1991, a business incubator that supports tech startups developing software and hardware to process open-source data, held a competition on Feb. 6-7 to find Ukraine’s brightest non-commercial startups.
The incubator’s jury picked nine promising startups, which 1991 will go on to help develop. They will either help incorporate them in government agencies, or find investors or donors to develop them further.
The competition was held in form of a two-day hackathon – an event in which IT professionals involved in software and hardware development collaborate intensively on new projects within a fixed time frame. The 17 teams that participated in the event were drawn from a total of 130 teams that applied to take part (each team typically consisting of three or four people).
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk speaks during the official opening of the hackathon for open-source tech startups organized by the 1991 Open Data Incubator in Kyiv on Feb. 6.
National tech officer at Microsoft Ukraine Mykhaylo Shmyelov, speaking at a news conference after the hackathon, said it was crucial to support open-source data startups and let the IT industry work in this area as “a foundation for tech entrepreneurship” in Ukraine. This approach, he said, wouldn’t just create IT solutions, but “create technologies for making other fields of the economy more efficient.”
The prototype services the nine teams were working on concerned data visualization and digitization in economic fields like agribusiness (AgroMonitor project), energy (Ecoisme, Teplo.org.ua), infrastructure (SafeCity), e-government (PEPZOOM, cyberpolice), and governmental internal analytical systems (Banksy, 007, ClassInfo).
Denis Gursky, one of the cofounders of 1991 (the incubator was named in honor of the year Ukraine gained independence), and an advisor to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said the hackathon could produce a number of useful social services. Such projects could turn today’s reams of impenetrable government data into tomorrow’s information resource, according to Gursky.
“We’re talking about the daunting problem of analytical systems in the country. Ukraine needs projects that can aggregate data so that the right decisions can be taken (based on that data),” Gursky told journalist at a news conference after the hackathon. “Such startups will also help prevent corruption, make government more transparent, and involve citizens in the decision-making process.”
The six-person jury consisted of top officials and businesspeople that work in the area of digitization in Ukraine – Dmytro Shymkiv, the deputy head of the Presidential Administration, Shmyelov, Gursky, Tim Dubel, an advisor on e-government in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Jordanka Tomkova, director at INNOVABRIDGE, a Swiss consulting firm specializing in innovative solutions, and manager at Western NIS Enterprise Fund Iryna Ozymok.
Dmytro Shymkiv (L), the deputy head of the Presidential Administration, and Denis Gursky, one of the cofounders of 1991, and an advisor to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, talk to participants of the hackathon for open-source tech startups organized by 1991 Open Data Incubator in Kyiv on Feb. 6.
Each team selected by the jury will, for the next six-weeks, be allocated first-class premises at Microsoft’s office in Kyiv, attend lectures and training sessions, and be granted access to government agencies at all levels. On March 31, the teams will present the final versions of their projects – software and hardware tools for Ukrainian citizens and businesses that process the government’s open-source data.
“The creative and innovative potential of this country is incredible,” Tomkova said. “Ukrainians will see benefits from these startups. It’s not about tech for tech’s sake, it’s about the impact of technology on people’s lives, on the environment, and also, hopefully, on data governance in Ukraine.”
Over the next two months the teams will also have free access to all the licensed Microsoft software and services available for IT startups.
The 1991 incubator is to hold more hackathons in Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk on Feb. 13-14.
1991 was established by social tech organization SocialBoost, which in turn is supported by Microsoft Ukraine and investment firm Western NIS Enterprise Fund.
Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov can be reached at [email protected] . The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by Ciklum, Steltec Capital, 1World Online and SoftServe. The content is independent of the donors.
