The report summarises the work carried out by the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme (ECP) under the authority of the OECD Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Initiative Steering Committee, in close co-operation with the Government of Ukraine and with the participation of the private sector and international organisations across the country.
Representatives of several Ukrainian Ministries, government agencies, private sector associations, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders should be acknowledged for their active participation and their availability to exchange with the OECD team. The very valuable insights they shared have been instrumental for the development of this report.
In particular, the OECD would like to extend its gratitude to Valerie Ionan, Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Oleksii Sobolev, Deputy Minister of Economy for Ukraine’s Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalisation, Volodymyr Kuzyo, Deputy Minister of Economy, Valerii Prokopets and Oleksandr Vasylchuk (current and former Head of Division of Entrepreneurship Development and Support at the Ministry of Economy, respectively). The Organisation is highly grateful to EEPO for their very valuable support and contributions throughout the project, in particular to Andrii Remizov (Director).
The OECD would also like to thank other representatives of the Government of Ukraine and local stakeholders for their substantial inputs to the project, notably Anatolii Komirnyi (Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development), Tatiana Nanaieva (Head of the ICT Committee, Ministry of Education and Science in Ukraine and EU4Digital eSkills Network Coordinator), Aliona Honcharenko (Director of Diia.Business Poltava) and Kseniia Symenova (Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Permanent Commission of the Kyiv City Council on Digital Transformation and Administrative Services).
The report, as well as working group discussions, benefitted from very insightful inputs from representatives of the private sector, notably Anna Derevyanko (Executive Director, European Business Association), Alexandre Yurchak (Head of Ukrainian Cluster Alliance / CEO of Association of Industrial Automation of Ukraine), Andrii Zaikin (Founder and CEO, YEP StartUp Accelerator), Kateryna Glazkova (Executive Director, Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs) and her team, Tetyana Prokopchuk and Veronika Alieksieienko (Vice President and Chief Policy Officer for Banking & Financial Issues, respectively, American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine), Anna Liubyma (Director of International Cooperation Department, Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and Svetlana Kutseva (Director of International Relations Department, Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs).
A number of international experts shared valuable insights and experience that fed into the report and working group discussions, including Olesya Zaluska (Chief of Party, USAID/Chemonics Competitive Economy Program), Anton Waschuk (Director of Innovation, Education and Entrepreneurship, Western NIS Enterprise Fund), Veronika Špírková and Lucie Jarešová (expert in SME development and innovation policy and investment incentives, respectively, at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Czechia and Prague University of Economics and Business), Mikheil Khidureli (CEO, Enterprise Georgia), Nurlan Kulbatyrov (Deputy Director of QazTrade, Kazakhstan), Martin Lundborg, Head of Research and Programmes, Mittelstand-Digital Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy), Kaspars Nesterovs (Consultant, Public Administration Development Department, State Chancellery, Latvia), Isae Spinu (Head of Operational Division, ODA, Moldova), Niccolò Ulderico Re (Researcher, Politecnico di Milano), Marco Bianchini and Sandrine Kergroach (Economist and Head of Unit, respectively, OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SME, Regions and Cities), Elif Koksal-Oudot (Economist, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation), and Jose Diaz (Senior policy advisor on service delivery and digital government, OECD/SIGMA).
The project is carried out as part of the EU4Business: From Policies to Action – Phase 2, implemented by the OECD in the Eastern Partnership, with the financial support of the European Union under its EU4Business initiative. The project was co-financed by Czechia. Gérald Audaz and Jeanne Robles (team leader and programme manager, respectively, at DG NEAR, EU Commission), the EU delegation to Ukraine – notably Chloé Allio (Head of Section Economic Cooperation, Energy, Infrastructure and Environment), Iryna Hubarets and Stanislav Toshkov (both sector managers) –, as well as Gabriela Boiteux-Pilna and Lucie Kosmelová (former counsellor and third secretary, respectively, at the Permanent Delegation of Czechia to the OECD) provided important guidance and support for this project.
This report was written under the guidance of Andreas Schaal, Director of the OECD Directorate for Global Relations and Co-operation, and William Tompson, Head of the OECD Eurasia Division.
The project was managed by Daniel Quadbeck, Senior Policy Analyst and Head of the Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Unit, and coordinated by Salomé Will, Policy Analyst (both OECD Eurasia Division).
The main authors of this report are Sophia Anders, Marta Sydoryak (OECD Ukraine Liaison Office) and Salomé Will, with support provided by Sophie Tabet and Noé Boudon (all OECD Eurasia Division).
The team is very grateful to OECD colleagues who reviewed this report – Marzena Kisielewska, and Marijana Petrova as lead reviewers (respectively Head and Team Leader of the OECD South East Europe Division), and, from the OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Directorate, Digital Economy Policy Division, Elif Koksal-Oudot, Laurent Bernat (Economist/Policy Analyst, Digital Security and Safety Unit), and Jan Tscheke (Policy Analyst, Consumer Policy/Consumer Product Safety Unit). The report was also reviewed by Veronika Špírková. The implementation of the project was made possible by Elisa Larrakoetxea and Mariana Tanova (both from the OECD Eurasia Division).