Ukraine has undergone a challenging period and needs support and assistance when it comes to IT. Many companies have lost income as well as the working force. For this reason, various charitable funds and tech projects were established to help specialists to grow and enthusiasts to find their way in IT.
Sergey Tokarev, the Roosh Founding Partner, shared his predictions about Ukrainian IT and mentioned the following challenges.
Roosh is a tech company that took an active position in supporting the Ukrainian IT sector, especially during the war. Its main activity is focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The company was established during the COVID-19 pandemic and has developed significantly during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.
The company includes such projects as AI/ML-community AI HOUSE, SET University, startups Reface and ZibraAI, venture studio Pawa, venture company Roosh Ventures, and research company Neurons Lab.
Although a lot of things were achieved and invested in Ukrainian IT, Sergey Tokarev states that it is still difficult to predict the future of the country’s IT industry. However, some tendencies bring hope.
For example, many people have already returned to Ukraine, in particular to Kyiv, when the threat of attack was minimal. And people continue coming back. The investor believes that a great part of Ukrainians will come back to the country when the war is over, including even those who emigrated back in the 1980s and 2000s. He also emphasized that those people have been pretty active in helping the country with different resources.
He also underlines that no other country in the world like Ukraine will have tremendous potential after the victory. Thousands of IT specialists will benefit the country with much expertise and valuable projects. The entrepreneur notes a few perspectives Ukraine might expect when the war is over.
Cooperation with global players
Even after the victory, Ukraine will be receiving assistance and cooperation. This activity will become a trend that global IT players will want to join. This is a reinforced way for many tech companies to develop and improve the relationships between the state and the IT sector. Military tech and artificial intelligence capture specific attention.
Positions in the global tech labor market
Despite the massive global layoffs, in particular, in the US, he believes that Ukrainian IT specialists can cover positions of dismissed employees abroad. Today, there is a great demand for highly qualified engineers (especially hardware) and product managers all over the world. Ukrainian experts demonstrate an affordable labor force.
Development with new experiences
According to Sergey Tokarev, Ukraine will attract many foreign investors, entrepreneurs, and tech specialists after the victory. He believes that there will be a period of significant challenges as well as opportunities to adopt new experiences to rebuild the country.