As Ukraine’s IT-sector grows, more and more events spring up to draw attention to Ukrainian tech companies. Innotech forum, recently held in Kiev, focused on the development of the five most promising technological areas such as smart technologies, 3D-printing, robotics, innovative health care and e-learning solutions. The event attracted over 2000 visitors every day and created a national presentation platform for companies, ideas and startup projects, which demonstrated that Ukraine is able to develop and implement innovative technologies. Even though some of the participants presented imported products like 3D printers, robots or electric cars, most of showcased projects were invented and developed in Ukraine.
Smart technologies
Developers, analysts, IT- specialists, investors and business leaders discussed the future of smart technologies and the opportunities they bring. Among covered topics there were the Internet of Things, Big Data, wearables, smart energy, electric vehicles, connected cars, and many more. Speed-dealing zone, that brought together over 20 investors from WannaBiz, UAngel, Chernovetskyi Investment Group, Carrot and Digital Future and 30 startup projects (InfoPoint, Party Money, iVie, Abone.me, Luciding, Dental Cloud, WOU, Basic Business Formula Game, etc.) became one of the most attended activity at the forum.
Robotics
During this part of the conference, participants discussed the use of robots for different industries and operations, legal issues that developers may face, as well as the opportunities for robotics development in Ukraine. Speakers from Drone.ua and Robotics Laboratory shared their experience of unmanned technology integration in educational, civil and military projects. In Demo-zone, which gathered over 30 innovative projects, Ukrainian robotics company Boteon from Dnepropetrovsk introduced its latest creation, a robot-helper, called Yosha, who is able to move, talk and carry different objects using his nimble hands. FlyTechnology, a Ukrainian company selling DJI drones, demonstrated unmanned aerial vehicles and systems designed for personal and commercial use, and allowed visitors to try them.
Among other popular exhibits there was Nao (a robot presented by Noosphere Engineering School), the telepresence robot Max and electric cars from Bio Auto and Tesla Club.
3D-printing
Innotech introduced various 3D-printing technologies and created an environment to discuss the potential and prospects of 3D-printing in Ukraine. The event brought together top industry professionals, theorists and practitioners of 3D-Printing to demonstrate the effective application of 3D-technology in various fields.
Health
A separate part of the conference was dedicated to innovations in health care and brought together technology developers and equipment manufacturers discussing new trends in medicine: mobile healthcare applications, cloud computing, genetic engineering and diagnostics, personalized health care and the impact of technology on sports and lifestyle. Among the invited speakers, there were founders of Ukrainian projects such as Healthlabs focused on healthy lifestyle promotion and Lakmus that introduced new generation of information systems for medical instititions. Innotech special guest, Microsoft Healthcare director for Central and Eastern Europe Antti Pohjolainen, described how wearable and mobile technologies are already used in medicine, and how health care institutions can benefit from telemedicine.
Education
E-learning conference, opened by the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, gathered those who consider the impact of modern technology on education. It introduced successful Ukrainian projects such as GoIT and Prometheus Project and provided case studies of various educational platforms.Photos by Olga Zakrevska were taken from Innotech official Facebook page and AIN.UA.
