Since the information technology revolution, knowledge-based innovation has become the basis for economic development in the world’s leading economies.
In such economies, sustained growth and improved living standards can now only be obtained by increasing productivity and introducing new and better products and services that can compete successfully on the global market.
And Ukraine is among the countries that are embracing innovation, harnessing new business models and management approaches to compete at the global level, said Evgeni Utkin, the CEO of high-tech holding company KM Core.
Utkin will moderate the Breakthrough Innovations for Ukraine’s Future panel at the 6th Kyiv Post Tiger Conference on Dec. 5, the theme of which is
“Vision 2020: Capturing Innovations.”
Countries and cities around the world are fighting for their place in the sun, and to be among them, Ukraine must be competitive, “which is impossible if the country doesn’t look to be innovative,” Utkin said.
But Ukraine’s economy is currently growing at a rate of only 2 percent of its gross domestic product per year, which, according to Utkin, “is a road to nowhere.” Ukraine also has been pummeled by war and recession since 2014, sending GDP tumbling from a high of $180 billion to about $100 billion this year.
Increased use of innovations could jumpstart the country’s economy, boosting GDP and improving the country’s political state and the population’s standard of living: These are all linked, the businessman thinks.
“It’s not just about the economy,” Utkin said. “The country is a single organism. If your arm aches, the whole body feels it. If you have a weak economy, the whole country feels it.”
Valery Krasovsky, the CEO of IT Consulting company Sigma Software, is one of those working to bring innovations to life in Ukraine.
“Our company has a strong research and development center, which is working on the internet of things, augmented and virtual reality, infotainment, and machine learning,” Krasovsky told the Kyiv Post, adding that all of these cutting edge technologies are fostering the development of the whole country.
“The country has to progress, and such innovations are a good way to do it,” he said.
“Information technologies, for example, automate processes, make them more efficient, saving time and resources,” he said.
Krasovsky believes e-government, e-health, and e-learning systems, along with the automotive and aero industries, and the telecoms and banking sectors, can benefit most from embracing IT solutions.
But according to Utkin, innovation is more than just applying information technology to old industries — what’s most important is the spirit of inventiveness.
“Innovations are about inventing new ways to solve routine tasks, and not necessarily with the help of technology. And for the last 10 years, Ukraine has shown us that it has lots of new ideas. Don’t you see it too?”
The other panelists are: Ivar Tallo, founder of teh E-Governance Academy in Estonia; Andrei Aleikin, senior director, Digital Solutions, Visa; and Eugene Krazhan, B2B hub leader, Kyivstar.
