When Stepan Veselovskyi, 28, became the CEO of Lviv IT Cluster at the beginning of 2013, the organization united only four companies. Now, Cluster unites 34 information technology businesses and continues to expand.
“Over the last three years we have grown into the largest operating organization in Ukraine, but we still remain a local one,” Veselovskyi said.
Before joining Lviv IT Cluster, Veselovskyi worked at the Lviv City Council and at municipal analytical center City Institute.
In 2013, he launched Startup Depot, the first co-working place in Lviv. “We had an idea to create a project that helps entrepreneurs to build their business,” Veselovskyi said.
Later, he developed the same concept at IT Cluster.
IT Cluster aims to create favorable conditions for IT business in Lviv. To achieve that, they work with local colleges to improve IT education, assist with networking, connect the businesses with local authorities, provide loyalty programs and discounts for IT employees, and even construct an apartment building for them.
The Cluster is financed by member contributions. Fees vary depending on the size of the company, with the smallest payment amounting to just $950 a year.
The Cluster’s education department works with Lviv universities to modernize their curriculum. Cluster’s members and representatives of the IT companies present real cases to students.
In addition, Cluster has launched a new program with Lviv Business School – the Master of Science in Technology Management.
To boost professional networking, Cluster organizes one of the biggest IT conferences in Ukraine: Lviv IT Arena. In 2015, it brought together 1,400 developers, entrepreneurs, top managers, designers, and programmers.
“We made the conference from scratch, and it became a success,” Veselovskyi said.
He has an ambitious plan to throw a conference for 10,000 participants in 2016.
“We do it all in order to invite businesses and people and boost the role of Lviv and Ukraine in the IT world,” he said.
Apart from communication and education, IT Cluster focused on infrastructure. The organization ordered the construction of an apartment building where fl ats are off ered only to employees of the companies that are members of the Cluster. Construction began in mid-October, and most of its 72 apartments have already been sold.
Veselovskyi says that the Cluster didn’t profi t from the construction, but the company did it for marketing reasons, to emphasize the city’s support for the industry.
In recent months, some top Ukrainian IT companies have suffered from authorities searching their offices, seizing data and equipment. Veselovskyi believes hat this would not happen in Lviv thanks o the close ties his organization has established between the companies and city authorities and re-elected Mayor Andriy Sadoviy.
Veselovskyi says that cooperation between authorities and IT companies is part of the development strategy for Lviv. He says the IT industry will pay around $12.4 million in taxes in 2015, while the planned yearly budget of Lviv is $180 million.
“Who among the officials, realizing that this is the basis of the city economy, will cut the branch on which he sits?” he asked.
Veselovskyi ran for City Council in the October election, but lost. He says he and his team aimed to “provide the council with intellectual capital, because people from IT have an understanding of innovation, globalization, and competition on the global market.”
The next step for Veselovskyi and IT Cluster is building an IT Park – a huge space that will unite offi ces for IT companies, hotels, restaurants, and conference rooms. He says that the park will be a place to launch new companies and develop old ones.
“And that would be a landmark of the city,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected].
