Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab — a 10-week engineering program based on an actual Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) course and adapted to the Ukrainian context. More than 100 selected participants will work in teams on real-world technological challenges—from problem research to the creation and testing of a working prototype.
The program will run from October 2026 to February 2027 and is being implemented with the partnership support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Its focus is on solutions that can be applied in high-tech industries.
The Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab is built around the “learning by doing” principle: instead of working on hypothetical academic assignments, participants will receive real-world engineering cases from partner companies and work on them throughout the course.
Each team will consist of 10 participants and will work on a single technological challenge over the course of 10 weeks. Teams will progress from researching the problem and identifying potential solutions to designing, developing, testing, and creating a proven prototype.
From a real-world problem to a working prototype
The key idea behind the Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab is to bridge the gap between engineering education and the real-world technological challenges facing Ukrainian companies today.
The course is based on MIT methodology and combines an academic foundation with hands-on teamwork.
More than 40 experts are expected to be involved in working with the teams.
Among the areas in which partners can propose engineering case studies are:
The program involves regular in-person work in Kyiv. Teams will work in KAI’s new labs.
KAI is responsible for adapting the MIT course to the Ukrainian context, organizing and overseeing the learning process, selecting participants, forming balanced teams, engaging mentors, providing access to labs, and organizing the final Demo Day.
Partner companies, in turn, can provide the program with real-world technology case studies and the necessary context, involve their own experts, supply equipment, technologies, and materials, and continue to work with the teams’ results.
The author and developer of the Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab — Gene R. Keselman, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, executive director of MIT Mission Innovation Experimental (MIx), and managing director of MIT Proto Ventures.
Gene R. Keselman has over 20 years of military experience in the U.S. Air Force.
His professional experience spans nuclear and space operations, procurement, and defense program management, as well as technology and research programs for the U.S. intelligence community
He also has hands-on entrepreneurial experience and works on developing technologies from concept to company formation. MIT Proto Ventures, which he leads, operates as a venture studio focused on transforming promising technologies into new businesses.
Keselman is already involved in the Ukrainian context: he is a member of MIT-Ukraine Allies and has participated in MIT programs related to finding technological solutions for Ukraine.
The director of the Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab program is Radmila Segol, vice rector for admissions and online education at KAI and a Global MIT At-Risk Fellow for 2026–2027.
The team also includes the deans of three specialized faculties at KAI: Sviatoslav Yutkevych, Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering; Roman Odarchenko, Dean of the Faculty of Air Navigation, Electronics, and Telecommunications; and Andriy Fesenko, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Technology.
Registration and participant selection will take place in September.
The program will begin in October: selected participants will be grouped into balanced teams based on their expertise and the case studies they will work on.
Next comes 10 weeks of intensive teamwork on technological solutions, with weekly in-person sessions in KAI’s labs and support from mentors.
In February 2027, the teams will present their results during Demo Day in Kyiv.
But Demo Day won’t necessarily be the end of the journey. The next stage, built into the program’s model, is the implementation of the developed solution at a partner company.
It is precisely this approach that sets the Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab apart from a traditional educational course: the outcome should not be a grade or a course project, but a technological solution that has progressed to a proven prototype and can be further developed outside the university.
The program is aimed at people with a technical background who are ready to work on real-world engineering challenges in an intensive team setting.
The Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab is open not only to KAI students. Senior undergraduate and graduate students, as well as participants with relevant experience in software development, AI, robotics, electronics, engineering, and related technological fields, are eligible to apply.
Participation is free for candidates who pass the selection process
Detailed terms and registration: https://ielab.tech/
For reference
Ukraine Innovation and Engineering Lab is a 10-week project-based engineering program modeled after a real MIT course and adapted by KAI to the Ukrainian context. Its goal is to bring together talented technical participants, academic expertise, the university’s infrastructure, and real-world technological needs of companies to create working prototypes.
The program will run from October 2026 to February 2027.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and one of the world’s leading centers for education, science, engineering, and technological innovation. Founded in 1861, MIT conducts fundamental and applied research in engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence, robotics, aerospace technology, energy, biotechnology, and other fields. An important part of the MIT ecosystem is technology entrepreneurship and the transfer of research from laboratories to practical applications.
The National University “Kyiv Aviation Institute” is a university with nearly a century of history in aviation and engineering education. Today, it is a major educational and technological hub where aviation, unmanned systems, defense tech, IT, engineering, and dozens of other fields are being developed. State-of-the-art laboratories, hands-on projects, and collaboration with industry give students the opportunity to work with real-world technologies while still in school.
Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies operate in an environment of growing demands for product quality, process traceability, and regulatory compliance. At the same time, organizations are expected to make faster decisions, improve operational visibility, and gain greater value from their data.
Many companies continue to face challenges related to manual processes, paper-based documentation, change management, and fragmented technology landscapes. These issues increase operational risk, place additional pressure on teams, and make audit preparation more difficult.
SAP and UST have prepared a collection of materials focused on practical approaches to addressing these challenges. The content covers topics such as quality management, regulated data, manufacturing transparency, and business process improvement.
Learn more: Comprehensive Life Sciences Transformation | SAP
The materials reflect practical experience gained by UST teams working with Life Sciences organizations across the United States and Europe. Through these engagements, we have seen first-hand the challenges manufacturers face and the approaches that help improve efficiency, reduce risk, and simplify compliance efforts.
The collection will be valuable for business leaders, operations and manufacturing teams, quality professionals, digital transformation specialists, and anyone involved in improving processes and modernizing operations within Life Sciences organizations.
The transition from military service to civilian life is one of the key challenges facing thousands of Ukrainians today. Following their service, many veterans rethink their professional paths and choose new directions. Interest in information technology remains high among demobilized military personnel as well.
According to a survey of graduates of the “IT for Veterans” program by EPAM Campus, Junior Developer is the most popular position among respondents, and every fourth graduate who actively sought employment has already secured a job.
Following their career change, 27% of veterans have successfully found their place in the IT industry and are working in their field*. Another quarter are actively looking for their first job, going through interviews and testing. At the main time, 31% of respondents have not yet found employment and are not currently looking for work. A significant portion of this group continues to serve in the ranks of the Defense Forces, undergoes rehabilitation, or is recovering from injuries, making professional re-skilling the next phase for them.
“The biggest challenge for training participants is the English language. The second major barrier is time. Approximately half of those mastering a new specialty are active-duty servicemen, and they are often on the frontline,” explains Denis Hrynyov, Head of EPAM Campus Educational Programs. “We have had cases where veterans joined classes right from the trenches. We also notice that active-duty servicemen complete the training less frequently than demobilized ones.”
The speed of finding a first job varies among veterans. The largest group of graduates—every fourth one—finds a project within a week to a month, while another 18% secure employment within 3 months. Graduates note that the main challenges along this path include a limited number of Junior vacancies on the market, the complexity of technical interviews and tests, high competition, and the language barrier.
An interesting trend is how veterans actually find jobs. Networking and personal connections became the primary channel for every fifth graduate. These are followed by specialized job boards (Work.ua, Djinni) at 15%, LinkedIn at 11%, and instructor recommendations at 7%.
“I had almost no break for recovery between the army and my studies,” says Andrii Zhupnyk, who developed a sound recording studio in Lviv before his service and decided to study IT after demobilization. “When unresolved military problems are constantly spinning in your head, you really have to push yourself to absorb new information.” At the same time, after completing the courses, Andrii became a Junior Software Engineer and now works on a volunteer project for Foodbank Ukraine (an initiative transferring unsold products from stores to vulnerable populations).
Vladyslav Hvizd from Kolomyia was serving in the army under a contract when the full-scale invasion began. The veteran compares military experience to IT: “No war is fought without people—everything relies entirely on the human factor, on the shoulder of the comrade next to you. In IT, everything is arranged the exact same way: people, trust, and communication are what matter,” says Vladyslav. “When you return from the front, you may face uncertainty, and it can be difficult to reintegrate into non-military processes. When the desire to quit work arises due to novelty and complexity, the positive experience of fellow brothers-in-arms who have mastered a new field comes in handy. It proves that life goes on and you can once again be useful to society and your family.”
A new recruitment for the free “IT for Veterans” program by EPAM Campus has begun. Registration for military personnel is open until September 20 via the link: https://epa.ms/pr-5596
* The survey involved 55 graduates of the “IT for Veterans” program by EPAM Campus. The survey period was from June 15 to June 30, 2026. The profile of participants and their adaptation metrics cover employment experience, job search duration, networking channels, and career dynamics after graduation.
On September 15, 2026, online ride-hailing service Uklon launched in Drohobych, Mukachevo, Oleksandriia, and Uman. For the first time since the full-scale invasion, the company is expanding into several new cities simultaneously. With these additions, Uklon is now available in 31 Ukrainian cities, as well as the “Bukovel” tourist complex.
“Following our launch in Bukovel in December 2024, we continue expanding Uklon’s presence across Ukrainian cities. Since the full-scale invasion began, economic and demographic activity has visibly shifted: along with people, part of the businesses, jobs, daily routes, and tourist flows shifted to smaller cities in the western and central parts of the country. Demand for reliable transportation in these areas has been growing steadily. We expand to a new city once we reach a critical mass of both potential riders and driver-partners needed to ensure consistent service quality. That is why we see both potential and a clear demand for our service in Drohobych, Mukachevo, Oleksandriia, and Uman,” comments Olena Orlova, Chief Ride-hailing Officer at Uklon.
Riders in Drohobych, Oleksandriia, and Uman can choose from seven ride options: “Fast Search”, “Basic”, “Standard”, “Comfort”, “Wagon”, “Minibus”, and “Driver”. Mukachevo features an eighth option with the addition of “Business” class.
To book a ride, users can simply download the Uklon app, enter their pickup and destination points, select a payment method, and confirm the order.
Driver-partners can sign up independently through the Uklon Driver app.
In all new locations, Uklon maintains its standard quality of service: upfront pricing visible before order confirmation and a unified background check process for all driver-partners.
Information
Uklon is a technology company that developed the eponymous mobile application.
Founded in Kyiv in 2010, Uklon started as a ride-hailing platform and has evolved into a multi-service digital ecosystem integrating ride-hailing, Uklon Delivery, Uklon Ads, Uklon Store, and the Uklon Travel bus ticket booking service. As of September 2026, Uklon operates internationally across two countries — Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The service currently covers 31 Ukrainian cities and the Bukovel resort, as well as Tashkent and 5 regional hubs across the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan.
In April 2025, Uklon was acquired by JSC Kyivstar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyivstar Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: KYIV; KYIVW), whose shares traded on the U.S. stock exchange Nasdaq and which is a part of the VEON Group.
Official website: https://uklon.com.ua
In June, Ukrainian product IT company Vchasno launched Vchasno.Business, a new service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The platform brings customer management, bookings, payments, finances, and staff management together in a single workspace, helping entrepreneurs replace scattered spreadsheets and disconnected tools with one unified system for daily operations.
For small businesses, day-to-day operations are often spread across multiple tools: customer records are kept in spreadsheets, appointments are managed through calendars or notes, and communication takes place via messaging apps, while payments and finances are handled separately. As a result, entrepreneurs must manually transfer information and monitor several systems at once.
According to a 2025 study by Ringostat, 38% of surveyed businesses reported not using a CRM system. Data from Ukraine’s State Statistics Service further highlights a digitalization gap by business size: large companies are significantly more likely to adopt ERP, CRM, and cloud-based solutions.
“In a small business, the owner is often the one selling, managing clients, and counting the money — sometimes running the whole business alone. Their scarcest resource is time, especially given the realities of doing business in Ukraine today. They won’t spend weeks figuring out a new system, even if they know they need one. Automation has to be simple: start using it quickly, and spend your evenings living your life — not buried in spreadsheets. That’s exactly what we’re building Vchasno.Business to be,” says Yevhen Kushnirchuk, Head of Vchasno.Business and Vchasno.Kasa services.
Vchasno.Business enables entrepreneurs to:
During development, the team analyzed the specific needs of entrepreneurs across different industries: for beauty businesses, key priorities are online booking and customer retention; for e-commerce, financial and inventory management; and for auto repair shops, financial management and service scheduling. Vchasno.Business is being developed with these varied small-business workflows in mind.
The launch of the new solution expands the Vchasno ecosystem, which already provides entrepreneurs with electronic document exchange, payment fiscalization, and tax reporting services — with Vchasno.Business now adding customer management and day-to-day operational tools to that offering.
Going forward, the team plans to expand inventory and payroll functionality and enter new SME segments.
About Vchasno
Vchasno is a Ukrainian product IT company that creates digital solutions for automating everyday business processes. Vchasno’s services span electronic document management, HR administration, payment fiscalization, digital signatures, retail document exchange, electronic waybills, tax reporting for sole proprietors, and automation of operations for small and medium-sized businesses. Vchasno is part of Vchasno Group, a group of product IT companies.
August 31, 2026, Lviv — Indeema, a company specializing in Connected Product Engineering, is launching a new educational initiative, “Indeema Teaches Hardware”. The program is designed for students, graduates, and currently employed IT specialists (who are considering a transition from related fields such as Software or Firmware) who potentially see themselves in the hardware development sphere.
Top-performing graduates will get the opportunity to join the company’s engineering team as Trainees upon completing the training.
From schematics to a finished device
Under the motto “Design and launch your first board”, participants will complete an intensive one-month course at the company’s Lviv office. Instead of lengthy theoretical lectures, the program utilizes a “Listen and Do” approach. This means full immersion in the process: from Schematics and PCB Layout design to physical assembly, launch, and debugging.
The main feature of the course is the combination of a strong academic foundation with the technical expertise of a real production environment. Each stage is accompanied by close collaboration with professors from the Faculty of Electronics and Computer Technologies at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, senior Indeema engineers, and the company’s CTO directly.
The selection process is deliberately stripped of standard resume requirements. Candidates for the program will primarily be considered based on their genuine desire to turn theory into a working device.
Key facts about Indeema Teaches Hardware:
About Indeema: Indeema is a Connected Product Engineering partner focused on developing smart IoT products. The company combines expertise in hardware, embedded development, cloud solutions, and artificial intelligence, with over 16 years of experience and more than 200 successfully completed projects. In accordance with its values, the company systematically invests in the development of the next generation of engineers through partnership, mentorship, and educational initiatives.
The campaign marks the second milestone in a year-long support program that Intellias is delivering through its strategic partnership with Ukraine’s Third Army Corps.
Lviv, Ukraine – August 20, 2026 – Intellias, a global partner for AI-enabled product engineering and digital solutions, is contributing UAH 1.5 million to help procure STING interceptor drones for the Third Army Corps ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day. As part of the initiative, the company triples employee donations, turning collective contributions into sustained frontline support.
Following this second transfer, the partnership has already delivered UAH 3 million in total support to the Third Army Corps. By the end of 2026, Intellias plans to contribute UAH 4 million, including UAH 3 million from the company and UAH 1 million from employees.
These funds will help procure 50 STING interceptor drones — high-speed FPV drones specifically designed to intercept hostile unmanned aerial vehicles. Their speed, maneuverability, and precision make them an effective tool for countering aerial threats while helping protect military personnel and critical infrastructure.
“Supporting Ukraine’s Defense Forces remains one of Intellias’ highest priorities. That’s why we’ve reshaped our support model around long-term partnership. For us, this means providing consistent support, maintaining a clear understanding of evolving needs, and directing resources where they can create the greatest impact. I’m grateful to the Third Army Corps team for their trust and commitment to building a lasting partnership.”
Vitaly Sedler, CEO and Co-founder of Intellias
The first phase of the campaign took place in May, when Intellias transferred UAH 1.5 million to the Third Army Corps as part of a Vyshyvanka Day fundraising initiative. The August campaign continues that effort, with employees contributing through the IntelliShare platform and office fundraising activities, while the company triples every donation.
In 2026, Intellias concentrated its military support on the operational needs of the Third Army Corps — Ukraine’s largest military formation, responsible for defending more than 150 kilometers of the frontline.
Rather than relying on one-time campaigns, the partnership enables both sides to plan support around evolving battlefield requirements, ensuring timely delivery of critical equipment and funding initiatives that directly strengthen operational readiness.
“For the military, consistent support from partners makes a real difference. When businesses contribute regularly, we can plan procurement in advance, respond to urgent needs faster, and equip thousands of service members with the resources they need. In wartime, that translates into operational advantage.”
Oksana Dragan, Chief Operating and Marketing Officer of the Third Army Corps Headquarters Foundation
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Intellias has directed approximately UAH 140 million toward Ukraine’s Defense Forces and related charitable initiatives. The company’s support extends beyond frontline equipment to mobilized colleagues, Ukraine’s Invictus Games community, and veteran sports development.
In 2025, Intellias contributed UAH 2 million to the Khartiia Brigade to procure five radio electronic reconnaissance systems. In 2024, the company and its employees jointly funded upgrades for 15 Vector drones in partnership with Quantum-Systems. Intellias also supported the procurement of FlyEye UAVs together with the Serhiy Prytula Foundation and contributed UAH 5 million to Come Back Alive to help procure Leleka-100 reconnaissance drones for Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence units.
Boosta, a holding IT company, is expanding its investment division and separating its work with product-led IT businesses into a standalone brand — Rebels. The new fund is focused on launching and scaling B2C consumer-based products.
Boosta’s investment arm began in 2022 with the launch of Burner Investment Fund. Since then, the team has significantly expanded its portfolio, deepened its expertise, and scaled its work across different business models. Further growth made one thing clear: to move faster and operate more effectively, the investment activities needed a sharper focus.
Going forward, the investment directions will be split: Rebels will focus on product-led IT businesses, while Burner will continue developing the traffic-driven segment. This structure will allow both teams to strengthen their domain expertise and attract more relevant partners within their respective segments.
Rebels enters the market with a portfolio of more than 10 companies, over $20 million in invested capital, and a portfolio project survival rate of more than 80%. The fund will combine two investment models: venture building and private equity.
The key difference between Rebels and a traditional investor is its co-founder model. Rather than simply providing financial resources, the fund takes on part of the operational workload, allowing founders to focus on the product and the team.
The fund’s priority geography is Tier-1 markets, including the US and Europe, while its business-model focus is on B2C consumer-based products.
The Rebels team highlights several key advantages:
Of the 11 businesses currently in the portfolio, six were launched this year. Going forward, the fund plans to further increase the pace of new launches and continue scaling Boosta’s investment arm.
With Rebels, Boosta continues to develop an investment model in which a fund can serve both as a source of capital and an operational partner for entrepreneurs.
“The core idea behind Rebels is not to interfere for the sake of control or add complexity for the sake of process. It is to create the conditions in which strong teams can build and scale businesses faster.
We are not simply looking for good ideas. What matters to us is who will build the business and whether that person has the potential to become a strong founder,” says Yaroslav Svyrydiuk, Managing Partner at Rebels.
For more information about the fund, its portfolio, and partnership opportunities, visit the Rebels website.
In July 2026, Nortal provided EUR 17,000 through its Ukraine Support Fund to meet medical and other urgent needs in Ukraine. The funding will support diagnostics and rehabilitation for people affected by the war, as well as equipment and supplies for Ukrainian military units.
Nortal contributed EUR 10,000 to UNBROKEN, a Ukrainian center providing treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration for people affected by the war. The funding will help buy supplies and equipment for urodynamic testing, which doctors use to assess how the bladder and urethra work. By measuring bladder pressure, urine flow and other factors, the tests can identify urinary disorders and help doctors plan treatment for patients recovering from severe injuries.
A further EUR 7,000 went to ICF “Support Service” (МБФ Служба Підтримки), an international charitable foundation supporting Ukrainian military units, civilians and animals affected by the war. The funding will go toward EcoFlow power stations, body armor, helmets, power banks, first-aid kits and tourniquets to help units operating in high risk environments maintain access to power, protection and essential medical equipment.
The July donations were made through the Ukraine Support Fund, established by Nortal in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The fund supports initiatives that provide essential equipment, medical supplies and humanitarian assistance to people affected by the war. Earlier in 2026, Nortal contributed EUR 42,487 to support Ukrainian defenders and rehabilitation programs through the fund.
About Nortal
Nortal is a trusted strategic partner for governments, healthcare institutions, leading businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. Having 30 offices in Europe, the GCC, Latin America and North America, we are close to our customers while backed by a vast global talent pool. Our seamless teams help our customers to transform and future-proof their organizations by building world-changing solutions with the right technologies.
Ukrainian game development company Stepico, together with its product team Immersmind Studio, has released Discovery: Rogue Planet, a story-driven VR shooter for Meta Quest 3 created with support from Meta. It is a sci-fi adventure set on the desert planet Rogax, where players travel aboard the massive Discovery machine, complete missions, repair mechanisms, shoot, explore locations, and gradually uncover the story of the world.
What makes Discovery: Rogue Planet interesting is that it did not start as a release-ready game. At first, it was an internal Unreal Engine demo created inside Stepico to showcase the team’s technical and artistic capabilities in a sci-fi setting. Over time, the demo grew into a full pitch and then into a standalone VR project, around which the Immersmind team was formed.
Discovery: Rogue Planet does not look like a typical VR shooter built around enemy waves or a set of arenas. The team describes it as a story-driven adventure shooter: the focus is not only on shooting, but also on moving through the world, exploration, object interaction, and narrative progression.
Players find themselves on Rogax, a planet that was once an ocean world but turned into a desert after a cosmic catastrophe. This defines the game’s visual logic: dried-out landscapes, coral-like plants, crab-like creatures, abandoned settlements, and dangerous frontier zones. Together, they create the atmosphere of a space western — almost like a road movie in VR, where every stop along the route reveals another part of the world.
VR is not just a format here, but the foundation of the design. In the game, it matters that the weapon is physically in the player’s hands, that reloading happens through controller movements, and that mechanisms need to be repaired and activated directly in space. These details are what separate a VR experience from a traditional first-person shooter: the distance to an enemy, the scale of objects, and even pausing the game feel different when everything happens inside a headset.
At first, Discovery: Rogue Planet was imagined very differently — closer to a third-person sci-fi shooter with monster-hunting elements. The VR direction appeared later, after the team connected with Meta and got the opportunity to develop the project for standalone VR.
This changed the game significantly. The realistic visual style had to be adapted to the limitations of Meta Quest 3, so the team shifted toward stylization. Some small objects and overloaded scenes were removed, while the team strengthened what works best in VR: tactile weapons, hand-based interaction, vertical locations, and shorter, more intense gameplay segments.
Movement became a separate challenge. In VR, the wrong movement system can quickly cause discomfort, so Discovery: Rogue Planet had to balance several modes: free movement, seated play, and teleportation. It may not be the most visible part of the game from the outside, but these decisions are exactly what determine whether a VR experience feels comfortable for a wider audience.
As with any game, some ideas did not make it into the final version. Discovery: Rogue Planet at one point considered an underwater level, a buggy, a more complex drone system, and even a cow boss that would attack the player in VR. Some of these decisions were dropped not because they were bad, but because they shifted the focus of the game or did not feel comfortable enough inside the headset.
This shows the specificity of VR development well: a mechanic that looks spectacular on paper can become too aggressive if it physically pushes the player, suddenly changes their position, or breaks the sense of control. That is why the final version of the game is more focused on pacing, presence, and a cohesive journey across Rogax.
Discovery: Rogue Planet includes Ukrainian elements, but they are not pushed to the forefront as a statement. Instead, they are woven into the game’s world: in names, individual symbols, equipment details, and music. The soundtrack was created by Ukrainian musician Gordiy Starukh, and the sound of the hurdy-gurdy became one of the key elements of the game’s atmosphere — especially in VR, where spatial audio literally surrounds the player.
For Stepico, the project is also important as an original product that grew out of the studio’s years of game development experience. Discovery: Rogue Planet does not feel like an attempt to simply “enter VR”; rather, it is an effort to bring together production experience, technical expertise, a love for sci-fi, and an understanding of how the immersive format works.
Discovery: Rogue Planet became available on August 13, 2026, for Meta Quest 3.
The ULIS resort network and the Boosta IT holding company have announced a strategic partnership aimed at restoring the Vorokhta ski jumps, a historic sports facility with more than 100 years of history.
This is an example of an unlikely collaboration: companies from different industries — technology and hospitality — have come together around a shared idea. Partners Dmytro Bondar, CEO and co-founder of Boosta, and Ihor Farberov, co-founder of the Dreamers team (ULIS), are investing in restoring the infrastructure, supporting youth sports, and creating a new point of attraction for the region.
For decades, Vorokhta was a training hub for ski jumping athletes. It is home to one of the largest facilities in Ukraine — with jumps of varying sizes, including the country’s only Olympic-standard K-90 jump.
This facility has produced multiple generations of Ukrainian Olympic ski jumpers: Vitaliy Kalinichenko, Yevhen Marusyak, and Zhanna Glukhova all trained on the Vorokhta jumps. Today, 118 young athletes train there — mostly children from local families, for whom ski jumping has become their first and primary sport.
Despite this, the infrastructure went without proper support for a long time: outdated equipment, a worn-out lift and stairs, and a lack of funding for gear and basic repairs. Despite its status as a key sports facility for the community, the school held on for years mainly thanks to its people — the coaches who stayed in the profession.
This couldn’t be changed with a one-time contribution — the ski jumps needed not a handout, but a permanent partner with a horizon of several years. That is the role Boosta and ULIS took on.
Boosta and ULIS are working on a long-term development model for the facility, which includes:
In March 2025, ULIS signed a memorandum with the school for annual financial support, and that same autumn the ski jumps hosted public competitions for the first time. In 2026, the story moved to a new level: there are now two partners. ULIS and Boosta agreed on a joint long-term support model — an annual budget for the school and the first international competitions at the Vorokhta ski jump facility.
Over these past few months of cooperation, Boosta and ULIS have:
For ULIS, this partnership is a logical extension of its approach to business development: the company works with the communities where it builds its locations as a long-term partner, investing not just in the project but in the surrounding environment.
“When we create a new location, we come into the community for the long haul — and the question of ‘what will Vorokhta look like in ten years’ becomes our question too. The ski jumps are what make Vorokhta Vorokhta: a hundred years of sports history that we didn’t start and aren’t going to rewrite.
Our task is simpler and, at the same time, harder: to make sure it doesn’t rest on individual decisions or the enthusiasm of a few people, but on a sustainable model. We believe in the effect of synergy: by strengthening the community and investing in the region’s development, we make it more attractive to visitors, which in turn creates new opportunities for businesses — including our own,” — Ihor Farberov, co-founder of Dreamers, the team behind ULIS.
Boosta, for its part, views this project as part of its systematic support for social initiatives in Ukraine — creating opportunities for people and for the next generation.
“Business is a lot like that moment before a ski jump — you stand at the top, you see the runway, and you have to take the step forward. In sports, you have a helmet; in business, you don’t. But in both, talent and courage alone aren’t enough. What matters is which jump you start from and what infrastructure supports you — that’s largely what determines how far you’ll be able to fly.
That’s why, for me, this project is about creating opportunities. It’s an investment in the next generation — in kids who need their own ski jump to realize their potential and fly further than they ever expected,” — Dmytro Bondar, CEO and co-founder of Boosta.
The partners aim not only to restore the infrastructure but also to revive interest in ski jumping as a sport in Ukraine. In the longer term, both sides are also working to build a sustainable business model for the facility’s operation — one that will allow it to develop and attract international teams.
The Hitachi Group company unveils its first Physical AI Demo Zone at its Kraków engineering center, showcasing real-world AI deployments across robotics, digital twins, and autonomous operations built on 25+ years of embedded engineering expertise.
GlobalLogic, a Hitachi Group company, announces the opening of a Demo Zone focused primarily on Physical AI. Operating within the company’s active engineering center in Kraków, the Demo Zone reflects GlobalLogic’s strategic vision for the evolution of AI and features projects that are practical developments by GlobalLogic and Hitachi.
The projects unite five interconnected Physical AI archetypes: Cognitive Assets, Digital Twin & Simulation, Autonomous Operations, Robotics & Automation, and Autonomous Infrastructure. In addition, GlobaLogic features projects from other AI focus areas: Enterprise AI and AI DLC. The new space will allow partners to see firsthand examples of technologies that help transition from AI experimentation to industrial adoption.
For over 25 years, GlobalLogic has been developing software for systems that interact with the physical world: embedded solutions, computer vision, digital twins, robotics, industrial automation, and intelligent control systems. These technologies form the foundation of Physical AI.
Today, the company combines this expertise with modern AI platforms. This helps businesses build autonomous operational processes and create digital models, while enabling organizations to integrate AI into critical infrastructure environments and speed up data-driven decision-making across automotive, industrial, healthcare, media, and telecommunications sectors.
To ensure enterprise flexibility, the Demo Zone highlights GlobalLogic’s open architecture approach. By integrating its engineering frameworks with technology platforms from global leaders, GlobalLogic enables clients to implement Physical AI solutions independently of any single platform or technology vendor.
“Physical AI is the result of integrating multiple disciplines: from embedded engineering and robotics to digital twins and cloud infrastructure,” said Srini Shankar, President & Chief Executive Officer of GlobalLogic and CEO of Hitachi Digital Services. “It is precisely this deep engineering expertise that makes it possible to deploy AI in the physical world. The projects we’ve brought together in the new Demo Zone allow our clients to see in action how these technologies work together in a real-world production environment.”
GlobalLogic’s engineering teams across Europe play a vital role in advancing Physical AI development. They build solutions across embedded engineering, mobility, industrial automation, and digital twins for global market leaders. This experience enables the company to create reliable, secure systems designed for real-world operations.
“Physical AI starts with deep engineering expertise,” said Yuliia Shtukaturova, Group Vice President & Head of EMEA. “GlobalLogic’s teams across the EMEA region have spent years working on the technologies that form the foundation of Physical AI today. The Demo Zone in our Kraków office is another opportunity to show our partners that the future of Physical AI is being built today, driven by the work of our engineers.”
The Demo Zone features practical Physical AI use cases across sectors including manufacturing, transportation, energy, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. Featured projects include:
Select demos highlight how generative AI, multi-agent systems, and synthetic data accelerate engineering development, testing, and deployment of complex physical systems.
About GlobalLogic
GlobalLogic, a Hitachi Group Company, is a leading digital engineering partner that helps the world’s most forward-thinking companies design and build innovative, AI-powered products, platforms, and digital experiences. Since 2000, we’ve been at the forefront of the digital revolution, now accelerating clients’ transitions into tomorrow’s AI-driven businesses by integrating experience design, complex engineering, AI, and data expertise. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, GlobalLogic is a Hitachi Group Company operating under Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), which contributes to a sustainable society with a higher quality of life by driving innovation through AI and technology as the Social Innovation Business. www.GlobalLogic.com
About Hitachi, Ltd.
Through its Social Innovation Business (SIB) that brings together IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products, Hitachi aims to be a global leader in continuously transforming social infrastructure through digital, contributing to a harmonized society where the environment, wellbeing, and economic growth are in balance. Hitachi operates worldwide across four sectors – Digital Systems & Services, Energy, Mobility, and Connective Industries – as well as a Strategic SIB Business Unit focused on new growth areas. With Lumada at its core, Hitachi creates value by combining data, technology and domain knowledge to solve customer and social challenges. Revenues for FY2025 (ended March 31, 2026) totaled 10,586.7 billion yen, with 606 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 290,000 employees worldwide. www.hitachi.com.
The company is moving away from the single-product concept: to the umbrella brand Uklon, which unites Ride Hailing, Delivery, Ads, Travel, Store, and easily adapts to new directions and markets.
Uklon has presented an updated brand platform, “For Dynamic World” along with a new visual identity. At the core of the architecture is the umbrella brand Uklon and integrated individual sub-brands for existing and new products: Uklon Ride Hailing, Uklon Delivery, Uklon Ads, Uklon Travel, and Uklon Store.
The brand’s evolution—both in its architecture and visual identity—is an integral part of transitioning from a single-product online car-hailing service into an ecosystem of products and services spanning urban mobility, passenger transport, logistics, travel, e-commerce, advertising, and delivery.
The “For Dynamic World” brand platform was developed in partnership with the creative agency IAMIDEA. It is built around supporting individuals and businesses in a world where changes happen faster than people can adapt to them. Uklon doesn’t demand extra effort or constant productivity from the user; instead, it creates an ecosystem of solutions that allows people to move at their own pace while maintaining a sense of comfort every day.
“Over 16 years, Uklon has grown from a startup into a true lovemark with a high Brand Strength Index (BSI) of 70. We have evolved from a car-hailing service into a large-scale ecosystem of solutions standing behind every move of individuals and businesses. A strong brand needs evolution, not revolution. That is why we are creating a strategic superstructure in the form of an umbrella brand. In this dynamic world, Uklon remains a ‘partner in life’ for millions of Ukrainians, helping them keep their day under control and feel supported during a trip, delivery, work, travel, business, or partnership,” notes Viktoriia Kovalova, Vice President of Brand and Loyalty at Uklon.
“When a company becomes an ecosystem, the hardest part isn’t adding new products, but finding the core idea that explains why they exist together. While working on the brand platform, we realized that people don’t wake up thinking ‘I need to call a car.’ They wake up thinking ‘I need to make it on time’: reach an important meeting, send flowers to mom, pick up a child from practice. That is why we built the brand platform around the role Uklon plays in a person’s life. Because the most valuable thing a brand can offer today is not just another service, but the ability to live at the same pace as the world,” shares Ihor Finashkin, Founder and Creative Director of I AM IDEA agency.
The updated identity retains Uklon’s signature colors (yellow, black, white) and guitar-pick shape (mediator). However, they now operate under new rules and logic. Additional accent colors have been introduced for ecosystem products (Uklon Delivery, Uklon Ads, Uklon Travel, Uklon Store), ensuring recognition for each service under the master brand umbrella.
Additional new attributes of the visual brand identity include:
Changes are already visible on the main screen of the Uklon rider app. Users now see not only the familiar city map but also all ecosystem products and services. This makes navigation intuitive and allows users to fulfill various needs in a few clicks. The Driver App update returns to Uklon’s baseline palette—black and yellow—with a redesigned icon. Phasing out green unifies the visual system and ensures brand consistency across all touchpoints, reinforcing the brand attribute of “equality among all audiences.”
The rollout is actively underway—branded cars and billboards are already visible across cities in Ukraine and Uzbekistan. To monitor transition quality across all touchpoints, Uklon is introducing its own proprietary metric: Brand Identity Consistency Index. Explore detailed changes at: https://branding.uklon.com.ua/
Today, SoftServe, a digital engineering and technology consulting company, released its Sustainability Report 2025, highlighting how sustainability increasingly shapes the way the company develops talent, builds trust, drives innovation, and creates lasting societal impact.
In 2025, rising expectations for corporate responsibility, the growing role of AI in business, and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty reshaped how organizations grew, SoftServe responded by investing in what matters most for long-term resilience: strengthening the systems behind responsible AI and responsible business, and continuing its long-term support for Ukraine and the communities it serves.
The report reflects progress across responsible AI, governance, climate action, well-being, inclusion, technology for social good, and humanitarian support.
«Sustainability is no longer a separate business agenda. It shapes how we prepare our people for AI, strengthen trust in the way we operate, and create lasting value for the communities around us. In 2025, we focused on turning those ambitions into capabilities that will support SoftServe’s long-term growth and resilience,» said Mariia Kucherenko, Director of Corporate Reputation and CSR at SoftServe.
AI adoption starts with people, not technology. Before expanding AI across the company, SoftServe asked associates how they were already using AI, where they needed support, and what responsible adoption should look like in everyday work. Those insights shaped a company-wide approach combining mindset, skillset, and secure tools, helping associates build confidence while accelerating AI adoption across the organization.
As organizations navigate rapid technological change alongside prolonged geopolitical uncertainty, resilience has become a business capability as much as a human one. In 2025, SoftServe continued investing in leadership, well-being, and belonging to help associates adapt, perform, and grow through change.
Those investments translated into an eNPS of 73, remaining 17 points above the technology industry benchmark, while 87% of associates stayed with the company during the year. More than 20,600 confidential psychological support sessions were delivered, 11,100 associates participated in well-being initiatives, and the company continued strengthening leadership capability through dedicated manager development, inclusive leadership programs, and employee communities.
Responsible growth requires more than commitments; it requires systems that make those commitments measurable and transparent. In 2025, SoftServe strengthened the systems that support responsible growth. The company completed a Double Materiality Assessment aligned with CSRD and ESRS requirements, defined Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) emissions reduction pathways, achieved global ISO 45001 certification, and advanced ethics and compliance programs across the organization.
SoftServe’s support for Ukraine has continued to evolve alongside the realities of the war. Since 2022, through its Open Eyes Corporate Charity Fund, SoftServe has delivered 373 ambulances to Ukrainian medics, with those vehicles estimated to have helped evacuate more than 169,000 people. The company also continued supporting associates who defend Ukraine. Since February 2022, 510 associates have joined Ukraine’s Defense Forces, and more than 100 have been supported in their return to civilian life through SoftServe’s Veterans Program.
Check the full SoftServe Sustainability Report 2025 at this link.