The Ukrainian IT industry today can rightfully be considered the foundation of our country’s economic transformation. According to the recent “Economic Code” study, the IT sector ranks second in exports after the agricultural sector and firmly holds the lead in the export of services. The domestic IT market volume alone exceeded $1 billion last year.
Where the next $1 billion in Ukrainian IT will be created was discussed during a panel discussion at the Rivne Invest Forum 2026 by IT-Enterprise founder and CEO Oleg Shcherbatenko, together with SoftServe co-founder Taras Kytsmey and Metinvest Digital CEO Serhiy Detyuk. According to the experts, the industry’s development vectors and the true potential for the next billion dollars in capitalization within the country lie in the transformation of the domestic market and the creation of next-generation products.
Oleg Shcherbatenko highlighted three strategic directions that enable Ukrainian technology companies to grow and businesses to remain attractive to investors, even in a time of war:
- Occupying “Toxic Software” Niches. One of the largest internal reserves for Ukrainian IT is the complete rejection by businesses of toxic software products. This is not only a matter of security or moral choice but also a colossal market niche. Moving away from hostile Russian solutions opens a window of opportunity for creating Ukrainian products that have long surpassed legacy systems of the previous generation in quality and are already being chosen by Ukrainian businesses. This is a chance for our developers to continue building a domestic market, the volume of which is already estimated at over $1 billion.
- Integrating AI into the Real Sector of the Economy. Artificial Intelligence is ceasing to be an attribute exclusive to IT companies. Today, it is an efficiency tool for all industries: from agriculture to heavy industry. Investors are looking not just for technology, but for the efficiency it delivers. AI enables Ukrainian companies to demonstrate growth dynamics and cost optimization that make them visible on the global investment map. An AI assistant is a colleague with vast resources who performs tasks that, in most cases, a human is either incapable of performing or cannot complete with the speed at which AI operates.
- Transparency and Investment in People as a Foundation. A company’s investment attractiveness today is based on the transparency of processes and the value of human capital. During wartime, investors especially scrutinize the flexibility and resilience of business models. A clear, digitalized, and open management system is the only way to attract capital. At the same time, a business that invests in the development of its specialists and provides them with modern tools (specifically AI agents) automatically becomes more valuable in the eyes of the market.
Oleg Shcherbatenko concludes that Ukrainian IT is not just about the creation and export of products; it is about the stability of the entire national economy. We pay taxes that go to the front and simultaneously build the technological foundation for operations under current conditions and the future recovery of the country. Our ability to be effective here and now is the best advertisement for global investors and capitalization.
