The Ukrainian Tech Industry: One of Eastern Europe’s Powerhouses. What’s Behind Its Success?

The tech industry is one of the key sectors of the Ukrainian economy, with export revenues reaching $7 billion. It is the only industry that showed growth in 2022. It consists of around 5,000 companies and 300,000 engineers.

Ukraine is known for its high level of technical education, strong mathematical schools, and its ability to quickly adapt and tackle modern challenges. For example, an automotive systems developer from Ukraine was acquired by HARMAN, while the globally renowned Qualcomm bought the startup Augmented Pixels and set up its own R&D center in Ukraine with dozens of employees.

Billion-dollar companies GitLab and Grammarly have Ukrainian roots, and companies like SoftServe, Intellias, and ELEKS were founded in Ukraine and still have their headquarters there, employing thousands of people. Talent is the driving force behind Ukraine’s tech industry.

Talent market

Ukrainian programmers are known for their high qualifications and creative approach to problem-solving. Ukraine continues to maintain strong positions in global rankings. According to the Global Skill Report 2023 by Coursera, Ukraine ranks 24th in the world for worker qualifications and 6th for technical skills. This is supported by a well-developed scientific and technical infrastructure and higher education system. As a result, Ukraine has become an attractive destination for many foreign companies, which open development centers here or collaborate with Ukrainian firms as clients.

Ukraine has a well-established market of highly skilled specialists. According to the IT Research Ukraine 2024 report, there are over 300,000 professionals in the industry, with more than 82% of them holding Middle, Senior, or Lead positions.

Ukrainian talent has made the country one of the most popular outsourcing destinations in Eastern Europe. In 2023, 19 Ukrainian tech companies were included in the Global Outsourcing 100 ranking by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP). Around 20% of the world’s leading companies have offices in Ukraine, where more than 110 R&D centers of international corporations are located. Additionally, over 100 companies from the Fortune 500 list choose the services of Ukrainian tech professionals.

These foreign investments provide financial support and bring new technologies, best practices, and valuable experience to the Ukrainian market.

Established tech ecosystem

Another advantage of Ukraine’s tech industry is its ability to establish communication between all market players. Tech companies unite in industry clusters, where they collectively create the necessary conditions for growth and actively support each other. Currently, the Ukrainian ecosystem includes over 20 tech associations. Among the most influential are IT Ukraine Association, Kharkiv IT Cluster, and Lviv IT Cluster. The first association was founded in Lviv in 2011, initiated by SoftServe, Eleks, and N-iX. Today, Lviv IT Cluster brings together over 300 companies, employing more than 100,000 specialists, and is the largest business association of IT companies in Ukraine.

Lviv IT Cluster conducts analytical research, works on the development of specialized education, launches and implements legal support services, and initiates projects aimed at providing comprehensive support to tech companies to ensure a favorable business environment. The association organizes a range of professional events, including Ukraine’s largest conference – IT Arena. Following the onset of the full-scale war, Lviv IT Cluster introduced a series of projects that assist Ukraine’s Defense Forces, enhance the region’s and country’s security and defense capabilities, and support internally displaced persons.