Ukrainian Delegation Reflects on Success at SelectUSA Summit in Chemonics International Meeting

Today, our Ukrainian delegation, comprising tech startups and mature companies, gathered for a summarizing meeting at the office of Chemonics International . Our participation in the SelectUSA Summit was organized and facilitated by the USAID Competitive Economy Program , the U.S. Department of Commerce , International Trade Administration, and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. The discussions highlighted the invaluable experiences and insights we gained during the Summit, emphasizing the importance of international collaboration and support in fostering Ukraine's economic recovery.

Reflecting on the Summit, I can confidently say that our experience was a successful one. We already understand that we will participate in SelectUSA Investment Summits for several years in advance because the idea of understanding better the local economy, the local needs, the local partnerships, and questions can only be achieved by directly speaking with people. The representative function of all states and all counties that were presented here is very impressive.

The USAID-supported visit to SelectUSA brought us valuable insights. While the days spent in Washington, D.C., were beneficial, the real impact came from the collateral events in different states. These included visits to universities, facilities, technological clusters, and various communities focused on attracting new investors. One standout example was the hydrogen energy event organized by New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, which, although not part of the main SelectUSA venue, proved incredibly informative.

Companies interested in these specific sectors must attend these events, even multiple times if necessary. The side events are mind-changing and offer the chance to connect with people not present at the main event. Another crucial experience is representing our country, states, and learning to attract investments. This knowledge should be transferred not only to Ukrainian entrepreneurs or the tech ecosystem but also to local government officials. They need to learn how to attract investments to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials can benefit greatly from the SelectUSA experience and must see the big pitching of the American government.

The government of each US state understands the importance of attracting investments and gets very creative in competing with one another at the summit. Ukrainian governors, mayors, and high-level officials would benefit greatly from learning from this experience and implementing similar strategies in Ukraine. For Ukraine to successfully rebuild and recover, it needs significant funding, which will largely depend on how well its regions can market themselves to attract investment.

The event was an absolute success for my team and me. We found new locations to establish, received embassy support, and engaged with various states. The ambassador of Ukraine's presence at the expo and the visit to the booth of Pennsylvania, where our first U.S. headquarters is located, brought significant appreciation and attention to our efforts.

One of the key takeaways from the event was the importance of validation by U.S. educational establishments. At the event, almost every state and booth included representatives from their universities and academia. This is great for companies like ours because no matter how successful we are in Ukraine or Europe, our products or services must be validated by U.S. educational establishments to gain traction in the U.S. market. Thus, our first point of contact is often people at universities.

To illustrate, DroneUA in Ukraine provides extensive agricultural services, covering around three million hectares with drone sprayers. This experience surpasses the combined efforts of all European countries. One key reason why Ukraine's agro-drone business scaled rapidly, outpacing other countries, was deregulation, which allowed the market to regulate itself without restrictive frameworks. Market players, associations, and stakeholders established standards and drove growth with minimal government intervention.

However, the U.S. market for agricultural robotics is still young, and our expertise is not automatically accepted by U.S. farmers without proof that the technology works locally. This validation often requires collaboration with U.S. universities. This experience highlights that academia are key stakeholders in validating new methods and technologies across all sectors.

The general idea of the meeting at Chemonics was to understand how to improve future programs supporting Ukraine and its businesses, with a forward-looking perspective of several years. Discussions focused on the directions in which Ukraine needs to develop and how to build an exceptional economy that attracts top investments and positions Ukraine as a prime business development location in the future.

Ukraine will require partnerships over the next years for its rebuilding, making it crucial to hear from business representatives about the areas where help is most needed. Our delegation could share our experiences and respond to questions from Chemonics' management. This high-level meeting has the potential to create a strategically important agenda for implementation in the coming period.

I want to express my gratitude to the entire management team at Chemonics for their years of support and efforts in backing Ukrainian initiatives. Special thanks are due for their willingness to listen and pay attention to the representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, the IT community of Ukraine, and entrepreneurs regarding the next steps. It is very important to be heard, and today we felt that. Oleksandra Afanasieva