’s wide functionality has become even more enriched with new features and adapted to wartime realities.
Now Ukrainians can report the movement of russian troops, donate to the army, get financial aid, record the damage, watch Ukrainian TV streams, pay taxes — all of that through a single app on their smartphone.
ePPO
ePPO — this newly-released ingenious app allows Ukrainians to contribute to air defense by reporting air targets and thus helping Armed Forces hit them.
With just a few easy steps, the air defense specialists get a mark on the map that will supplement the radar info for them.
The app has already shown efficiency — just recently, on October 22nd, the first enemy missile was shot down through the ePPO app. The missile was flying low, so the air defense systems couldn’t see it, yet several vigilant citizens noticed it and notified through the app. In a few seconds, the military received the crucial data and shot down life-threatening danger.
Quick fact: to guard off ePPO app from the enemy’s misuse, there’s already in-built authorization through the abovementioned Diia.
Besides crucial apps like the ones above, Ukrainians also developed solutions to strengthen the digital frontline.
Memomet by Reface — AI-based meme constructor that helps Ukrainians to raise their voices, spread information, and heal nationwide trauma with the power of humor.
Spend with Ukraine — platform that gathers 200 finest Ukrainian-rooted businesses to promote world-class Ukrainian products worldwide and let shoppers all over the world help Ukrainian businesses.
Meta History: Museum of War — Ukraine’s NFT museum. Works there serve to document the events of war while the earned funds are being allocated to support Ukraine.
Quick fact: recently, the museum auctioned off the Kalush Orchestra’s Eurovision 2022 trophy and raised $900k for the needs of the Ukrainian army.
Volunteering initiatives amid adversity
Apart from delivering high-quality services and driving tech innovations, the Ukrainian IT community is actively involved in volunteering, raising funds, and donating money to support the homeland, the people, and the army.
Only during the first days of war Ukrainian tech business donated $25 million to support the homeland.
Ukraine also launched UNITED24, a fundraising platform where people from all around the world can help Ukraine financially. As of now, more than $213 million have been raised on U24.
Ukrainian tech entrepreneurs actively make donations and have launched various fundraising initiatives.Among most notable ones is KOLO — start-up-like charity fund that focuses on supporting Ukrainian Armed Forces with ammunition. By now, the fund has raised almost $6 million and delivered more than 5k devices to the army.
The government also legalized cryptocurrencies in Ukraine. Since the law passed, the value of crypto donations has amounted to almost $200 million.
The Ukrainian specialists also join IT and Creative armies to fight in cyberspace, defend Ukrainian digital space and battle against propaganda and fake news. Now, nearly 15% of IT specialists have joined the Cyber Force, 3% are defending the country in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, while the other 82% continue to work in companies to support the economic front, actively contribute and volunteer.
Future of Ukraine’s Tech
Ukraine was powerful before and is even more powerful now. People show extraordinary boldness, great resilience, unbelievable commitment, and high professionalism. And they show it every single day: when working under critical conditions, when delivering high-quality services, when driving digital innovations and volunteering in favor of the country and people.
Ukrainian tech business has proved once again — world tech leaders can count on them.
Before the war, one in five Fortune 500 companies had already worked with Ukrainian IT professionals. Many world-famous products were born in Ukraine.GitLab, Grammarly, Reface are bright examples of that.Several global companies like Boeing, Samsung, and Oracle have their R&D centers in Ukraine.
And while Ukrainian IT specialists are famous for being hard-working and incredibly talented, the younger generation already shows marvelous results, with many youngsters developing extraordinary innovations and winning large competitions on international scale.
Ukraine has also organized the first Diia Summit Brave Ukraine within the World Economic Forum framework, where 12 EU digital transformation ministers gathered for the first time ever.
Ukraine’s IT businesses also actively network. Despite the war, Ukraine hosted IT Arena 2022, one of Eastern Europe’s largest annual tech conferences. Following a long-lasting tradition, Ukrainian tech businesses also took part in this year’s Web Summit in Lisbon to meet and network with other leaders.
Ukraine also has the support of world tech leaders: we can see it with PayPal, Wise, and Revolut entering the Ukrainian market. Many conscious businesses share solidarity with Ukraine and decide to leave Russia.
Due to Elon Musk’s support, Ukraine now has more Starlinks than any other European country, so even if the networks are damaged, we’ll still have an opportunity to work and stay connected.
We all have our own fonts, and we diligently do our part and keep fighting to bring the day of victory closer. As the industry with the highest ROI, we feel responsible for Ukraine’s future, and we will do our very best to make it as bright as we can. Every bill paid by the client and every dollar received now in Ukraine is our direct step to victory. You can make a huge contribution to our homeland’s victory by partnering with a Ukrainian provider for your next project.
