Lviv IT Arena-2016, Eastern Europe’s largest IT conference Lviv IT Arena took place for the third year in a row. This year the representatives of IT market get together in order to discuss the most burning topics and the perspectives of the industry as well as attract the interest of foreign and local investors to Ukrainian technology sector.
According to the organizers, Lviv IT Arena gathered 2500 experts in the field of business innovation, both from Ukraine and international ones. Among the participants – more than 30% of foreigners, and the speakers were mainly Western markets and business. Among of them there were international experts from Twitter, Microsoft, Deloitte, Spotify, Philips and other global tech companies. Esther Dyson, the most powerful woman in IT industry according to the New York Times, also participated in the event.
Last year, the conference was named one of the most influential IT-event in Ukraine. This year, Stepan Veselovsky, co-organizer of Lviv IT Arena and CEO of Lviv IT Cluster, shared an ambitious plan to turn Lviv into the biggest technology hub across Eastern Europe. In addition, the building for innovative IT Park in Lviv was announced during the event.
Digital Future was represented by its CEO, Oleksii Vitchenko, who took an active part into the investment panel “Missing puzzle in Ukrainian startup” discussion. Oleksii said that people is one of the most important assets in any startup. He believes that it is possible to maximize the efficiency and growth of any business by creating a team of professionals. Moreover, the same rule applies towards investors. He added that there is an essential thing that can grab his attention instantly – the focus on global markets. “We invest in projects that can conquer international market,” said Oleksii. A good example of it is Lifetracker, one of Digital Future’s portfolio companies, because the idea behind this project has great potential to be popular among large international audience.
“Frankly speaking, there is a global trend that venture capital companies all over the globe now looking to invest in companies, not just ideas. The economic nature of venture capital is based on high degree of risk. Taking into account these risks, it is reasonable that international venture companies have many criteria for the projects they invest in. I mean they are looking for the startups that already demonstrate results, have a clear business model, and a great team,” Vitchenko said.
At the same time, Natalia Solomakhina, Head of the legal department, delivered her speech at “Confuse a lawyer” workshop devoted to the pecific cases the lawyers need to deal with in IT field.
The conference was divided into three sections: products, technology and businesses. More than 60 Ukrainian start-ups competed with each other in the Battle of startups. Tech Expo, the large-scale exhibition of technological developments featured many innovative products made in Ukraine.
This time Lviv IT Arena, an event aimed at the effective networking and international cooperation, was one of the best place to find new partners, investors, customers and the inspiration for the creation and development of start-ups.