Аnationofinventors:topUkrainianbusinessesandinitiativestolearnabout

In decades, Ukrainians have left their names in history as great inventors, artists, explorers, fighters, and athletes. Yet, their contributions remain relatively unknown in Arab countries. “Inspired by winners” aims to change that: the campaign tells stories about a variety of areas where Ukrainians succeeded and may offer mutually beneficial solutions.

Look into how one may learn from Ukraine, support Ukrainian sports (learn more here), and partner with Ukrainians for both financial benefits and social development.

From introducing power-efficient technologies to creating an app that allows you to access official documents in a few clicks, from innovating grain production on a large scale to allowing pet owners to play with their animals remotely with a small gadget. Ukrainian inventions are already making life better in Ukraine and have been actively implemented abroad. 

“Made in Ukraine” has been a synonym for cutting-edge solutions in digitalization, sustainable development, green energy, agriculture, and much more.

Today, we look at just a part of the innovations that Ukrainians have to offer. Those are the winners in their fields that make it worth knowing about Ukrainian technologies, using and supporting them.

Diia

The Diia system is known by everyone in Ukraine (and should be known by everyone in general). Unofficially called “a state in a smartphone”, it offers a new level of interaction between the state and citizens: convenient, fast, and humane. Diia combines a mobile application with access to citizens’ digital documents and a portal of online public services for the population and businesses.

This product has helped reduce bureaucracy and corruption and speed up processes in many areas. In 2021, Ukraine became the first country with a digital ID equated to a physical one, valid everywhere within the country. 

There are currently 107 e-services in Ukraine, ranging from tax declaration and business grants to applying for marriage registration, name changes, and even light bulb exchanges.

Diia decisively won the favor of Ukrainians, but not just them: the Ministry of Digital Transformation is now negotiating the export of the Diia service with 10 countries around the world.

In particular, a test analogue called mRiik has already been launched based on Diia in Estonia. Before that, all public services in Estonia were available only in web format. The pilot was successful, and Estonians were convinced of the need to create an app for simple and convenient interaction between citizens and the state.

Petcube

Winner of the best hardware startup in Europe title in 2014 by the Europаs, Petcube is a Ukrainian company that creates gadgets for pet owners. The company’s first product, Petcube, is a device that allows you to remotely monitor, talk to, and play laser games with your pet via a mobile app.

Petcube became one of the leaders in the pet technology market by “connecting” dogs and cats to the Internet and becoming the first to develop such devices for pet lovers. By 2017, after five years of operation, the company’s founders reported that more than 100 thousand cameras had been sold. 

The company continues to expand the market with new functions, from a video camera with a feeder to a pet tracker, improving pet lovers’ everyday lives in various countries.

Kernel

Kernel is one of the largest Ukrainian agro-industrial companies with a land bank of 530 thousand hectares. It is the leader of the world sunflower oil market and a major supplier of agricultural products from the Black Sea region to international markets.

Despite Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s grain warehouses and blocking exports through the Black Sea ports, Kernel Agricultural Holding exported 3.7 million tons of grain in 2022-2023, with 3% going to Egypt and 2% going to Oman.

The company actively introduces digital tools to optimize its work. It began with individual elements that are now combined into a single innovative ecosystem of modern agricultural production – DigitalAgriBusiness. Today, 100% of the fields are covered by high-quality RTK signals, the basis for precision farming. The AI features are used to assess the quality of crops and their density, as well as count grains in the corn cob and seeds in the sunflower basket.

Reface

If you are an active social media user, you may have already known about Reface (formerly called Doublicat), one of the projects of the Ukrainian startup RefaceAI, founded in 2011. The company’s main product is an app that uses AI mechanisms to change faces in videos and photos. The program, available on Android and iOS, has been downloaded over 250 million times. The app became No. 1 in the US App Store, got among Google Play’s Best of 2020 winners, and the company managed to attract investment from Andreessen Horowitz.

Celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, and Miley Cyrus, have shared videos created with Reface. Altogether, the users have generated more than 4 billion pieces of synthetic media with the app.

MacPaw

Another Ukrainian IT company worth knowing about is MacPaw: it specializes in the development and distribution of programs for macOS, iOS, Android, and Windows. According to the company, every 5th Macbook in the world has at least one of the seven programs of the Ukrainian IT company installed on it: CleanMyMac X, CleanMyIPhone, Clean VPN 2, Setapp, Moonlock, The Unarchiver, and Encrypto. 

In 2018, MacPaw celebrated its tenth anniversary. At the same time, the team came up with the idea that they would like to get involved in social projects in addition to their core work. This is how the MacPaw Cares initiative was born, which now has eight main areas and helps to implement more than 30 different projects, from technical support for scientific expeditions to environmental cleanups and street animal rescue.

Kness

The international group of companies, KNESS, born in Ukraine, develops technologies and implements renewable and conventional electricity projects. The group includes its own RnD Center, where engineers work on solutions that are needed now and will be relevant for decades. 

In 2023, the company opened a KNESS representative office in Latvia and sold 20.5 MW of solar power plants on EPC terms, as well as began exporting Ukrainian-made steel structures to the European market.

The company was also actively involved in the restoration of the energy infrastructure, which was partially destroyed as a result of Russia’s massive shelling. 

KNESS has built and is currently testing the Energy Storage System, an industrial energy storage system fully developed, designed, and manufactured in Ukraine. KNESS uses an innovative approach not only in the field of technological development but also in the entire range of services and solutions.

YASNO

YASNO, a provider of electricity, gas, and energy efficiency solutions, strives to provide European-level utilities and develops online services. The brand offers customers an ecosystem of innovative products to improve comfort and reduce energy costs. 

Energy-efficient kits from YASNO contain smart home elements and allow for reduced energy consumption. On the YASNO website, customers can buy energy-efficient climate control and household appliances. YASNO installs home solar power plants and energy storage systems for greater energy autonomy. The company is also developing the largest network of fast charging stations for electric vehicles in Ukraine – YASNO E-mobility.

To add to the list, among the unicorn companies of Ukrainian origin are Grammarly, GitLab, People.ai, and Firefly Aerospace. 

Supporting Ukrainian business means supporting sustainable development and new approaches to innovation for the international community. Ukrainians offer unique services and a unique user experience, from online banking and digital document capabilities to feeding their pets from your office.

Even despite Russia’s full-scale invasion, destroyed infrastructure, and burned fields, Ukrainian innovators today continue to develop new solutions, enter the world’s largest business platforms, and work on restoring what was and building a future for the generations to come.

“Inspired by winners” campaign has been created to spotlight Ukrainian achievements across various fields. Learn more about what Ukrainians have to offer the world in terms of implementing new solutions, doing business, promoting social development – and how it is worth time, attention, and support.

For more information, read an article on Ukrainian sports achievements and follow ukraine.ua Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), and TikTok in Arabic.