Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to set up equivalent of UNIT.City in Astana

Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to set up equivalent of UNIT.City in Astana Vasyl Khmelnytsky is a promoter of the UFuture Investment Group
Photo: kfund.ua

A project team has been preparing for launching the UNIT.City in Kyiv for 10 years, learning from the experience of other countries, said the investor Vasyl Khmelnytsky.

An equivalent of the UNIT.City, an innovation park in Kyiv, can emerge In Kazakhstan, as the investor Vasyl Khmelnytsky has said in his interview with The Astana Times. Ukrainians are pleased to share their experience and know-how in building a tech startup; a project team has been preparing for launching the UNIT.City in Kyiv for 10 years, learning from the experience of other countries.

Khmelnytsky said, ‘Our task is to build a good ecosystem for the gifted people to stay in this country, acquire new knowledge, attract investments and find a tutor. The most important thing is that, when communicating with each other, they can exchange ideas and ways to do something, set up new companies and startups. This should certainty trigger the development of IT in Kazakhstan.’

The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakhytzhan Sagintayev supported the idea of cooperation between Ukraine and Kazakhstan in the field of creating innovation parks. The government is willing to support the project with resources and special conditions, as well as provide the relevant premises.

In Kyiv, the UNIT.City includes IT and Big Data schools, with about a thousand students studying there, as well as a 3D laboratory. The park houses about 50 innovation companies that create products themselves and continue to develop them. In Ukraine, the average growth rate for such companies is 30%, and for the UNIT.City this figure rises to 50%.

The UNIT.City was launched In Ukraine two years ago. In the preparation, the project team learnt from the experience of such countries as China, India, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the United States to create the most favourable ecosystem to ensure economic growth.

Vasyl Khmelnytsky is a promoter of the UFuture Investment Group. The company's business priorities are the innovations, high-tech industry, renewable energy, pharmaceutics and education. The businessman invests in the development of innovation parks – UNIT.City and LvivTech.City, UDP Renewables, which is one of the leading companies in the alternative power generation market of Ukraine, Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, Kyiv International Airport, and Biopharma Pharmaceutical Plant. Vasily Khmelnitsky is an initiator of Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF), founder of IT-factory – UNIT.Factory, Lean Institute Ukraine (LIU), and Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School (SME School). He also chairs the supervisory board of Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute.