On 20 August, Oleksii Radchenko, Board Member of the GovTech Alliance of Ukraine and CEO of Prozori Solutions, took part in Global Tech Kharkiv 2026 – Ukraine’s largest business forum in a frontline region, focused on technology and investment.

This year, the forum brought together more than 1,000 representatives of technology and industrial companies, national and regional authorities, local communities, academia, international partners and investors in Kharkiv. The central theme was investment in technology, business and regional resilience, with the programme covering technology business and innovation, digitalisation, human capital, energy independence, security, community development and investment.

These issues are particularly important for Kharkiv and other frontline areas. Businesses operate amid constant security risks, workforce challenges and the need to rapidly adapt their operations. At the same time, frontline regions remain a space for technology entrepreneurship, new business models and investment. One of the key focuses of Global Tech Kharkiv 2026 was therefore identifying practical solutions and partnerships that enable businesses and communities to continue developing during the war.

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People, processes and data: how businesses can prepare for digital transformation

Oleksii Radchenko joined the panel discussion “Digital Booster: Digital Transformation of Frontline Businesses”. The participants discussed how technology helps companies adapt to changing conditions, develop their teams and remain competitive.

During the discussion, Oleksii highlighted three areas businesses should focus on when preparing for digital transformation: people, business processes and data.

• Team readiness. Introducing new technologies requires the right competencies within a company. Investing in employee education and digital skills should therefore be an integral part of business digital transformation. This enables teams to adopt new tools faster and adapt to changes in technology and business processes.
• Automation and standardisation of business processes. Well-structured processes help companies reduce their dependence on the knowledge of individual employees and simplify the onboarding of new team members. A person joining a particular role should be able to quickly understand the processes, tools and areas of responsibility and become operational within the company.
• Working with data. Businesses need to systematically collect and use data to support management decision-making. Well-structured data practices and business processes also create the foundation for the future adoption of artificial intelligence tools.

Successful digital transformation requires more than choosing the right technology. Businesses need to prepare their teams, build effective processes and learn how to use data.

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GovTech businesses as partners in building the digital state

Another topic of the panel was the role of the technology sector in building the digital state. Over the past decade, Ukraine has made significant progress in developing digital public products and services. From individual large-scale digital reforms, the country has gradually moved towards an interconnected digital government ecosystem. As this ecosystem evolves, so does the need to further develop the model of cooperation between government and the technology sector.

The GovTech Alliance of Ukraine consistently advocates for an approach in which GovTech companies act as full-fledged partners to the government, bringing practical technology and product expertise into the public sector. This expertise can be brought in even before technical specifications are developed, when public institutions define the problem, design a future digital solution and select the most appropriate implementation model. This allows government institutions to draw on companies’ practical experience in developing, implementing and scaling technology products.

Effective cooperation between government and the GovTech sector requires predictable rules for public digital projects, transparent and competitive procurement models, early involvement of businesses in solution design, and systematic professional dialogue between government and the GovTech community. Developing this model of cooperation is one of GTA UA’s areas of work. The Alliance works to create an environment where the expertise of Ukrainian GovTech companies is systematically included in professional dialogue on the development of digital government and the creation of effective, resilient and scalable digital solutions.

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Practical tools for business digitalisation

Global Tech Kharkiv 2026 also provided a platform for presenting practical tools to support the digitalisation of frontline businesses.

The forum featured a presentation of DigitalBooster4SME, a pilot project by Kharkiv IT Cluster aimed at supporting the digitalisation of small and medium-sized businesses in the Kharkiv region. Participants will be able to identify which areas of their businesses should be digitalised, select Ukrainian technology solutions and receive support with their implementation, including financial support through a voucher scheme.

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Global Tech Kharkiv 2026 was organised by Kharkiv IT Cluster and Eastern Ukraine EDIH with the support of the Association of Frontline Cities and Communities of Ukraine.

Photo: Kharkiv IT Cluster