Finnish-Polish-Ukrainian business (and more) in February

Although short, February abounded in?various developments in both business and culture.?

It was great to see?an exceptionally high amount of news about Finnish business and culture in Poland,?including a new showroom by Isku, acquisition by Telko, factory expansion by Scanfil, opening a new office by Tietoevry, relocation to a new complex by Siili Solutions, Wolt's partnership with Polish football club, and even Reeta?Hurske?breaking Finnish record in the 60 m hurdles in Toruń.

Hopefully, this is a sign that 2023 will be a record year of Finnish business activities in Poland.?

The economic trends have not changed much.?Inflation is still increasing, while the interest rate was not moved. Polish zloty has slightly weakened and recent GDP forecasts for 2023 are close to 1%.

We are glad to see that?innovative Ukrainian companies?are presented at numerous international conferences, for example in Austin, and Ukrainian Diia app will be used as a benchmark by at least five countries.?

Enjoy reading!

Spondeo team

ECONOMY

Inflation at 17.2% in January,?interest rate unchanged, EUR/PLN forecasts

After a slowdown in December,?Polish?inflation?accelerated again in January, reaching 17.2% y/y?and 2.4% m/m - the highest new year's increase in 25 years.

The January reading was?below market consensus (17.6%).?Poland's Monetary Policy Council left?the main interest rate unchanged at 6.75% for a fifth consecutive month.

• A large part of the increase in the annual inflation was due to the higher dynamics of prices of energy carriers following?the return of the standard VAT rate (23%)?on electricity, natural gas and heating from January.
• Gasoline prices were unchanged compared to December,?but the annual growth rate of this category increased to 18.7% in January from 13.5% in December.
• Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, on the other hand,?rose by 1.9% m/m in January.

When can we expect the prices to finally level out?

The?experts agree that the inflation will?peak in February.?Contrary to earlier concerns, the reading is not expected to exceed the level of 20%. However, we are not likely to see a single-digit growth before December.?According to?PIE, the?average inflation in 2023 will reach 13%.

In February,?several factors caused the weakening of PLN:?the fact that EC downgraded Poland's GDP forecast for 2023, increasing inflation, unresolved conflict with the EU, and?pro-consumer decision of?the?Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the issue of?FX mortgages.

Will zloty appreciate towards euro in the next months?

• ING Bank?expects Polish zloty to stabilize?in the area of?EUR/PLN?4.77.?
• Cinkciarz.pl?predicts that zloty will?slightly appreciate?towards euro?by the end of the March.?
• However,?ProStream?expects that?by the end of Q1 of 2022, 1 EUR will cost 4.9 PLN.?
• The National Bank of Poland?said it?cannot rule out?EUR/PLN touching 4.80.?However, unless there is?more pressure from the USD?side, NBP?believes the zloty will erase some of the recent losses and?return to the 4.72-74 EUR/PLN range.

As of 28?February:

• 1 EUR?= 4.72?PLN?vs?4.71?PLN in our last newsletter (30.01)
• 1 USD?=?4.45?PLN?vs 4.33?PLN.

Polish GDP?in 2022?and forecast

1.?Polish GDP expanded a seasonally adjusted?0.3% y/y in 4Q of 2022,?coming nearly to a halt after a gain of 4.5% y/y in the preceding three months.

The slowdown is no surprise as the economy is faltering in the wake of the shocks brought about by Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.

• Private consumption declined?1.7% y/y compared to a gain of 0.9% y/y in?Q3.
• The pace of investment growth unexpectedly increased?to 5.2% y/y compared to growth of 2% y/y in the preceding three months.

2.?Poland’s?GDP?expanded?4.9% in 2022.?Given the circumstances, growth eased relatively little compared to an expansion of 6.8% in 2021, the year of the post-pandemic economic rebound. The economic performance in 2022 was very uneven and the negative trends that came to the fore in the second half will continue in 2023.

3. According to Bank Millennium, the economy is expected to grow?below 1% in 2023.?The European Commission?has downgraded predicted Polish GDP growth in 2023?from 0.7 to 0.4%.?In?2024, the Polish economy is expected to rebound and see 2.5%?GDP growth.?ING Bank expects growth of?1% in 2023.

Polish PMI rises in January

The Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at?47.5 in January, up from 45.6 in December.?However, the index remained?below the 50-threshold, signaling another significant deterioration in business conditions compared to the prior month.

Softer—but?still-sharp—contractions in output and new orders were behind the improvement in the headline reading.?Meanwhile, employment decreased for the eighth consecutive month. On the price front, the increase in input costs accelerated from the previous month. Similarly, output prices increased at a faster clip. Lastly, there was stronger optimism about the future, fueled by brighter expectations about demand and price trends in the coming year.

Unemployment & average wage in Q4 of 2022

1. According to Eurostat,?Poland's seasonally-adjusted?unemployment rate went down to 2.9%?in December?2022 from 3.0%?in November. To compare, the unemployment rate in Finland reached 6.8% in December.

2. Average corporate gross?wage?rose?by 12.3%?y/y to PLN 6,733 (EUR 1,433)?in the Q4?of 2022.?In quarterly terms, the average wage went up by 3.9%.

FINNISH BUSINESS & CULTURE?IN POLAND

ISKU showroom in Warsaw

ISKU Global, the Sustainable Furniture Brand from Finland,?will open its?showroom in Warsaw.

The showroom will be available to visit in the second half of March.

Scanfil invests EUR 6M?in Polish factory

Finnish?Scanfil has decided to invest in new manufacturing technology in Sieradz.?The investment includes a new electronics production line and warehousing automation.

In addition, Scanfil will initiate a plan to expand the existing factory with the additional manufacturing building of approx. 8,000 sqm. The pre-planning of the project will be started immediately and the final decision of the new manufacturing building will be done later in 2023.

Sieradz factory is a modern so-called close-to-customer market factory specializing in serving Scanfll's?global customers. Largest customers are from energy & cleantech, automation & safety and medtech & life science sectors.

Besides?Sieradz, Scanfil has another?Polish factory in?Mys?owice.

Telko acquired Polish distribution company

Telko, Finnish distributor and expert of plastics, chemicals and lubricants,?has acquired Polish Eltrex.?Eltrex is a distributor of specialty chemicals and industrial packaging materials. The company’s wide offering includes raw materials for coatings, flooring and household chemicals industries.

Eltrex is located in Goleszów, in southern Poland. The company's annual net sales are approx. EUR 8M?and operating profit slightly under EUR 1M.

According to its strategy, Telko will seek not only organic growth, but also accelerated growth through acquisitions. This transaction is another important milestone in Telko’s compounder strategy.?Telko already has plastics distribution in Poland,?but no significant business in chemicals before this transaction.?

Tietoevry opened a new office in Warsaw

Tietoevry, a leading Finnish?IT company,?has been operating in the Polish market since 2006,?and has expanded its footprint by establishing offices in major cities such as Szczecin, Wroc?aw, Kraków, Gliwice, and Poznań.

In February 2023, the company opened?a new office in Warsaw,?which not only marked its growth in the region, but also provided an excellent opportunity to highlight the increasing number of women in the IT industry.

• Despite the growth in the number of women in the IT sector,?Poland's current proportion of women in this field stands at 15.5%,?which is lower than the European average of 19%.
• Currently, 23% of the Tietoevry's workforce is comprised of women, but the company has set an ambitious?target of having women account for 50% of all employees by 2030.

To further promote gender diversity, the company organized a discussion panel during the office opening ceremony,?which was attended by Anna J?drzejewska from Spondeo.?The panel emphasized that technological development provides an excellent opportunity for women to advance their careers.

Siili Solutions moves its Polish?HQ to the largest?mixed-use complex?in Wroc?aw

Finnish IT company Siili Solutions, which provides mobile and Internet solutions, is?moving its headquarters in Wroc?aw?to the multifunctional Quorum?complex.

Quorum is located?in the heart of Wroc?aw and?combines a great location, attractive architecture and modern solutions,?creating a friendly working environment. Companies that want to attract and retain talent appreciate the?advantages of this place.

Siili Solutions?started in Poland in 2012 with only 3 professionals and currently employs 110 experts?working for several clients.

Recent expert articles published by Spondeo

Leinonen’s guide to Polish accounting landscape

• What are the key trends in the accounting landscape in Poland today?
• What changes are expected in 2023?

Click here to read the unique tips from?Maria Onikki-Górski, the Managing Director of accountancy and advisory firm Leinonen Poland. Maria is a Finn based in Warsaw. She has about 20 years of experience in finance and business in the CEE market.

Case study of Wiima Logistics is a great read?for every Finnish company considering expansion to Poland.?Check the success story of Wiima (available here) to find out:

• Why did the company decide to choose Poland as its expansion destination?
• What makes Polish employees attractive from the perspective of leading Finnish enterprise?
• How has this strategic action given Wiima an edge on the European market?

Tomasz Wnuk interviewed Tommi Kinnunen

Tomasz Wnuk from Spondeo?conducted an interview with?Finnish writer Tommi Kinnunen,?who visited Poznań on the occasion of the publication of his latest book "Defiance" in Poland.?The book?is a unique, historically forgotten portrait of Finnish women during World War II. It was translated to Polish by Sebastian Musielak.

The interview will be available in the next Spondeo publication. Stay tuned!

Wolt has become the official partner of Legia Warszawa

Wolt will be the official partner of Polish football club Legia Warszawa in the current season.?It is the first time that Wolt has became the sponsor of a sports team in Poland.?

As part of the cooperation, it will be possible to order?accessories from the official Legia Warszawa?store through the Wolt application.?The fans will be able to get scarves, t-shirts, sweatshirts or flags with delivery in 35 minutes from placing the order.

The Wolt brand is also launching a promotion for food deliveries carried out using the application. New users of the platform will receive a 4x15 PLN discount on their first orders.

Tuomas and Weronika welcomed Polish guests in Levi?

On 8 February,?Weronika Gidel-Asunmaa?and Tuomas Asunmaa hosted two special guests in Levi?- famous skiing?blogger?Jacek Ciszak -?skionline.pl, and Marcin Kramek, the owner of?Hey Holiday, a?company specializing in active travels.

Hey Holiday offers comfortable travels for families and?groups?to top resorts in Alps?(in Austria, Italy and Switzerland). Now Marcin?is interested in adding active?trips to Levi to the offer?in order to enable travelers?to conquer?the snowy Finland. He plans to take the first group to Lapland next year.

Spondeo showed the guests?some of the unique locations in the Levi area: reindeer?farm?in?Ounaskievari?-?https://ounaskievari.fi,?https://www.instagram.com/ounaskievari/, snowmobiles safari and ice fishing?by?Kinos Safaris https://www.instagram.com/kinossafaris/,?conducted by Kirsi Vestenius from Levi Tourist office, e-fat bike tour and a bonfire?in?Immelj?rvi?- by?HILL Levi. Additionally, Jacek Ciszak -?a huge?fan of skiing -?had?the?opportunity to test ski slopes in Levi with the ski tickets powered by Spondeo.?

As Levi is a second home to Weronika and Tuomas, their dream is to attract more Polish tourists there.?In April, Spondeo is going to?organize a fam trip for?travel agencies and?other interested individuals.?Interested? [email protected].

Why is Levi attracting more and more international tourists?

Levi is the most famous ski?destination in Finland, with?a network of tracks totaling 230 km in length.?Besides?that, tourists have a chance to admire local reindeer and?husky dog farms, see breathtaking Northern Lights, visit an ice hotel, and more!

Reetta?Hurske broke Finnish record again, this time in Poland

Reetta?Hurske?is a Finnish athlete?specialising in the sprint hurdles.?Hurske represented her country at the?2020 Tokyo Olympics?as well as the?2019 and?2022 World Athletics Championships.?She is the?Finnish indoor record holder for the 60?m hurdles.

Although defeated?by Polish Pia Skrzyszowska (time: 7.79),?Reetta?set a new Finnish record in the 60m hurdles (7.81) in Toruń.?Interestingly, she broke it for the third time in recent weeks.

Since then,?Hurske?eclipsed her Polish record of 7.81 in the rarefied conditions of the Spanish capital with a 7.79 performance.

POLITICS

EC sues Poland over primacy of EU law

The court challenge is?the culmination of a long-running rule of law dispute between Brussels and Warsaw?and relates specifically to two rulings by Poland’s constitutional tribunal,?in July and October 2021, which challenged the primacy of EU law over national law.?

The constitutional tribunal ruled that parts of the EU treaties are incompatible with the Polish constitution, challenging one of the basic principles of EU law, which says that EU laws take precedence over contradicting national laws.

Brussels has?withheld EUR?35.4B?in COVID-19 recovery funds in the dispute, and has set milestones on issues such as judicial independence and green energy that Warsaw must fulfil to get the cash.?

The Luxembourg-based ECJ has the ability to?impose daily fines on Warsaw should it agree with the European Commission. It has already imposed?daily fines on Poland in two other cases related to rule of law disputes, which amount to EUR?1.5M?a day.

Biden meets leaders of NATO's eastern flank in Poland

President?Joe Biden traveled to Warsaw to deliver a speech?on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine The president argued that the war is part of a global struggle between authoritarianism and democracy.

US President also held?talks with leaders from the Bucharest Nine,?NATO's easternmost members, before?departing?Poland.?Biden reaffirmed Washington's commitments to the security of the eastern allies and discussed support for Kyiv.??????????????

The nine countries have been staunch supporters of?military aid to Ukraine, and have called for additional assistance to the war-torn country such as air defense systems.

Polish VC market in 2022

PFR Ventures and Inovo VC have prepared a report to summarise transactions in the Polish VC?market in 2022. The value of the market compared to 2021 remained only slightly lower,?which, considering the global downward trends, is a positive sign.

In 2022,?EUR 775M?flowed through the Polish VC market.?This is the total value of capital that Polish and foreign funds invested in 460 deals in 435 domestic innovative companies.?

Throughout 2022, there was?only 1 megaround transaction, secured by the Polish-Finnish company ICEYE,?for the development of which investors allocated EUR 120M. VC funds made 4 other deals with a value exceeding the EUR 25M?threshold (Ramp – EUR 69.8M, Vodeno – EUR 58M, Silent Eight – EUR 35.6M?and SunRoof – EUR 28.5M).

Polish startup raises EUR?5M for its subscription device hire service

Polish?Plenti?lets consumers rent top-line gadgets on demand?rather than having to shell out on every new device.?

Revenues from both the core business model and Plenti Partners should pave the way to kick off European expansion in 2023.?Plenti's 40-person headcount will also grow larger with the late seed funds, adding new recruits across development, data analysis and risk assessment.

In terms of the devices themselves, Plenti?offers far?more than just mobile phones and computers.?It also rents out game consoles, VR headsets and autonomous vacuum cleaners, giving consumers a glimpse of the latest tech without the up-front cost. Consumers can choose to hire a new gadget for as long as a year, for just a month, or any length of term in between.?

Calls for applications for grants from the Program European Funds for Modern Economy 2021-2027

In the area of grants and business support, the gap left by blocked funds from the National Reconstruction Plan has been partially filled by call for proposals from?the European Funds for a Modern Economy 2021-2027?Program.

The total amount for the calls envisaged in the schedule of competitions for 2023 is almost EUR?4.7B, or about 60%?of the total budget for the program in the current financial horizon.

Projects under the following modules can be included in a single grant application?(for large enterprises, Component 1 is mandatory; for SMEs, Component 1 or 2 is mandatory):

1. R&D?activities.
2. Implementation of R&D innovation.
3. R&D Infrastructure.
4. Digitization.
5. Competencies.
6. Green enterprises.
7. Internationalization.

For large enterprises, the aid intensity for the R&D module has not changed relative to the former Fast Track (i.e., it still averages about 50%), while?for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the aid intensity ranges from about 60% to 80%, and regardless of the size of the entrepreneur, for the other modules the aid intensity varies, depending on, among other things, the location of the investment.

Record EBRD investment in Poland

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested a record amount in?Poland?in 2022: EUR?990M. This level of investment made Poland the EBRD’s fourth-largest market last year and was a significant increase on the EUR?600M?committed in 2021.

Projects supported by the EBRD in 2022 alone will add 1GW?of renewable energy capacity in Poland in the short to medium term. Overall,?80% of last year’s investment was provided to low-carbon transition projects, including also sustainable transport, green finance instruments and so on.

• The largest investment, of EUR?170M,?was to support a sustainability-linked bond by Cyfrowy Polsat, the telecoms and media group, which recently announced expansion into the renewable energy sector where it will invest the bond proceeds.
• The largest infrastructure project (EUR 100M)?supported the construction of a new container terminal by Baltic Hub in the port of Gdansk, the only port in the Baltic Sea to handle ultra-large container vessels.?

The Bank’s total commitment to Poland since 1991 has reached?EUR?12.4B, of which 92% has been invested as debt or equity into private-sector companies.?

Stellantis to employ 300 people in?a?new Polish software development hub

1. The multinational car manufacturer Stellantis NV is expanding its global software development and engineering capabilities with?the establishment of a?new hub in Poland.

The new Polish software hub in Gliwice, near the Stellantis plant there,?will employ up to 300 people in data analysis, software development and validation.?The team there will primarily focus on basic software and software application development, DevOps and automated validation.

The team in Poland will play an important role for Stellantis: It will serve as part of the global software network. The OEM intends to use it to drive the development of software-defined vehicles (SDVs).?

2.?Stellantis has also?four plants in Poland:?in Bielsko-Bia?a, Gliwice, Tychy and Skoczów.?

Stellantis’ plant in?Tychy?has recently begun production of the Jeep Avenger EV. Around 10,000 units have been pre-sold since orders opened last 1 December. First deliveries are expected in Q2?of 2023.

Tychy plant operates two shifts and?employs 2,000 people.?The stamping plant is managed by an external supplier, the welding shop is 99.5% automated with 930 robots, the paint shop is 90% automated and assembly has two lines plus a?battery assembly line.?Since 1975, the plant has built 10.8M?cars.

VMI expands machinery manufacturing operation in Poland

VMI, Dutch?tire & rubber machinery maker,?has opened?three new production assembly halls at its?site in Leszno, Poland.?The facility in Leszno?was inaugurated in 2017.

The expansion will bring the company’s total available production floorspace in Poland to almost 30,000 sqm.

Workforce numbers there are set to grow to over 200 this year.?The new buildings use advanced LED lighting and solar power systems for enhanced sustainability.?

Lebanon's Dar opens new office in Warsaw

Leading Lebanese design firm Dar Al Handasah Consultants (Dar) has announced?the opening of its new office in Poland.?The move to the country comes after Dar began its design activities as the Master Civil Engineer on the new Polish airport.

Dar is one of the world’s leading consultancies, providing design, planning, engineering, and project management services for a wide variety of market sectors, including buildings and cities, transportation and civil infrastructure, water and the environment.

The Solidarity Airport?is the centrepiece of?one of Europe’s largest infrastructure ventures,?the Solidarity Transport Hub, a planned transfer hub between Warsaw and ?ód? which will integrate air, rail, and road transport.?The Solidarity Airport will handle 40 million passengers a year in its first phase and will incorporate railway investments.

Estonian gas supplier Eesti Gas?to expand into the Polish gas market

The?expansion will include?sales to end consumers and fuel trading companies in the country, and wholesale gas trading on the exchange, as well as over the counter.?The firm plans to import regasified LNG from Lithuania and potentially re-export this supply to neighbouring markets.?

"In this way, we are part of?the plan to transform Poland into a gas hub for the region,"?said the firm's head of business development Poland.

Eesti Gas in mid-January delivered LNG on board the 174,000m3?Isabella?to Lithuania's 2.9mn t/yr Klaipeda terminal, with around?100mn m3 of gas allocated to the firm's customers in Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland.?

Korean bank?will?open Poland?office to accelerate entry into CEE

The Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) will open an office in Poland in the first half of this year?as part of its overseas expansion into the European market. The has already company submitted a license approval application for the Polish office to local financial supervisory authorities.

The establishment of the Polish office, which had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, is one of the priority items under IBK Chairman Kim Seong-tae's strategy to strengthen global business competitiveness.

Wroc?aw, the new location of their Polish office,?is considered to be the largest industrial city and logistics center in southern Poland. A new hub for producing electric vehicle batteries in Europe, Korean companies such as LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation have also stablished production centers in the city.

The value of M&A in Poland?increased to?EUR 19M?in 2022

The value of M&A in Poland reached approx. EUR 19M in 2022?and was higher by approx. EUR 0.9M compared to 2021. Investors will continue to be active in this area this year?due to more attractive valuations of the acquired companies in a difficult macroeconomic and geopolitical situation. Analysts expect downward pressure on company valuations to continue in the near term.

According to Bain & Company, last year?the value of M&A transactions in Poland increased by about 7%, and their number by over a third.?After several months of uncertainty caused by the outbreak of war in Ukraine, investors have returned to buying and?this increased activity is expected to continue this year as well. This will be favored by the decline in asset valuations, especially in the technology and healthcare sectors.

According to the survey,?the technology industry will remain the focus of investors’ interest.

Significant?acquisitions of Polish companies in?the last month?

1.?Ireland-based?Greenman Group?has expanded into Poland with?the acquisition of Newbridge Poland, an asset manager and developer.

Newbridge will now be known as Greenman Poland. The rebranded company has EUR 150M?of assets under management, comprising retail parks and shopping centres with a combined area of 87,000 sqm. The assets are anchored by such retailers as Carrefour, Rossmann, Jysk, Pepco and Spar.

2.?Global IT consultancy Xebia,?headquartered in?Netherlands, has acquired GetInData, its second Polish?software company.

GetInData is?a firm founded by former Spotify engineers?in 2014. It?currently hires?120 employees.

Xebia?has been active in Poland for two years. In 2021, the firm instantly made Poland one of its largest markets in terms of headcount when it acquired?PGS Software with its 800 employees.

3.?Irish packaging supply chain firm?Zeus Packaging has?acquired?Polpack, a Polish company that supplies packaging materials and machinery.?Based in Warsaw, Polpack manufactures automatic packaging machines and solutions for the e-commerce industry, as well as ecological packaging materials.?The company operates sales offices and warehousing, logistics and manufacturing facilities in Poland, employing more than 40 people.

CULTURE

Polish "EO"?nominated for best foreign film at 2023 Oscars

EO,?directed by?Jerzy Skolimowski, received?an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film.

The movie loosely references Robert Bresson's 1966 flm 'Au Hazard Balthazar!'. The main character is a donkey who performs in a circus with a young artist named Kasandra.?When bailiffs enter the circus after a demonstration against the use of animals, the two are separated. The donkey is taken to a stable, and then changes owners several times.

Skolimowski said?that?his film was meant to advocate animal rights.

The winners of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards?will be announced on March 12?during a gala held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Number of international students in Poland grows

The number of international students enrolled at Polish universities in 2022 increased to nearly 89,500, which is?a 5.6%?rise compared to 2021.

• More than 4,700 students selected Poland as their study destination in 2022?compared to the previous year. International students in Poland now make up more than 7.3%?of the international student body.
• Whilst?the African student numbers have increased,?Ukrainian students in Poland, who earlier were the largest group, have continued to decrease since the 2018/19 academic year.

The report notes that Poland is still?one of the least internationalized countries in the EU and the OECD.?More students are heading to Poland’s neighbor countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Lithuania.

The expert?said that?visa policy is the main factor that is preventing the growth of international students in Poland, emphasizing that for several years, between 8,000 and 10,000 students from India would have chosen Polish higher education institutions, but consular services have blocked it.

Celebrating the year of Copernicus

To mark the 550th anniversary of Copernicus’ birth, Poland’s parliament has declared?2023 to be the “The Year of Copernicus". Towns and cities around the country are holding various events to mark the occasion.

A robot in the form of Polish-born astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, which can hold conversations using artificial intelligence, has been unveiled in Warsaw.?The device has been installed?at the Copernicus Science Centre (CNK),?where it will interact with visitors.

Copernicus grew up in a mainly German-speaking household, though later studied at the University of Kraków (now known as the?Jagiellonian University) – Poland’s oldest university – and was, like his new robot incarnation, fluent in Polish.

UKRAINE

Despite war, Ukraine organic products export to the EU increased

In recent years, Ukraine has become an important supplier of organic products to the EU. Total exports in 2021 amounted to EUR 209M. In the same year, the?country ranked 5th in the world out of 126 countries in terms of imports of organic products to the EU.?More than 80 types of Ukrainian products were exported to 30 countries.

Despite the full-scale war, in 2022 Ukraine exported?13% more?organic products?to the EU and Switzerland?than in 2021.

Because of the?close cooperation with international partners continues within the organic sector,?the European Commission has abolished import tariffs and quotas on goods from Ukraine?and suspended additional control measures applied to organic products from Ukraine since 2015.

Best IT Employers of Ukraine in 2022

The developer community of Ukraine DOU compiled a rating of the best IT employers in Ukraine in 2022.?Almost 20,000 IT specialists evaluated 842 companies.

Ratings were made according to five blocks of questions: compensation, working conditions, project, career, and loyalty.

IT company?INTELLIAS leads the list of companies?employing more than 1,500 specialists. SIGMA SOFTWARE took second place, and GENESIS took third place.

8 innovative?companies that will represent Ukraine at?SXSW 2023

After online pitching, experts chose?8 innovative companies that will represent Ukraine at the SXSW 2023 international conference in Austin, USA.

The list of winners included:

1.?Esports Charts?- the “Google Analytics” for live streaming.

2. deep3dstudio?- a photogrammetric studio that creates realistic 3D avatars.

3.?WE/AR?- a creative studio of AR/VR solutions for business.

4.?Mriya production?-?a production company that creates virtual worlds based on a game engine.

5.?Zibra AI?- a platform for creating realistic 3D content using AI.

6.?3DLOOK?- a virtual fitting room developer for online stores. Technology increases sales and customer loyalty and reduces returns.

7.?Aspichi?- an audiovisual platform for teleportation. Using 360 video and virtual reality, the technology helps users travel through time and space.

8.?V-Art?- a platform that helps brands license and monetize their digital assets through blockchain.

Danish - Ukrainian Tech Summit

After a successful start in the UK market in 2022 and the signing of a Memorandum of partnership with the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, representatives of DKTech4Ukraine approached the Association with a?cooperation offer.?

The first step for developing Ukrainian-Danish relations in the field of technology was Danish-Ukrainian Tech Summit,?which took place on January 30 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event was supported by the Embassy of Ukraine in Denmark

The IT Ukraine Association?represented?a large-scale report, "Do IT like Ukraine",?at the Summit and held a separate panel discussion, at which the?participants talked about what the Ukrainian IT industry can offer to the Danish market.

Ukraine will receive tens of millions?due to other countries’ launch of a Diia analog

At least five countries have already announced their intention to create digital applications based on the Ukrainian Diia app,?said the Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov. According to him, this is an opportunity for Ukraine to earn considerable money for its budget.

“We have several products included in the Diia implementation complex, each costing tens of millions of dollars. And therefore, it can be billions of hryvnias from one country for the implementation of Diia in a short time. Because it is sold not only as a multipart technological product, but also expertise and consulting,” the minister said.

Partnerships between the technological ecosystems of Ukraine and Norway - events

Special events were held on February 23 in Bergen and will continue on February 28 in Oslo?under the Norwegian – Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (NUCC) patronage.?

Business lunches aim for an open discussion between the Norwegian and Ukrainian technology market representatives.

The association will present a report "Do IT like Ukraine", and together with partners and guests from both sides,?the participants?will talk about the following:

• challenges and prospects for the Ukrainian IT industry;
• the experience of joint work between Norwegian partners and Ukrainian IT companies during the war;
• what expertise the Ukrainian IT industry can share with Norwegian colleagues.

Premiere of a new movie "Ukrainian IT stories"

A great overview of how the Ukrainian IT started,?what inspired the pioneers of the industry, told by a number of talented entrepreneurs, acting as true role models and example to follow by a new wave of innovators. A good movie to understand the roots, current state and where the whole sector is heading.

Taking into account the current explosive growth of the sector despite all the obstacles, definitely an?interesting movie to watch for those?trying to understand Ukraine and its tech sector better.

More people are beginning to learn Ukrainian

The foreign interest in Ukraine increases. For example,?the popularity of Ukrainian courses on the Duolingo app has grown by 577% as of April?2022.

These days there are plenty of opportunities to learn Ukrainian. Whether for diving deeper into the country’s culture, keeping up with the news in the original language, or simply traveling around Ukraine after the victory.?

Where can you learn Ukrainian?

1.?Udemy?- for beginners

2.?Pimsleur?- for pre-intermediate learners and higher

3.?Duolingo?- any level of proficiency?

4.?LingQ?- perfect for pre-intermediate to advanced learners

5.?Petro The Ukrainian?on Tik Tok - begginers, pre-intermediate.

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