industry requires the presence of other financial intermediaries and business services,
together with a continuous supply of opportunities needing financing [11].
Note that the function of venture capitalists in Ukraine is executed by asset
management companies, which, unlike other countries, are created by average
investors. But further, the investment business will develop, serving mostly attracted
funds. Much of the funding through these funds comes from the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (excluding the Western NIS Enterprise Fund).
So, innovative companies and SMEs in general face particular difficulties when
trying to raise finance, which remains a critical obstacle when starting a business.
However, support programmes for SMEs are very limited and there are no public
interventions targeting startups. Limited public resources and previous unsuccessful
attempts to stimulate innovation by offering financial incentives help explain the
current absence of financial mechanisms to encourage the development of innovative
enterprises.
Perspective sectors for innovations and investment and linkage with R&D. A
sector with great potential is information and computer technologies (ICT) – the only
sector in Ukraine that is truly integrated in global value chains through ICT outsourcing
services. In 2009, Ukraine had the greatest number of IT specialists (18,100) involved
in the IT outsourcing and custom software development in the CEE region. With
16,000 IT specialists graduating from Ukrainian universities each year, the country
holds the fourth position in the world in terms of number of certified IT specialists,
after the USA, India and Russia.
During the last decade Ukraine has been the leading provider of software
development and IT outsourcing services in the Central and Eastern European region
(excluding Russia). Ukraineis ranked first in the volume of IT outsourcing and software
development services provided, in the number of IT specialists working in the industry,
and in the number of IT graduates.
Ukraine still boasts the most impressive gap in Europe between GDP per capita
in the country and GDP per capita in the software development industry. This could be
an important economic incentive for specialists and businessmen to enter the profitable
and well-paid market of software development and IT outsourcing services.
The number of tech-intensive companies in the country has exceeded 3000 in
2017, with at least 1000 of them specializing in software development. This implies
competition for clients and competition for the best software developers. This
competition turns Ukraine’s software outsourcing into an active, thriving market.
Even though the prices have risen significantly since that time, the country can
still offer a lot in the way of cost-savings. In 2017, Ukrainian developers charge
40/60% less as compared to their colleagues in the EU and the US, while demonstrating
comparable technical skills.
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