How the tech industry can support the country in these turbulent times
Lviv’s Tech Event Braves the War
September 29 - October 1, 2023
Lviv, Ukraine
In 2014 IT Arena started out as a meeting ground of tech companies and tech professionals in the city of Lviv, and since then has become to be one of Eastern Europe’s fastest growing tech conferences, annually bringing together upwards of 5,000 tech enthusiasts, executives, and software developers from over 40 countries to share insights, network and establish long-lasting business relationships cemented with out-of-the-ordinary after function gatherings. From featuring global tech giants such as Google, Tesla, Spotify, F1, and Klarna to Ukrainian startups like Liki24, this is the only place where the international and Ukrainian tech communities come together to discuss the future of big tech and beyond.
Even despite the war, Ukraine’s tech community continues to thrive and profit, and so we couldn’t have been more excited than to bring IT Arena 2022 to life and watch it being a groundbreaking event, one of the largest gatherings of tech industry leaders, experts, and all those dedicated to shaping the digital future of Ukraine, a country facing unique challenges and building unique solutions.
In 2022, the event happened in-person (offline) to show the strength and resilience of Ukraine. The IT Arena’s main theme revolved around:
How the tech industry can support the country in these turbulent times
The future of military tech
Insights on modern cyber tactics, and much more
Baykar, CEO
Haluk Bayraktar is the CEO of Baykar, Turkey’s premiere autonomous technology company. Haluk began his tenure at Baykar in 2004 as an engineering manager when Baykar’s autonomous technology efforts were still nascent. He has since been involved in every aspect of the business: from engineering to project management to logistics support and business development.
How People’s Bayraktar came to be
Prytula Charity Fund, Founder
Serhiy Prytula is a Ukrainian public and political figure, volunteer, TV presenter, actor, and producer. Since February 24, he resumed his management of the Prytula Charity Fund, where he is organizing charitable fundraising for armaments and humanitarian aid for war victims. On June 22, on Serhiy Prytula's birthday, launched the People's Bayraktar project, raising funds for the purchase of three Bayraktar TB2. The required sum of UAH 602,009,910.58 was collected on June 24.
How People’s Bayraktar came to be
"Come Back Alive" Foundation, Director
Taras Chmut is the Head of the Come Back Alive Foundation and the co-founder of the Militarnyi web portal. He's a veteran of the Russo-Ukrainian war. After his retirement from the Marine Corps he became an analyst at the Foundation and since 2020 he's been leading the entire team. The full-scale invasion prompted the Foundation to become the biggest non-governmental non-partisan organization to directly support Ukrainian troops.
State Service of SCIP of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman
Deputy Chairman of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine on digital development, digital transformation, and digitization. 2003-2012, Viktor worked as a design engineer, chief specialist on information security systems, and head of the information security department of PJSC "Atlas". In 2021, Viktor Zhora was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine on digital development, digital transformation, and digitization.
Insights from russian cyber tactics against Ukraine
SoftServe, Co-Founder and Board Member
From 1997 till 2013 Taras served as the company’s President leading SoftServe to growth and success as a global provider of high quality software development and technology consulting services. Taras was chairman of the IT Ukraine Association in 2011, 2016, and 2020. He is a member of the European Business Association (EBA) board since 2018. Senator at Ukrainian Catholic University, Chairman of the Board at Lviv National Ivan Franko University
How the tech industry supports the country in times of war
Intellias, CEO and Co-founder
Business leader and entrepreneur, Vitaly has been driving the Intellias` growth since 2002 to become a trusted technology partner to Fortune 500 enterprises and top-tier organizations around the world. Vitaly also serves as President of IT Ukraine Association. He takes part in the consolidation of the IT sector efforts channeled towards its further development while giving back to the community.
Government and tech business consolidated efforts
Chairman of the Management Board UKRSIBBANK BNP Paribas Group
Laurent Dupuch took over the UKRSIBBANK BNP Paribas Group team as Chairman of the Management Board in 2020. He started his career in the BNP Paribas Group in 1993 and has a wealth of experience in various countries and various fields of banking. Laurent was the head of the Morocco region of the BNP Paribas Group and the head of BMCI bank and he was head of the Algeria operations of BNP Paribas Group since January 2008. He was a member of the supervisory board of UKRSIBBANK and worked on integrating the bank into an international group in 2006-2007
How the tech industry supports the country in times of war
Draganfly, CEO
Cameron Chell is the President and CEO of Draganfly, a creator of quality, cutting-edge drone solutions, software, and AI systems. Cameron has been a technology entrepreneur for more than 30 years and has spent his career growing a diverse collection of high-potential ideas into revolutionary companies that have changed the way we experience the world. Cameron takes a hands-on leadership role in projects, infusing innovation and adoption with the operational principles of clarity, alignment, and measurement into the culture of every team he works with.
The future of tech in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles)
Very Good Security, External Communications Analyst
Kenneth Geers works as an External Communications Analyst at Very Good Security. He is an Atlantic Council Cyber Statecraft Initiative Senior Fellow, a NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence Ambassador, and a Digital Society Institute-Berlin Affiliate. He served for twenty years in the US Government: in the Army, NSA, NCIS, and NATO. Author of “Strategic Cyber Security”, editor of ”Cyber War in Perspective” and ”The Virtual Battlefield”, and technical expert to the ”Tallinn Manual”.
Insights from russian cyber tactics against Ukraine
Journalist
Kim Zetter is a journalist covering cybersecurity/national security and the author of the book Countdown to Zero Day. Kim has written for WIRED, the New York Times Magazine, Politico, Washington Post, Motherboard/Vice, and others. She has been repeatedly voted one of the top ten security journalists in the country. She has broken numerous national stories about NSA and FBI surveillance, nation-state hacking, the Russian sabotage of Ukraine's power grid and its use of that country as a testing ground, and election security.
Insights from russian cyber tactics against Ukraine
Atlas Aerospace, CEO
Ivan is the CEO of Atlas Aerospace, Ireland based designer and manufacturer of autonomous UAV systems for professional use-cases, that works with a dominant defense, security, and infrastructure institutions in the U.S., the E.U., and Asia.Ivan founded the company in 2015. Before that he worked for various companies in aviation industry and waled a path from engineer to top-management positions. UAVs created by Atlas are used also by Special Operation Forces of Ukraine.
The future of tech in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles)
Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation
Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on IT industry development, head of a Diia City project.
Among his projects is the introduction of a special legal space for the IT industry Diia.City, that will make it possible to turn Ukraine into the largest IT hub in Europe and project for development IT education IT Generation.
Government and tech business consolidated efforts
Ukrspecsystems, International Business Development Director
Ihor is the Business development director at Ukrspecsystems which has been actively involved in the defence of Ukraine from the very beginning of the war with russia. Based on his strong understanding that high technologies would be crucial in that brutal war, he joined the UAV sector in 2017. After russia the full-scale invasion, as a part of the Ukrspecsystems team, he uses his background and experience to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and other Entities to protect our Homeland.
The future of tech in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles)
Infozahyst, CEO
Yaroslav Kalinin is the CEO of Infozahyst, a company that develops software and hardware solutions for Ukraine's security, defense, and law enforcement agencies. He has more than 12 years of professional expertise in the Information Technologies (IT) industry, and he is an expert in Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and Electronic intelligence (ELINT) solutions.
The future of tech in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles)
The Kyiv Independent, Defense reporter
Illia Ponomarenko is the defense and security reporter at The Kyiv Independent. He covers national security issues, as well as military technologies, production, and defense reforms in Ukraine. He gets deployed to the war zone of Donbas with Ukrainian combat formations and Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces. Illia won the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S. Department of Defense.
The future of tech in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles)
Mosqitter, COO
Olga Diachuk is COO at Mosqitter, last year's IT Arena winner. Before founding a women's hardware startup with her partner, used to work at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. She dreams of a world without dangerous diseases carried by pesky mosquitoes.
Hardware is hard SMART. New old challenges.
Avenga, CEO
Yuriy Adamchuk is CEO of Avenga. Yuriy is responsible for the execution of Avenga’s vision and global strategy, expansion to new markets, change management, and integration. Prior to becoming CEO, Yuriy held C-level positions at Avenga, including COO, CDO, and Country Director for US/Ukraine. Previously, he worked in different senior positions for CoreValue, PPF Investments, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG.
How the tech industry supports the country in times of war
N-iX, CEO & Founder
Andrew Pavliv CEO & Founder, N-iX. Andrew Pavliv is an entrepreneur, tech enthusiast, and angel investor. As a CEO, Andrew is responsible for the company’s global strategy and operations – spanning Europe and North America.
How the tech industry supports the country in times of war
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lviv IT Cluster
Vice President of Engineering at EduNav, a U.S.-based SaaS product company that serves hundreds of thousands of American college students. Prior to joining EduNav, Ivan was a General Manager and VP of Engineering at Limelight Networks (currently Edgio), one of the largest global Content Delivery Network.
Government and tech business consolidated efforts
N-iX, Director of Industry Affairs
Sviatoslav is responsible for maintaining and developing industry affairs function at N-iX. He engages and builds relationships with external organizations, including trade associations, government bodies, chambers of commerce, and educational and charity institutions. Ex-career diplomat who successfully utilizes his prior international experience & skills in IT business.
How the tech industry supports the country in times of war
GLOBSEC, Distinguished Fellow
Pavlo Sheremeta – Distinguished Fellow, GLOBSEC, Founding Dean of Kyiv Mohyla Business School (1999-2008), President and Senior Fellow, Malaysia Blue Ocean Strategy Institute (2008-2011), Minister for Economic Development and Trade (2014), Founding Director, School of Public Management, Ukrainian Catholic University (2015-2016).
Volunteering forces: why Ukrainian civilians cannot stand aside
Respeecher, PR&Comms
For the past 8 years, she has been engaged in international PR of Ukrainian tech startups, particularly Reface, Allset, and now Respeecher - an Emmy award-winning startup that made AI voices for Star Wars. Clients were featured in WSJ, Forbes, Mashable, the Verge, Tech Crunch, and Financial Times. For over a year, Orysia has been conducting a PR Basics course at Projector Institute. When the war started, she became more actively involved as a fixer and worked with the BBC, Guardian, and The Times.
Government and tech business consolidated efforts