Sigma Software at UK-Ukraine Tech Forum

Within plentiful networking opportunities of the UK-Ukraine Tech Forum, more than 200 participants represented the governmental and business sectors of the UK and Ukraine (40 companies) discussed the prospective bilateral and multilateral partnership, cooperation opportunities, and roadmaps.

The Forum became an important platform for dialogue, networking, and exchange of experience for the development of technological systems and the shaping of cooperation strategies.

Scenarios and Strategies of Tech Cooperation Between Ukraine and the UK

Oleksandr Yarema, State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and Alex Bornyakov, Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, illuminated Ukraine’s vibrant tech and cybersecurity landscape, boosted by 2,150 tech companies and 350,000 specialists, injecting $6.7 billion into the economy.

“The UK-Ukraine Tech Forum highlighted the win-win nature of collaboration with Ukrainian IT companies. Ukrainians are renowned for their proficiency in sophisticated technologies like AI, deep tech, drones, robotics, etc. The Forum was about partnership and experience exchange,” said Alex Bornyakov, the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on IT industry development.

Matthew Evans, Director at TechUK, noted, “There are huge opportunities for the UK and Ukraine tech sectors both now and after the war. It was humbling to continue hear about the situation which attendees and companies are operating under in Ukraine at the moment but that was matched by inspiration at the innovation being unleashed in areas as varied as de-mining to education and entrepreneurship.”

Daria Yaniieva, Investment Director at Sigma Software Labs, gave a speech about building strong partnerships between the UK and Ukraine. Promoting collaboration and driving cross-border initiatives in today’s technology landscape is now even more important than ever.

Presentation of the Ukrainian IT Industry

IT services, growing at an impressive annual rate of 18.7% over the last decade, now constitute 13.2% of Ukraine’s total exports, with the US as the primary market. This sector boasts over 2,150 companies, focusing mainly on business productivity and Martech & Media.

The workforce features 350,000 IT professionals. Software Engineers are the backbone of this sector, comprising 47% of the workforce, with a growing demand for JavaScript developers.

More info on the Ukrainian IT Industry in the report created by IT Ukraine Association, with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

Cybersecurity

Sigma Software Group together with IdeaSoft and other Ukrainian companies, including ISSP, Cyber Unit Technologies, Osavul, Seeton, 10Guards, ELEKS, Labyrinth Security Solutions, CQR, and Kyivstar, presented cybersecurity cases. The roundtable united over 50 representatives and experts in cybersecurity from Ukraine and the UK.

The main topics of the roundtable included the most pressing issues challenging Ukraine and the world. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the number of cyber attacks on the Ukrainian utility sector, power grids, telecommunications, and personal data in client databases increased significantly. For example, the recent cyber attack on the largest Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar destroyed thousands of virtual servers and PCs leaving some 24 million users without mobile services for days. The attack was named an important warning for the whole Western world.

Ukrainian state institutions, regional authorities, and industry experts together with global tech giants interact to cope with those attacks, getting a deeper understanding of the ways, tools, and areas of interest of malicious actors as well as methods of protection against them.

At the same time, the UK’s officials are aware of enduring and significant cyber threats faced by the British critical infrastructure in the situation of ongoing geopolitical challenges. Thus, it is reported that there have been an estimated 2.39 Million Cyber Attacks on UK Businesses in the last 12 Months. This makes it all the more important for the UK cyber security experts to expand cooperation with Ukraine in this field to exchange information, findings, and approaches.

Alex Borniakov noted: “Given that Ukraine, the USA, and the UK are currently the three most targeted states in cyberspace, there is significant room for mutual learning and teaching. The goal is to establish genuine synergy in Ukrainian-British cyber cooperation.”

Valery Krasovsky, CEO & Co-Founder at Sigma Software Group, underlined the importance of strengthening cyber defense in both the UK and Ukraine, as they are among the countries most targeted by cyber attacks. Valery spotlighted Sigma Software Group’s ecosystem and our cybersecurity services, including strategic cybersecurity consulting, secure development practices, and managed services.

He highlighted Сlean.io (now HUMAN) – co-founded and invested in by Sigma Software Group, as the industry leader in protection against malvertising and e-commerce fraud and introduced Global Ledger, facilitated by IdeaSoft’s business incubator, a project aimed at disrupting money laundering and cybercrime by enabling banks to freely work with cryptocurrency.

The UK-UA Tech Forum was organized by the Department for Business and Trade, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, IT Ukraine Association in cooperation with techUK. The main partner of the forum: Sigma Software Group. Partners: ELEKS and algorytm.ngo.

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