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The first day of the full-scale war launched new times and new humanitarian projects for the Kharkiv IT Cluster team. The organization’s team worked non-stop 24/7 to help its home region and its participating companies as much as possible.
Evacuation. It all started at 5 am on February 24. In order for the evacuation to be successful, the cluster team collected the most up-to-date information from the military on safe ways to leave the city every day for several weeks. Thanks to this coordination, more than 15,000 people – IT people, their families – and pets, were able to safely leave the shelling to other cities in Ukraine and abroad.
Evacuation of equipment. Kharkiv IT Cluster helped to safely evacuate the Kharkiv offices of its members – to transport equipment to the companies’ places of relocation. A large number of Kharkiv IT companies donated equipment to the needs of Ukrainian defenders and local educational institutions.
Starlinks. Forced relocation did not stop the work of IT companies. They still fill the budget with taxes and help the Armed Forces of Ukraine with donations and volunteering. However, damaged infrastructure and irregular communication network connections in some regions have significantly affected the stability of their work. Some members of the Kharkiv IT community found themselves without a permanent Internet connection – in the mountains or bomb shelters. That is why Kharkiv IT Cluster promptly conveyed the needs of the cluster members to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, received and transferred Starlink satellite internet terminals to the companies free of charge. The same quotas were formed for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to which the Ministry of Defense received Starlink satellite internet terminals.
Humanitarian aid was supported by the Kharkiv IT Cluster IT4Life Charitable Foundation. IT companies and IT specialists have already donated more than 22 million hryvnias to this fund. In total, starting from February 24, Kharkiv IT Cluster member companies sent more than 100 million hryvnias for humanitarian aid and assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
You can support Kharkiv volunteers and the IT4Life project here.
Almost every head of the Kharkiv IT Cluster member company is now volunteering. Some have been doing this since 2014. The top management of the Kharkiv IT community is not resting, actively helping the region.
For example, Olexandr Kolb, CEO of Promodo, volunteers in Kharkiv and writes diaries of the war. Dysnix coordinates humanitarian aid in the region. Nix, CodeIT, Racoongang, CloudWorks, Sigma Software, Telesens and many other companies constantly help the Kharkiv region and defenders of Ukraine. Roman Hrebinnyk from Devpace undertook to coordinate the “children’s” direction and provide the youngest Kharkiv residents with everything they needed. G5 systematically assists in the purchase of medical equipment. Andriy Dekhtyar from Rozdoum – with bandera-cars and delivery of valuable goods. Pavel Obod and the Kharkiv IT Cluster team launched SaveTrempel, a special fund to help defenders from concerned Kharkiv residents and foreign partners. It is difficult to list them all, because everyone is now contributing to the common Victory.
International cooperation and assistance
From the first days of the full-scale war, the director of the Kharkiv IT Cluster Olga Shapoval actively cooperated with the international media, covering events in her native Kharkiv. Another information direction was the search for potential partners for IT Cluster member companies.
Kharkiv IT Cluster is already thinking about reconstruction in terms of cooperation with international partners. Kharkiv IT Cluster together with Altexsoft has launched a partnership initiative with US international funds to reconstruct Kharkiv.
Projects restart.
Kharkiv IT Cluster has updated its civic projects to development ecosystem for the technology business, moving beyond the Kharkiv region. The cluster’s educational team has completely reloaded its focus on all audiences, taking into account their needs during the war: children, students, switchers, teachers, parents of entrants, university professors, etc.
The war added new projects to the Kharkiv IT Cluster throughout Ukraine and even in Eastern Europe, creating value for member companies. And although the member companies now work decentrally in different parts of the country and the world, each of them dreams of returning to Kharkiv, and therefore does everything possible for this dream to come true.
