28.09.2020

On September 24, 2020, the First International Innovation Forum “Innovation System of Podillia. Reboot” took place in Vinnytsia. It was organized by Vinnytsia City Council, Vinnytsia Regional State Administration, Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University and DonNU-Podillia Science Park.

Welcoming the representatives of the research community and business who took part in the forum, Director of the Department of Economy and Investments of Vinnytsia City Council Maksym Martianov expressed confidence that the First International Innovation Forum will be a communication platform for joint activities of science and business.

“The forum is held in Vinnytsia for the first time and it is an important event in the formation of the innovation system of both Vinnytsia city and Vinnytsia region, and Podillia in general. Vinnytsia city already has significant experience in supporting innovation. In particular, the city has already created three industrial parks, which serve as a kind of magnet for attracting investors and creating new enterprises, including innovative ones. In addition, the Concept for the Development of the Innovation and Technology Park CRYSTAL, the first municipal innovation and technology park in Ukraine, has been developed and approved”, – Maksym Martianov stressed.

Due to quarantine measures, the Forum was held in a combined format (offline and online) and included speeches by the city and regional authorities, faculty of the leading higher educational institutions of Ukraine, Poland and Bulgaria, representatives of the leading enterprises of Ukraine and Poland, as well as non-governmental organizations of entrepreneurs, representatives of the innovation and investment industries of Ukraine, Poland and Bulgaria.

In the first part of the forum, foreign and domestic guests spoke about the infrastructure of innovation.

“In a pandemic, the importance of innovation is particularly felt. I am convinced that the Forum will be an excellent platform for establishing a dialogue between science and business”, – emphasized during the speech Viacheslav Liashenko, Doctor of Sciences, Professor of the Institute of Industrial Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. “Innovative Elevator – Areas of Integration into the EU Economic Environment in the Implementation of the Association Agreement” – the practical part of the forum began with a discussion of this topic and a speech of the professor of the Institute of Industrial Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Director of the Kielce Technology Park of the Republic of Poland Justyna Lichosik spoke about the successful experience of creating and implementing the Kielce Technology Park. She paid special attention to the cooperation of the Kielce Technopark in the development of the Innovation and Technology Park CRYSTAL, which was established in Vinnytsia.

In 2019, within the “Polish Development Assistance 2019” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, the Kielce Technology Park together with Vinnytsia City Council implemented a project to create the first in Ukraine municipal Innovation and Technology Park CRYSTAL. Specially invited Polish experts conducted the series of trainings to develop the basis for creating an effective ecosystem of the Innovation and Technology Park CRYSTAL. At the final conference of the project, the Concept of Vinnytsia Innovation and Technology Park, standards for the implementation of pre-incubation and acceleration programs in the CRYSTAL, a list of indicators of the effectiveness of the Park were presented”, – said Justyna Lichosik.

Prof. Andrzej Polgrabski, Chairman of the Board of the Industrial and Technological Park of Bydgoszcz (Republic of Poland) also participated in the Forum. He spoke about the development of the Technopark of Bydgoszcz over the past 15 years. Professor of the Tsenov Academy of Economics of the Republic of Bulgaria spoke about the new business model of universities through the prism of the Bulgarian experience.

In the second part of the forum, participants talked about the practice of innovation. Great interest among the participants aroused the presentation of the representatives of Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia National Medical University named after M. Pyrogov, Vinnytsia National Technical University, Khmelnytskyi National University and the representatives of the enterprise “Firm MED” and SPE “SV-ECO PLUS” LLC.

Representatives of the business community of Vinnytsia region spoke about the practical experience of Business-Science cooperation: Mykhailo Hanchuk, Director of “Promavtomatyka Vinnytsia” LLC; Yurii Omelchuk, Executive Director of “Plasmatek” PJSC; Yurii Skydan, Technical Director of “Innovinprom” LLC; Oleksandr Pechalin, Chairman of the Board of the NGO “Union of the Entrepreneurs STINA”.

Organizers of the Forum “Innovation system of Podillia. Reboot” are confident that it will become a communicative platform for establishing effective dialogue between representatives of public authorities, business, scientific, educational and public organizations, search for investment resources and additional sources of funding for promising innovative projects.