Kyiv is one of the cities to host the Startup World Cup
The Startup World Cup: global regional finals will take place in Ukraine for the first time! It’s the largest global conference, a competition of startups with finals held in Silicon Valley. Startup World Cup gathers over 2,500 investors, over 500 speakers, and about 50,000 participants from around the world, who are witnessing the competition of 60 game-changing startups. The major prize of the competition is $1 million. The deadline for submissions is December 6, 2020. From the submitted applications, the Startup World Cup jury will select 12 teams to take part in the finals, which will take place on December 22. More information and applications – https://www.startupworldcup.io/. Ukraine indeed has a thriving startup ecosystem as the country’s unicorns attract huge investments. In 2019 the total value of VC deals reached over $510 million, which is 1.5 times more than the previous year.
Ukraine imposed a weekend lockdown until November 30, 2020
The Ukrainian government amended the resolution, imposing the quarantine regime on weekends that will be in place until November 30, 2020. The ‘weekend lockdown’ forces the non-essential businesses to be closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Cultural institutions, cafes, and restaurants, shopping malls, fitness centers will not be working. On weekends, from 00:00 Saturday to 00:00 Monday, only the following services will be allowed to work: pharmacies, banks, post offices, cash collection activity, the operation of medical and veterinary institutions, grocery stores, gas stations, and auto service companies.
World Bank to support a new project in Eastern Ukraine
The World Bank loans $100 million for the 3R (reconnect, recover, revitalize) project in Eastern Ukraine. According to the World Bank, the financial support will focus on Government-Controlled Areas (GCAs) of Luhansk Oblast, which have experienced the most severe economic downturn due to conflict, bringing in much-needed investments to improve transport connectivity and promote agricultural sector recovery. The project will support public-private investment forums to raise awareness and promote investment opportunities in the region. Read more.
Ukraine-Israel cooperation in the IT-sphere is getting a spike
Lately, the Ukrainian Israeli Innovation Summit took place and focused on fostering cooperation between Ukraine and Israel in the field of innovative technologies, enhancing bilateral ties between the two nations, researching and developing emerging technologies. During the past three years the collaboration between two countries in the IT-sphere has been taken to the next level:
🚀 nearly 30 Israeli companies have opened their offices in Ukraine;
🚀 more than 50 Ukrainian technological companies have found new clients in Israel;
🚀 the turnover of Ukrainian IT services to Israeli companies have reached over $150 mln;
🚀 about 40% of its IT services Israel buys from Ukraine.
These results show the impressive evolution of Ukraine’s IT industry, the country’s enormous intellectual resources, and capitalization on Ukraine’s growing high-tech competitiveness.
A new strike drone project has been presented by the Ukrainian Luch design bureau
Kyiv-based design bureau Luch has presented on Nov. 6 its newest military-grade project: the unmanned aerial system Sokil-300 (Falcon-300). Once completed and accepted for service, it can potentially end up being the first strike drone designed and produced in Ukraine. The project is still in its earliest stage — the engineering team presented the aerial vehicle’s full-size mockup model at the Vizar missile plant in the city of Vyshneve just outside Kyiv, writes Kyiv post. Read more about the project and Luch design bureau in the Kyiv Post’s material.
More than 1,5 million Ukrainians gained access to the 4G network over the past 4 months
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, since July 2020 over 7.5 thousand Ukrainian towns with a population of 1.5 million have gotten access to the 4G. Currently, over 20,5 thousand Ukrainian cities and towns have access to 4G. With fast digitalization, it’s vital to get even the smallest towns to be connected to the high-speed internet. The Ministry says there are over 7 thousand small towns left around Ukraine to be provided with 4G. And next year Ukraine plans to connect to the internet social facilities like schools, libraries and hospitals in remote areas as well as wireless broadband coverage for international and national roads.
The seventh Ukrspyrt facility has been auctioned
Ukraine is continuously working on demonopolization of the spirits industry. The seventh Ukrspyrt distilled spirits plant in the Ternopil region was auctioned yesterday. The starting price has increased twice and reached UAH 120 million. Previously, the sixth Ukrspyrt facility was sold three times higher than the starting price. The winner of the auction is Zernoff, the largest ethanol producer in Moldova. According to the company, Zernoff is oriented towards waste-free and ecological production of high-quality ethanol, DDGS, and CO2 for major markets such as Central Europe, North Africa, CSI, and the Middle East. This is the first Ukrspyrt facility that was bought by a foreign company.
Diia Business is now available in English!
The platform opens up new opportunities in revealing access for foreign partners, investors, entrepreneurs and startups to relevant information on doing business in Ukraine, international B2B networking, establishing beneficial forms of international cooperation. Explore more – https://business.diia.gov.ua/en
