An online conference “Swiss-Ukrainian IT Smart Bridge” was held on November 17, as the follow-up to the State visit of the Swiss President S.Sommaruga to Ukraine in July 2020. The event was organized by the Embassy of Ukraine in Switzerland with the support of the Ukrainian-Swiss Business Association and Global Message Services (GMS).
At the beginning of the Event, Deputy Foreign Minister for Digital Transformation Dmytro Senik noted the rapid growth of Ukraine’s IT sector and the potential for bilateral cooperation in this field. “Switzerland is among the leaders in global IT market. Ukraine has the largest number of IT specialists among Eastern European countries and aspires to become one of the most powerful technology hubs. The Swiss experience in digital technologies can contribute to the growth of Ukrainian export of IT services and the economic development of the country as a whole.”
The event brought together more than 60 participants, including representatives of government, regional and city state administrations, research institutes, business and IT communities of Ukraine and Swiss Confederation. Ambassador of Ukraine Artem Rybchenko, Ambassador of Switzerland Claude Wild and Head of the Ukrainian-Swill Business Association Dmytro Sidenko welcomed the participants. Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation L.Rabchynska, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture O.Romanishyn and industry experts Y.Nazarov, founder of Smart City Initiative, and N.Veremeeva, Director of Tech Ukraine, member of Ukraine Bridge, spoke about Ukraine’s experience in digital transformations and creation of Smart Cities. The Swiss side was represented by the companies – members of the Swiss Smart Cities Alliance. Swiss colleagues made a number of presentations on Swiss experience in implementing Smart solutions and creating Smart Villages.
The videoconference “Swiss-Ukrainian IT Smart Bridge” was moderated by Andrei Iatsenia, Co-founder and CEO of the Risk Reduction Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland).