Premier of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk has proposed setting up Fund of Human Capital Development for IT sector to enable it manage sector on its own. “The problem in the lack of staff…We hope to establish conditions for the sector to work faster,” Honcharuk said during the meeting of the government with export IT industry in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to the premier, the means of this fund will be forwarded for scholarships of talented students, grants for young scientists and the creation of educational infrastructure.
Head of State Tax Service Serhiy Verlanov reported that a special taxation option for individuals in IT sector should be introduced.
In addition to the 5% single tax, 1.5% military tax and unified social tax from two minimum wages, the head of the service suggests introducing a tax on the development of human capital. It will be administered by the tax service and transferred to sector managed-by fund, and its rate will be gradually raised from 1% in 2020 to 5% in 2024.
According to Verlanov, this taxation option will give more guarantees and advantages, however, the transition to it is voluntary, and those who wish can stay on today’s third form of simplified taxation.
The premier has said the government expects that this will allow in 10 years to increase the export of the IT from $3 billion up to $10 billion, the number of workers in this sphere of services will increase from 165,000 to 650,000 people.
Kyiv, September 4, 2019. – The first innovation park, UNIT.City, starts the second phase of its development which includes its integration into the global innovation ecosystem. To complete this ambitious task, the company is changing its managing structure and introducing a new position of CEO which will be occupied by renowned Silicon Valley innovation expert, Dominique Piotet. He has over 20 years of experience in digital transformation, including work in Fortune Global 500 companies.
“UNIT.City is entering the next level. I’d like more international companies to open their offices here and hire Ukrainian programmers who have proven themselves to be highly-qualified specialists. To make this real as soon as possible, we’ve invited Dominique Piotet, a person with experience in Silicon Valley, to become CEO of the innovation park. Thanks to Dominique’s experience and his knowledge, UNIT.City has every chance of breaking into the innovative system of the world. I am grateful to Bakhmatov and Yakover for their contribution to the development of the innovation park that has turned an ambitious startup into a unique project of the international level,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky, Founder of UFuture, said.
“I’d like to thank Vasyl Khmelnytsky for the invitation and Max Yakover and Maxim Bakhmatov, who have met me with support and who shared their experience from the very first day. I am delighted to see what they’ve managed to build over the years. In Silicon Valley, where I worked for many years, Ukraine is well known for its great developers who work in such companies as Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Uber. When I first heard about UNIT.City, I realized that I should definitely get acquainted with this project to see where such talented IT-specialists come from,” Dominique Piotet, CEO of UNIT.City emphasized.
UNIT.City’s managing partners Max Yakover and Maxim Bakhmatov are leaving the project as it was planned due to the end of the three-year contract. The company is grateful for their contribution to the development of the innovation park at the first and most responsible stage of its establishment. Within three years, UNIT.City has launched an IT-school for gifted youth, UNIT Factory, built five business campuses, co-working space Chasopys.UNIT, a free gym, and several cafes. In the next seven years, the park is expected to attract about 15,000 new residents and create 10 R&D laboratories.
“In three years, we’ve created not just a brand, but a phenomenon. Today UNIT.City is already a household name. We’ve managed to succeed thanks to Vasyl Khmelnytsky, who risked to invest money, a huge team working on the project, and the residents of the park. Particularly, we are grateful to the very first residents who believed in us, because nothing like this existed in the country then,” Max Yakover, Managing Partner of the innovation park, said.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UFuture is a Ukrainian private equity firm and group of companies, based in Kyiv. UFuture consolidates UDP, which is a real estate development company specialized in large infrastructure projects, the country’s second biggest Kyiv Sikorsky international airport, national Ukrainian outdoor advertising operator RTM, and Bila Tserkva industrial park. The group develops new and innovative businesses such as renewable energy generator UDP Renewables, pharmaceutical producer Biopharma, and innovation parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City. UFuture supports and coordinates numerous impact and sustainability projects related to education and economics, some of which are annual Kyiv International Economic Forum, Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School, cutting-edge IT coding school UNIT Factory and Lean Institute Ukraine.
UNIT.City is Ukraine’s first innovation park. It is the location where matchless infrastructure and all-inclusive ecosystem enable high technology, innovative and creative businesses to happen and flourish. The goal is to become the center of innovations and a one-point entry into Ukraine for investors, partners and new technology from all over the world. The mission of UNIT.City is to create a unique innovation platform where advanced companies, start-ups and mavens get an opportunity to cross paths and work together ramping up their growth and honing quality. Park offers its residents a package of additional services for business development: meetings with investors, counseling, mentoring and accelerating programs, prototyping laboratories, great infrastructure for work and leisure.
CEO of UNIT.City Dominique Piotet is a recognized expert with a 20+ year experience in strategy and operational digital transformation for Fortune 500 companies, both as a consultant and as a corporate executive. Previously, Dominique was CEO of FABERNOVEL US, the US subsidiary of the global Innovation agency FABERNOVEL, the founder and owner of Rebellion Lab, a digital strategy consulting agency based in the Silicon Valley. Dominique worked and advised directly CEO’s and Government officials in the US, Europe, China, Australia and Japan. Prior Piote was responsible for digital strategy and innovation for BNP Paribas globally. Dominique has become one of the finalists of the global search initiated by UFuture and done by an international team of “Pedersen&Partners” that is specializing in top-level executives. Piote is also a successful entrepreneur with more than 50 investments in the portfolio, a startup mentor and advisor and is part of several nonprofits as advisor and ambassador. Dominique is also co-owner of Sierra Nevada Hospitality group, with two boutique hotels in the Foothill of Yosemite National Park. Dominique is a contributing columnist for various global publications. He is regularly an invited lecturer for IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Vogue. He is co-author of the best-selling and award-winning book “How the Web changes the world”, published in four languages (French, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish). Dominique has several awards. He is Knight of the National Order of Merit, given by the French President to recognize his work to support the digital transformation of the French economy and for the bridge he created between Silicon Valley and France. He was recognized as Digital Personality of the year in 2013 and received the price of the best book on technology in 2008.
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina has made it to the semifinals of the season’s final tournament of the U.S. Open, the organization said on its Twitter account.
Svitolina held the quarterfinal match of the U.S. Open against the British Johanna Konta, which lasted 1 hour 40 minutes.
The Ukrainian tennis player held the match without making a single double mistake, making four aces and gave only two aces of her – 6:4, 6:4.
In the semifinals of the U.S. Open, Svitolina will play with the winner of the pair Serena Williams – Wang Qiang.
Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection of Ukraine will develop a new energy strategy of Ukraine, said minister Oleksiy Orzhel. “The energy strategy will be definitely reviewed because we have a strategy, which isn’t fulfilled,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
In particular, the minister noted among the priorities the increase in gas of own production, as the existing potential is not used enough. According to him, the gas production level in Ukraine corresponds to 1.2% of reserves, while the global trend in the world is 4%-5%.
“There will be legislative initiatives to increase gas production. There will be reforms on the market, we invite everyone to invest,” Orzhel said.
He added that the issue of such investments has been discussed with American partners at the negotiations in Poland that took place on the weekend.
Besides, the minister reminded that Ukraine has recently launched open licensing competitions.
Azovstal tops list of largest value added tax refund recipients
Azovstal, which is part of Metinvest Group, in August 2019 led the list of the largest recipients of value added tax (VAT) refunds with UAH 1.046 billion, while in July its reimbursement amounted to UAH 4.37 million, according to data on the website of the State Treasury Service. According to the agency, Dniprovsky Iron and Steel Works with UAH 766.42 million and Mariupol-based Illich Steel Mill, affiliated with Metinvest, with UAH 678.07 million also were among the three largest recipients of VAT refunds.
The top five largest recipients were also ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, which in July led the list with UAH 1.05 billion, with UAH 633.73 million in August, as well as Zaporizhstal from Metinvest Group with UAH 467.64 million against UAH 544.05 million last month.
They are followed by Zaporizhkoks with UAH 400 million, Suntrade with UAH 298.13 million, Grain-Agrotrade with UAH 230.66 million, Solar Farm-3 with UAH 219.76 million.
Kernel-Trade agricultural exporter closes the ten largest recipients with UAH 215.55 million (UAH 217.46 million in July).
The Lviv International Danylo Halytsky Airport in January-August 2019 increased passenger flow by 40% year-over-year, to 1.445 million people, the airport has reported on its official Facebook page.
At the same time, the number of flights for this period 2019 increased 24.3%, to 12,499 (10,794 international and 1,705 domestic).
According to the results of the airport in August 2019, 251,800 passengers (233,200 international and 18,600 domestic) took advantage of the air traffic, which is 31.4% more than in August 2018.
The number of flights serviced in August reached 1,942 (1,700 international and 242 domestic), which is 23.6% more than in August last year.
Lviv Airport is located six kilometers south from the city center.
The main international routes serviced by the airport are Warsaw, Istanbul, Munich, Vienna, Baku, Thessaloniki, Madrid, Rome, Tel Aviv, Bologna, Radom, Iraklion, Minsk, and Burgas.
