When it comes to the state, the average Ukrainian citizen thinks of corruption—queues in government offices, nepotism, never-happy officials demanding non-existent certificates, etc. After the Ukrainians overthrew the pro-Russian corrupt elite, everyone wanted a better future for themselves and their children. Comfortable, transparent, innovative.
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Theo Schnitfink from Symphony Solutions, an international tech company for software development, testing, and business process outsourcing, talks about how technology can improve Ukraine. Perhaps it was his presentation that helped push through the long-awaited launch of 3G in Ukraine the following year, which failed to materialize in 2014.

Besides the situation in Ukraine, multiscreen became an absolute trend worldwide in 2014. Smartphones are conquering the world, screens are getting wider, wearable gadgets, including watches, are appearing in addition to phones, and even homes are becoming “smart.” All this allows people to be productive on the go—anywhere and anytime, without a computer. And companies can offer them even more goods and services.
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But it’s not easy for businesses to keep up with the progress, and those who can’t will lose. That's how Nokia and Microsoft, whose products turned out to be less exciting than the iPhone, ended up on the sidelines of the smartphone business. How can you keep the initiative, navigate through fierce competition, and get the best out of new technologies like NFC, face & object recognition, and augmented reality? Speakers from Pebble, Viber, Eleks, and other global companies discussed this at IT Arena.

Remember when you could only call and text from your cell phone? How about an MMS and sharing files via infrared ports? Congrats, you’re old (just like the author of this article) :)
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The “dark ages” in Ukraine officially became a thing of the past on February 23, 2015, when the three largest mobile operators in Ukraine — Kyivstar, MTS Ukraine (Vodafone Ukraine) and Astelit (TM life:)) — received 3G licenses. The long-awaited launch caused a big wave of high demand among both ordinary cellphone users and entrepreneurs of all kinds. After all, high-speed internet on the go opens up unprecedented business opportunities. The IT Arena participants and guests talked a lot about this.

The world, admired and horrified at the same time, is watching the success of Boston Dynamics and its canine-inspired Spot online (sometimes sympathizing with them when testers demonstrate the stability of the “four-legged buddy” by pushing and kicking it). Catching this wave, IT Arena organizes the Hi-tech Expo, an exhibition of robots and the latest technological developments, right in the middle of the event. Attendees got the opportunity to launch drones, try VR, and see the legendary NAO robot.
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Although Spot could not make it (being too busy dodging leather bags), an actual virtual host will perform at IT Arena next year. But more on that below.

Progress rushes forward like an asteroid through the galaxy. Some professions are disappearing, while others appear from nowhere. And not all higher education institutions can keep up. How can you become a qualified SMM specialist if they don’t teach that at university? There are options.
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The main trend in Ukraine in 2015 is the opportunity to learn a new specialty that is in demand in the market here and now, in a few months online, and for free. This is the year of Coursera, Udemy, eDX, and similar platforms where Ukrainians take lessons in programming, marketing, design, and even microbiology. Distance learning opportunities are also developing in Ukraine. Thus, several presentations at IT Arena were dedicated to education.

While the main trend in the world is the “Uberization” of the economy (companies are starting to offer everything for rent and delivery), Ukrainians can finally experience Uber personally, first in Kyiv, then in other cities.
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There were some “taxi-drivers-against-Uber” protests, but those first few weeks confirmed that our people had been ready for the service a long time ago and were looking forward to using it. The last doubts disappeared when Mantas Klasavičius explained at IT Arena how Uber actually works and how the service looks from the inside.

The whole world is excited about the latest developments in AR/VR. Now, VR can be used not only for entertainment. The technology enables the automation of countless routines. Several companies, including Samsung, Facebook, Google, and Nokia, presented devices, solutions, and prototypes of virtual reality (VR) custom systems in 2016. Everyone talks about Magic Leap, Oculus Rift, Leap Motion, etc. AR/VR startups are at their peak of popularity, with investors nearly fighting for them.
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One of the speakers at IT Arena 2016, Semih Energin, made it possible to dive into this amazing world. He worked directly on the HoloLens VR headset at Microsoft and shared this experience with the audience.

The make-it-smart trend continues. Electric cars are no longer just for hipsters—more and more governments are imposing restrictions on internal combustion engines, so a Tesla car becomes a practical purchase rather than a luxury. Meanwhile, companies are trying to automate literally everything in your home by adding a voice assistant like Amazon Alexa and the ability to control it from a smartphone.
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Ukrainians are riding this tide, too. At the Tech Expo exhibition of modern technologies within IT Arena, Ukrainian engineers presented 25 latest developments. The first Ukrainian electric car, Synchronous, and the DiGi24 smart house system were among them. Visitors could test the Ring smart doorbell, also developed by Ukrainians.

A unique curiosity—Sophia the Robot—is on the front pages of the media. She is like a real person: she can ask and answer questions and even turns her head to the interlocutor. Some people are fascinated, while others are scared. (What if Sophia recreates herself of liquid metal in a couple of years and starts hunting people?) For this reason, IT Arena has a new mascot: Arina, a prototype of artificial intelligence, became the event’s host. And she did a great job.
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The idea that artificial intelligence is penetrating our lives was cemented by TechCrunch journalist Mike Butcher. In his speech, he described how companies were already using artificial intelligence in 2017 and how it is changing our lives and the space we live in.

Machine Learning, or ML, is an integral part of AI development. Thanks to advanced ML algorithms, miracles like Sophia and Arina learn to understand humanity. But ML is now used in almost every innovative computer system.
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Taras Firman (ELEKS) explained how to develop machine learning models using an IBM quantum computer. IBM Q is the pioneer of quantum computers for business and science. The speaker gave an overview of quantum computing and showed how to implement a simple quantum ML algorithm using Quantum Experience.

In 2018, 4G came to Ukraine. Mobile Internet can now reach up to 100 Mbps (ideally). Accordingly, even more opportunities open up for business—almost anything can be moved online, and users will have access to the service not only at home or from the office but on the go.
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Meanwhile, at IT Arena, the future of 5G in Ukraine, the next mobile communication standard, has already been discussed. In his opening speech, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi expressed hope that the development of innovative entrepreneurship will not be delayed but will instead accelerate, thanks to new opportunities in the country.

The more attractive the investment climate is in a country, the more foreign visitors come to events like IT Arena every year, the faster and more widespread the internet becomes, and the more startups succeed. The launch of the long-awaited 4G coincided with another noteworthy event: Ukraine’s first unicorn startup.
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In 2018, the GitLab project raised more than $100 million, and its valuation increased to $1.1 billion. The company became the first unicorn in the history of the Ukrainian startup movement (and Grammarly will be next). One of its founders, a native of Kharkiv, Dmytro Zaporozhets, spoke at IT Arena about simplifying development processes with Auto DevOps.

This year, Ukraine finally decided to decriminalize pornography—the relevant bill has already been written and is awaiting consideration by the Verkhovna Rada. By taxing companies and creators offering adult content or entertainment, MPs expect significant budget revenues.
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But in 2018, this was still not the case. At IT Arena, however, they were not afraid to talk about sex tech. At that time, the global sex tech industry was approaching $20 billion in capitalization by 2020. Stephanie Alys, Chief Pleasure Officer at MysteryVibe, an English manufacturer of smart sex toys, spoke about the novelties of the pleasure industry.

“The future is here. We are forced to implement innovations,” Ken Sandy, an industry researcher and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, aptly noted in his speech.
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Indeed, the COVID pandemic has become one of the terrible catalysts that have led to even more rapid technology development. People have been isolated at home, and businesses have adapted to providing services and goods remotely. IT Arena made its own example: the largest event in Europe was remembered for live networking and futuristic exhibitions, albeit mostly online.

People have already received eco-friendly cars and now dream of autonomous ones. It is believed that drunken or inattentive driving will become a thing of the past. Roads will become safer as soon as the human factor is removed from the driver's seat.
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But accidents still happen. In 2019, self-driving cars were constantly in the news: They have already been involved in fatal accidents, avoided police chases, and so on. The question arises: how will autopilots make decisions in cases where a fatal collision and death are inevitable? Whose life would they sacrifice, and who would be responsible for that?
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Are we really ready for autonomous vehicles? Olaf Preissner, Vice President of UX Design at Luxoft, explained why the car of the future is still in the far future. “It will take some time to implement autonomous transportation because of the lack of infrastructure. But maybe in 20 years, your car will be able to drive you home after a party on its own,” he explained.

In 2021, TikTok became the most popular website in the world for the first time, surpassing even Google by traffic. The app downloads hit over three billion, previously achieved only by Facebook products. How did Bytedance manage to develop such a successful product?
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“If an app is successful, it should be habit-forming. To make it so, you should take into account user feedback. It is advisable to involve potential users at the development stage,” Frank Bach, Lead Product Designer at Headspace, told IT Arena. He creates and develops products for Headspace, and his developments got into Forbes’ TOP 10 Apps That Change The World.
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While for some people, TikTok is a ticket to life (an opportunity to promote their business or become a successful blogger), for most, it is still a platform for procrastination. “Seeing young people watching cats on TikTok for over three hours pains me. This time can be spent studying, moving towards your goal,” said Maye Musk, a keynote speaker at IT Arena 2021. “Do not deny yourself socialization. Always keep a plan in mind and be confident. If no one supports you, find those who will share an idea with you.”

The trend of “doing everything and even more” is being replaced by slow living, which is designed to free people from constant stress, lack of sleep, and FOMO. More and more influencers insist that the pursuit of success should not cost a person’s health, and in fact, nothing improves performance better than healthy sleep.
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The world, however, is racing into the future at the speed of light, so how can we keep up? Microsoft Product Manager Beth Anne Katz talked about it at IT Arena. According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, she is one of the TOP 100 influential women in Silicon Valley. Beth Anne advocates for mental health and stress reduction, so she had much to share with IT Arena guests.

In the first months of the war, Bayraktar was among the main means of deterring the occupiers. The web was flooded with videos of the drones attacking Russian tanks, and it was clear that they were not going to get “Kyiv in three days” anymore. Songs are being composed about the Bayraktars, murals dedicated to them, and Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and Poles raised money to buy drones for Ukraine.
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Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of the Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar, joined IT Arena 2022 online and told why he decided to donate a $15-million drone to Ukraine: “Extreme times call for extreme solutions.” A full-scale war, missile attacks, and even blackouts did not affect his decision to build the Baykar military plant in Ukraine. “The facility design that Baykar will build in Ukraine is almost complete. At our plant in Ukraine, we will assemble not only Bayraktar drones but also supersonic unmanned aerial vehicles,” the CEO said.
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Ukraine also has its own drones. Ivan Tolchinsky, CEO and founder of Atlas Aerospace, Cameron Shell, President and CEO of Draganfly, Ihor Maslov, Business Development Director of Ukrspecsystems, and Yaroslav Kalinin, CEO of Infozahyst, spoke at the panel discussion about achievements in military technology, including the development of UAVs.

Russian hackers have long been a nightmare for the world, but with the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine, the number of attacks has increased exponentially. Of course, most attacks can hardly be called cyber operations—mostly DDoS and phishing by so-called “hacktivists.” However, there is no doubt that the Kremlin has a lot of really dangerous hacker groups in its arsenal and will use them to gain an advantage on the ground.
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How dangerous are these attacks? How can they be repelled? What is the state of Ukrainian cyber defense? This was discussed by journalist and cybersecurity expert Kim Zetter, Deputy Head of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine Viktor Zhora, and External Communications Analyst at Very Good Security Kenneth Geers.
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“I look forward to learning more about how Ukraine has digitally protected its networks and systems from cyberattacks during the war. It is interesting to watch Ukraine’s progress in this area and, at the same time, how useful this experience is for the whole world,” Kim said.

The development of OpenAI has caused a real revolution in the world. With each new release of ChatGPT, the world is increasingly realizing the benefits and opportunities that generative AI brings to people. Yes, it can make mistakes as it learns from humans (IT Arena already discussed this in 2019), but it already can do so many things. And everyone who wants to follow the progress must learn to get along and work with it, and make this world a better place.
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ChatGPT is not the only AI tool that will fundamentally change the way we work and achieve our goals in 2023. Midjourney and other developments are already helping programmers, designers, artists, advertisers, copywriters, and other creative talents to be more efficient and productive. Businesses are learning to optimize their processes using generative AI.
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I wonder where all this will take us? Let's talk about that.

Imagine that you are made in Ukraine, but you work all over the world. This is globalization. The most successful businesses do that. If one market is paralyzed, they offset the losses at the expense of another.
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When the full-scale war started, the Ukrainian local market froze. Businesses instantly faced the question of survival, and the only way in the first year of the war was to enter Western markets.
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Ukrainians have learned how to be competitive in America and Europe. Now it’s time to conquer Asia with its rapidly developing economies. At IT Arena, we will talk about this market, which is so different from all the others. How to enter, how to gain a foothold, how to compete?