You have successfully pre-booked IT Arena 2022 ticket/s. We'll send you further details shortly.
During the event, IT Arena hosted five panel discussions with a focus on cybersecurity, military tech and cooperation between government and business. The first day of the conference kicked off with a panel discussion with Serhiy Prytula and Taras Chmut, representatives of the two biggest charity foundations in Ukraine, Prytula Charity Foundation and Come Back Alive, joined by Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of Turkey’s premier UAV manufacturing company Baykar, who connected online. On the second day, cybersecurity expert and journalist Kim Zetter came together with Viktor Zhora, Deputy Chairman of the State Service of SCIP and Kenneth Geers, External Communication Analyst at Very Good Security, to discuss Ukraine’s cyber defense as well as challenges and opportunities of modern cyber tactics.
For the first time in its history, IT Arena featured a discussion on advancements in military tech, in particular, UAV technology. Ivan Tolchinsky, CEO & Founder of Atlas Aerospace, Cameron Chell, President and CEO of Draganfly, Ihor Maslov, Business Development Director at Ukrspecsystems, and Yaroslav Kalinin, CEO of Infozahyst were joined conversation with award-winning defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko.
Startup Competition has also a slight change in format this year. Due to the war, fewer startups than normally applied for the competition. Out of 70 applications, 28 teams have been qualified to pitch their ideas from the event’s stage, with 10 teams subsequently qualifying for the finals. The finalists focused on solving real-world technological and humanitarian emerging problems. Five of ten teams focused on medtech solutions.
The winner of the Startup Competition 2022 became WRAP, an app automating video production flows. The team won the Best Startup Award and a $20,000 prize from IT Arena, CRDF and USF. Knopka, a creator of an IoT/SaaS solution for hospitals that ensures medical assistance is provided within 3 minutes, took the second prize and $18,000. The third prize, or $15,000 went to Nanit – an educational robot and EdTech solution for kids and adults that allows them to identify creative and technical abilities, learn engineering skills in the creative process and raise professional orientation by 30%. The total Startup Competition prize in 2022 equalled $340,000, which included money grants and in-kind services.
IT Arena 2022 showed the local tech community and international guests the power of unity. Despite air raid sirens, curfew and survivor’s guilt of attendees, the industry representatives, government officials, startups and entrepreneurs came to discuss hands-on steps the industry can take for the economy to continue to operate.
Following the panel discussion on the unstoppable volunteering forces, the event’s organizer Lviv IT Cluster, together with its member company JustAnswer, supported the initiative of the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation to fundraise ₴8,000,000 by the end of 2022 for the training of 4,000 military drone pilots within the Boryviter school. Lviv IT Cluster and JustAnswer donated ₴2,000,000 and encouraged tech companies to join by making a corporate donation.
In 2021, 115 startups applied for participation in the Startup Competition. A committee of professionals chose the top thirty startups, which presented their products during the second day of the conference. Since IT Arena 2021 took place in a new hybrid format, only a part of the jury members was physically present during the pitches, while the rest joined online. Startup Competition finals were hosted during the conference's closing ceremony at Lviv National Opera, where ten finalists performed in front of a live audience. The total prize fund of the Startup Competition in 2021 equaled $170,000.
The third place of the Startup Competition went to Caretech Human, daily health checks and disease detection gadget which received a $15,000 prize. The second-place winner is Zeely, a mobile app for creating corporate websites that received $18,000. Mosqitter, eco-friendly and innovative protection from mosquitoes, won the Startup Competition 2021, receiving the grand prize of $20,000.
IT Arena 2021 hosted a series of offline events, providing the attendees with the networking of the highest quality. Networking & Beer Party and Tech Lounge events were visited by 1931 attendees, bringing together conference attendees, top management, investors, and government officials in an informal context to share ideas and discuss the key prospects of tech industry development. On the 3rd day of the conference, 51 meetups were held in the nicest venues of the city center. After two intensive days of talks, IT Arena attendees continued informal communication, workshops, and discussions in the historic center of Lviv.
One of the brightest and most anticipated in-person events was held at Lviv National Opera, including a number of events – IT Arena Startup Competition Finals, IT Arena Startup Competition Awards Ceremony, Lviv IT Cluster 10th-anniversary celebration, and informal networking at Closing Afterparty. These events, with an unforgettable atmosphere, become the center for tech expert’s networking and communication. The events were organized following the health and safety guidelines.
The startup helps farmers sell crops, buy inputs, get financing, and buy/sell land faster by matching their buyers and distributors' requests. Runner-up of the competition was the hardware startup IOON a device that transforms water into a sanitizer in a few seconds. The team received $6,000 from CRDF Global and many other valuable benefits. The third prize $5,000 and a 6-month membership in the Sigma Software Lab went to ORTY Restaurant Management. ORTY is a solution that enables restaurants to launch digital self-service quickly.
IT Arena online included a combination of insightful content, matchmaking and networking opportunities, and interactive sessions. The participants were able to share photos and posts in the mobile and web activity stream, send direct messages to other attendees, create chats, take part in polls and Q&A sessions during talks. To maximize business partnerships, there was a private chat available for Executive attendees. The B2B matchmaking chat was powered by an online functionality tailored for the close-knit communication exclusively for C-level companies’ representatives. It was also complemented with a catalog containing comprehensive information on the companies from 15 countries participating in the event in 2020.
In 2020, the only offline event hosted by IT Arena was Tech Lounge. Tech Lounge gathered tech industry and business leaders, investors, and government representatives in an informal context to share ideas and discuss the key prospects of tech industry development. The event was organized following the health and safety guidelines.
Networking is a vital part of tech events and IT Arena is not an exception. The event’s organizers make sure the jam-packed agenda is combined with informal satellite events and afterparties. In addition to 2 full days of talks, over 30 meetups, 3 afterparties, a charity run and a giveaway breakfast with speakers took place within IT Arena. IT Arena app served as a great tool for business matchmaking as well as staying up-to-date with any changes in the agenda, therefore, making the conference experience smooth and comfortable for everyone.
It’s no news that IT Arena takes networking and entertainment seriously. The first-day afterparty was held at Pravda Beer Theatre, recently listed as one of the best breweries in Europe by The Guardian. Executive ticket holders could relax and meet fellow attendees in a more chill atmosphere during Tech Lounge.
The second day of IT Arena ended with Futureland Festival, a real celebration for all electronic music lovers. The festival was headlined by Juicy M, one of the best female DJs and a Ukrainian by origin. Amazing light show and loud beats have left the audience stunned. The last evening of IT Arena 2018 with Silicon Drinkabout, which allowed attendees to network with speakers and share their impressions about the event.
Knowledge comes first, but IT Arena organizers never underestimate the importance of networking and entertainment - the event is famous for its afterparties, and 2017 was not an exception. Futureland Festival, an open-air party took place right on the stadium field, gathering a few thousand of electronic music fans. In spite a (very) cold autumn night, the place got heated up by the famous French duo Cassius.
The second IT Arena, held on October 2-4 2015, brought together about 1400 participants including hundreds of IT professionals, top managers, designers, investors, entrepreneurs and startuppers. The number of the attendees exceeded the expectations of organizers – the conference almost doubled in size compared to 2014.
In 2015, the conference consisted of 3 simultaneous streams: Product, Technology and Business. Attendees could visit discussions conducted in English, Ukrainian or Russian and listen to speakers coming from 10 countries (USA, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine). The selection of speakers was decent and included representatives from IBM Design, Amazon, FitBit, Epson, Facebook, SAP, HP, Petcube and Microsoft.
The first IT Arena took place on October 2-4 2014. Being a meeting ground for 800 participants, including IT professionals from all directions (software engineers, designers, QAs), CEOs, young entrepreneurs and startups the conference became the biggest tech event in Western Europe.
Startup
Management as fun
Data Science
QA
Google Development
Mobile
User Experience
IT Outsourcing
Value Management and Business Analysis
Information Security
Game Development