<\/p>\n
On October 9, Odesa IT Family brought together representatives of manufacturing companies, the technology sector, business associations, clusters, and government institutions to discuss AI, digitalization, leadership, and access to EU markets.<\/p>\n
Oksana Ferchuk, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, joined the conference online to speak about the country\u2019s digital development and Ukraine\u2019s ambitions in the field of AI.<\/p>\n
Anna Haiduchok, a representative of the STEP IN 2 EU programme, presented opportunities to support Ukrainian businesses in entering EU markets. Her presentation complemented the discussion on how international cooperation and digitalization can strengthen business competitiveness.<\/p>\n
IT Wave took place in a hybrid format, bringing together nearly 600 participants: around 400 joined online, while almost 200 attended in person across the conference halls and networking sessions.<\/p>\n
The event welcomed Lviv IT Cluster, Kharkiv IT Cluster, Vinnytsia IT Association, the Ivano-Frankivsk IT Cluster, as well as representatives of Diia.Business centres in Poltava and Odesa.<\/p>\n
An important part of the conference was the dialogue between businesses and regional institutions. Participants included Oleksii Dmytrenko, Head of the Department of Economic Policy and Strategic Planning of the Odesa Regional Military Administration; Mykyta Koreniev, Head of the Odesa Regional Employment Centre; Borys Emeldesh, Director of the All-Ukrainian Association of Professional Entrepreneurs; and Oleksandr Slavskyi, a member of the Odesa City Council.<\/p>\n
The experience of Odesa entrepreneurs from different industries was particularly valuable. Their practical examples and questions helped focus the discussion on the real needs of businesses: where digital solutions are needed, what holds development back, and what kind of support could make a difference today.<\/p>\n
Bringing together these stakeholders creates an opportunity to connect business needs, the expertise of technology companies, and available business support instruments.<\/p>\n
This is precisely the kind of collaboration Odesa IT Family works to foster. For IT companies, it is an opportunity to better understand the challenges of potential clients. For manufacturing businesses, it is a chance to discover practical solutions and connect with teams capable of implementing them.<\/p>\n
At IT Wave, speakers shared their experiences of technology implementation, including results, limitations, and economic considerations:<\/p>\n
At Capgemini Engineering, AI reduced the time needed to search for technical information in the aviation industry from weeks to minutes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
When analysing molten iron at Zaporizhstal, the team even explored NASA documentation, but traditional sampling proved to be the more cost-effective approach.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
According to Ihor Herasko of Solidgate, AI can accelerate certain operational tasks by 2\u20133 times, freeing up specialists\u2019 time.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
EPAM presented local AI models that enable teams to work with sensitive information without transferring data to external services.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
One key takeaway united many of the presentations: technology must solve a specific business problem, and its value should be measured by the results it delivers.<\/p>\n
The conference also addressed Ukrainian companies\u2019 readiness for EU markets, international partnerships, and the role of clusters in business development. Leadership in times of uncertainty was another important topic, including how to make decisions and maintain team resilience.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfa8 The Design Track<\/strong> focused on AI in design, product hypothesis testing, career development, freelancing, and building a strong portfolio. The business brunch and networking sessions provided opportunities to continue conversations beyond the stage and establish direct connections.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc99 On the same day, we also celebrated Odesa IT Family\u2019s anniversary. We are grateful to our member companies, stakeholders, team, and friends who are helping us develop Odesa\u2019s technology ecosystem.<\/p>\n IT Wave is part of our ongoing work. Odesa IT Family helps businesses find partners, exchange experience, access international initiatives, and represents the interests of the technology community in dialogue with government institutions.<\/p>\n \ud83e\udd1d We invite new stakeholders to join Odesa IT Family.<\/strong> If your company is looking for partners across the technology and manufacturing sectors, is interested in business networking, international opportunities, and ecosystem development, send us a private message with the word \u201cStakeholder.\u201d<\/strong> We will share the membership terms and opportunities available to your company.<\/p>\n We would like to thank our conference partners, EPAM and UKRSIBBANK BNP Paribas Group, as well as AQUA Myrhorod, SHABO, and KRUPS.<\/p>\n Our media partner was More Liudei, our legal partner was DT Partners, and our hotel partner was Ribas Hotel.<\/p>\n We also thank Hillel IT School, Autodoc, the Odesa Regional Development Agency, and Happy Monday for their support.<\/p>\n The IT Wave Odesa 2026 conference was co-financed with the support of the STEP IN 2 EU international cooperation programme, which is co-financed by the governments of Germany and Norway, the European Union under the EU4Business initiative, and the governments of Lithuania and Estonia. The programme is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On October 9, Odesa IT Family brought together representatives of manufacturing companies, the technology sector, business associations, clusters, and government institutions to discuss AI, digitalization, leadership, and access to EU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5090,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"news":[],"class_list":["post-5089","news_one","type-news_one","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/it-family.od.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_one\/5089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/it-family.od.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_one"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/it-family.od.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news_one"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it-family.od.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/it-family.od.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it-family.od.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news?post=5089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}