You're reading: Highlights of Lviv IT Jazz Conference: Innovation District IT Park to Be Built in Lviv

A huge space for IT companies, with modern offices, kindergarten, hotel, fitness center, and a common space: this is what Innovation District IT Park will look like. It was presented at the Lviv IT Jazz Conference, IT event that brought together business, government, and investors. The conference took place on June 27 and was organized by Lviv IT Cluster in partnership with UVCA. The event was held during Alfa Jazz Fest and became a platform for the presentation of the latest infrastructure project as well as discussions about IT education, investment, and the role of government in IT development.



The main theme of the conference is the Innovation District IT Park, the newest and unique Ukraine’s complex to be built by IT business. It will accommodate around 10,000 professionals, providing them with the latest infrastructure and features of IT offices. DTZ Ukraine analyzed the project for Lviv IT Cluster; it interviewed 35 IT companies in the city, which employ about 40% of IT professionals. The results showed that 91% of the companies are willing to relocate, and 83% plan to increase the number of their employees. Businesses need modern IT offices with additional features, which are included in Innovation District IT Park.

Another one speaker

IT Park is the newest example of modern infrastructure. Alongside IT offices, it will also include a fitness center, hotel, commercial area, kindergarten, and conference halls. Innovation District IT Park is scheduled to be built in 10 years, and about 30 medium-sized companies will be able to work comfortably in it. “IT Park is not just an office, it is something bigger: a modern infrastructure and education in one. This is our next step after training talents as we want make sure that they stay in the city,» says Andrew Pavliv, N-iX CEO and Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Lviv IT Cluster.

General

«IT specialists need more infrastructure projects that contribute to business and accelerate the process of transforming the city into one of the greatest IT hubs in Eastern Europe. After launching IT House, a home for IT professionals, we decided to go ahead. Innovation District IT Park is an example of how business sees future infrastructure,” says Stepan Veselovskyi, CEO Lviv IT Cluster.

In addition to Innovation District’s presentation, Lviv IT Jazz Conference also focused on the role of government to promote IT. “If we create open regulations, we will create opportunities for opening new jobs and attracting new investments,” says Max Nefyodov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi emphasized on supporting IT in Lviv and understanding the importance of this area for the city development. “The key role of government in business is creating an enabling environment,” says Geoffrey R. Pyatt, US Ambassador to Ukraine.

General 2

Lviv IT Jazz Conference devoted much attention to IT education. “We understand the importance of IT education, and we increased the number of students by 1200 in this sphere,” says Liliya Hrynevych, the Minister of Education and Science. “It is not that difficult to create a new system for the school, but it’s difficult to always support it,” says Oleh Denys, Executive Vice President of SoftServe. The panel concluded that the government needed to cooperate with IT to develop practical courses that would give graduates applied knowledge in IT.

Two

The heads and representatives of international investment funds discussed investment opportunities at Lviv IT Jazz Conference. “In the past, everybody wanted to sell, and now, everybody wants to sell, create, and sell specifically in IT,” says Alex Fridlyand, Executive Director of Soros Fund Management, «The development of the middle class in Ukraine will contribute to democratization and show that West needs Ukraine, and vice versa». Andriy Kolodyuk, AVentures Capital founder and UVCA board member agrees. According to him, Ukraine has a lot of interesting projects and effective teams that are most interesting to investors.

One speaker

Lviv IT Jazz Conference summed up the main achievements of IT in Ukraine and Lviv, and made it possible to look at the potential of IT from various sectors like education or government. It also stressed on the positive trends that are already in place such as the fact that 90% of CEOs continue to further enhance business in the city. Innovation District IT Park is the result of previous years when IT House was launched, and the city got new university programs such as Computer Science at Ukrainian Catholic University and Bachelor’s program “Internet of Things” at Lviv Polytechnic University. Innovation District IT Park is the biggest project that will change the city landscape; but Lviv also awaits new projects for IT development.

General 3

Lviv IT Cluster has a considerable experience in IT infrastructure projects, such as IT House. It already has finished the construction of 8 floors and has a live stream of the construction process. Besides Lviv IT Jazz Conference, Lviv IT Cluster organizes one of the largest IT events in Eastern Europe, Lviv IT Arena. This year it will take place on September, 30 until October,2, and will bring together prominent IT professionals from around the world to talk about business, technology and products. More information about Lviv IT Jazz Conference here itjazz.lviv.ua