REPORT: Ukrainian Startup Ecosystem
Facing the challenges, seizing the opportunities
The region of Central and Eastern Europe is an area located between the highly developed and wealthy countries of Western Europe and the we- stern frontiers of the Russian Federation. This area is highly fragmented by almost 20 countries. Each of them uses a different language and a different legal system. The level of socio-economic development and the prevailing business cultures are also not the same. Only two countries — Poland and Ukraine — seem to be significant organisms that stand out from the picture of that mosaic.
In the last 30 years, Poland has made a gradual economic transforma- tion, joined the European Union and achieved considerable economic successes. Moreover, the Polish economy is a strong magnet for foreign investments. It offers advantages in the form of a large internal market and attracting positively assessed infrastructure with a business environment and stable economic growth for years.
This year Ukraine celebrated the 30th anniversary of its independence and, as a relatively young country, has adopted a consistent course of integration with the rest of Europe for the last several years. It is making constant efforts to modernize, implement reforms and successfully resist external military aggression. Being one of the largest countries in Europe, it also has a large and educated population. Still, Ukraine's potential as a high-tech development centre (incl. the space or military industry) and the country of scalable startups remains underrated.
At Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge, we believe that the CEE region should strive for deeper integration and combine dispersed potentials to achieve stable growth. Poland and Ukraine have a key role to play in this process. Our mission is to connect the Ukrainian world of startups and new technologies with Polish investment and development potential. We are convinced that the best platform for successful cooperation for both co- untries is the business arena. The potential for exchanging experiences, implementing solutions and creating new capital ties is far from being exhausted.
Therefore, together with our partners — the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the Ukrainian Startup Fund, we decided to share with you a report dedicated to Ukrainian startups, their needs and strengths. We hope that this report will be a valuable source of knowledge for you when planning cooperation at the Polish-Ukrainian interface. Most of all, however, we hope that it will become the first step for the Polish and Ukrainian startup and new technology communities to discuss deeper cooperation. And the main question will not be whether to cooperate, but how to do it effectively.
