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At the conference “Rebuilding Ukraine: When Technology Accelerates Recovery”, organised by the Franco-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFU) in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, participants examined approaches to embedding innovation across strategic sectors of the economy.
The event demonstrated the capacity of the Franco-Ukrainian ecosystem to bring together government institutions, business, and the technology sector around a shared vision — building a modern, resilient, and human-centred Ukraine. Speakers included Bertrand Barrière, Natalia Denikeeva, Mykhailo Bubnov, Oksana Zatvornytska, Natalia Honcharova, Grégoire Datte, Oleh Shymansky, Yanina Olkhovska, Natalia Oliinyk, Victoria Kalyniuk, Dmytro Tovstoluh, and Yuliia Zaprudska.
The panel discussion on the transformation of energy, infrastructure, and cities featured Oleksandra Stepanenko, Director of Industry Development at the IT Ukraine Association.
The IT Ukraine Association, which represents over 250 member companies, has become an integral part of the country’s resilience infrastructure. According to the Economy Code research, sectors with high IT intensity recorded growth of 19.9% during the full-scale war, compared with just 4.7% in low-digitalisation industries.
Oleksandra underlined that reconstruction is not merely about restoring what has been destroyed, but about establishing new economic frameworks in which technology serves as the foundation for efficiency, security, and swift decision-making. The full-scale war has acted as a paradoxical accelerator of transformation, compressing innovation cycles from years to months.
Ukraine has become one of the most dynamic environments for the development and testing of solutions across DefenceTech, GovTech, and Cybersecurity. The expertise gained here is already being integrated into global technological approaches.
Areas demonstrating strong scaling potential include:
Enterprise security underpins any reconstruction effort. Oleksandra drew particular attention to the Association’s Hostile Software initiative, which is focused on the phased withdrawal and prohibition of Russian software from Ukraine’s digital environment, given that its continued use poses a direct threat to national security.
The Ukrainian cybersecurity market has demonstrated remarkable resilience: despite the full-scale war, it has grown nearly threefold since 2018. In 2025, for instance, the CERT-UA team handled approximately 6,000 cyber incidents — a 37% increase on 2024. At the same time, the number of critical incidents fell by 70%, reflecting strengthened defence systems and the accumulation of practical expertise. A significant milestone in this development is the transition towards the concept of smart cities, incorporating AI- and IoT-based integrated cybersecurity systems for resource management and citizen safety.
Ukraine is today forging a new economic model — one that is both resilient and technology-driven. The country’s expertise in GovTech, cybersecurity, AI, and DefenceTech is steadily becoming part of the global technology agenda.
Throughout this process, the IT Ukraine Association continues to serve as a bridge between government and the technology industry, helping to lay the digital foundations for the country’s future recovery.
We extend our thanks to all speakers for the substantive discussions, and to the event organisers for the opportunity to contribute to this important conversation about the future of Ukraine’s reconstruction.
