DIGITAL INNOVATION FORUM 

In October 2025, the CentralUkrainian European Digital Innovation Hub (CentralUkrainianEDIH), with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, and the GIZ project “DT4SME”, organized the Digital Innovation Forum 2025 (DIF-2025), bringing together national and international innovation communities to accelerate the digital and green transformation of Ukraine.

    

The first stage of the Forum took place on October 20 at the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” in a hybrid format and gathered over 200 participants, including representatives of universities, EDIHs, public authorities, businesses, digital leaders, the start-up community, and international partners.

    

Welcoming addresses were delivered by representatives of the European Commission (DG CONNECT), the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, GIZ (Germany), and the Poltava Regional Military Administration. The panel discussions focused on: 

- the role of digital transformation and cybersecurity in the economies of Europe and Ukraine; 

- interregional cooperation and EDIH synergies; 

- best practices in digital transformation from SIEMENS, DTEK Oil&Gas, HUAWEI, Wellsite Digital, KONSORT, as well as Smart City solutions presented by the Kremenchuk community; 

- the experience of CentralUkrainianEDIH, FundingBox, EDIH-DO (Germany), CIH (Czech Republic), Saarland (Germany), and EEN-Ukraine.

     

The day concluded with the preparatory session “Last Mile to Glory”, serving as the final step before the start-up competition.

The final event of the Digital Innovation Forum was the Startup Pitch Day “Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Future”, held on October 24 at Dnipro University of Technology, which brought together over 50 teams from across Ukraine. 

     

Start-ups presented their solutions in three strategic tracks:

- HealthTech & Rehabilitation 

- Smart Manufacturing & Energy Efficiency 

- Digital Solutions & ICT 

     

The opening session was moderated by Yevhen Koshelenko, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, CentralUkrainianEDIH. 

Welcoming remarks were delivered by:

-  Ihor Nikitenko, Vice-Rector of Dnipro University of Technology; 

- Vlad Kavelin, Deputy Project Manager of DT4SME, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); 

- Bohdan Ilchenko, Head of NGO “TITANY.UA”; 

- Yevhen Hostishchev, Representative of Dnipro IT Community; 

- Olena Fesenko, Coordinator of CentralUkrainianEDIH. 

During the Forum, the launch of the CentralUkrainianEDIH Startup School and the CentralUkrainianEDIH Accelerator Program was officially announced.   

    

It was also decided to hold the Digital Innovation Forum annually as the leading platform for innovation, digital solutions, and support of Ukraine’s start-up ecosystem.

     

The event was implemented within the framework of the Digital Europe Programme, funded by the European Union, with the support of the DT4SME project (GIZ) and NGO “TITANY.UA”.