Ukrainians Should Seize Innovation Opportunity

By Wolodymyr Derzko

Last month, I was invited to Ukraine to speak at Canada Trade Days, a one-day forum at the International Management Institute (IMI) in Kyiv to promote Canadian and Ukrainian trade relations. I appeared on the energy panel; two other parallel panels were held, on construction and agriculture.

Energy and gas are hot topics in Ukraine both in a geo-political and strategic sense and at the individual level, since it affects Ukrainian consumers’ wallet. Russia’s press to eventually gain control of Ukraine gas distribution system seems to be working, and all Ukraine can do now is to helplessly stand by as the gas distribution infrastructure goes predictably bankrupt. And, of course, Russia’s, “White Knight,” GazProm, is ready to step in to rescue the situation and take over control.

While I did meet with groups from Ukraine who are interested in Canadian energy conservation technologies, including a battery manufacturer from Dontesk, Ukraine’s gas monopoly UkrGasEnergo and the Ministry of Labour and Social Politics, (as well as Canadians interested in Ukrainian technology), energy is not the only innovation opportunity window where Ukraine can step out into the world and shine.

As part of the process of fostering a culture of creativity and innovation, the government of Ukraine has to promote foresight capabilities in all its ministries and agencies, especially in the area of Science and Technology. The Wiki dictionary defines “foresight” as the ability to foresee or prepare wisely for the future. It is a capability that is urgently needed in Ukrainian society today at all levels from the Ministry of Education to the National Security and Defense Council (RNBO).

Three groups in Ukraine, the National Institute of Strategic Studies (NISS), the Ministry of Education, and the National Academy of Sciences, are off to a good start. The NISS, a think tank for the President, has been working on scenario planning and foresight exercises since the late 1990s during the Kuchma era. Recently, the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Academy of Sciences completed a two-year foresight exercise that looks out to the year 2020-25. They decided to focus on 15 key science and technology areas:
• Actual problems of state support of basic sciences and its infrastructure;

• Biotechnologies;

• Means and technologies for medical treatment of common diseases;

• Telecommunication, information technologies and resources; optical electronics and new computing technologies; 

• Energy saving, non-traditional and renewable energy sources, problems of hydrogen energy utilization;

• Advanced technologies of agricultural production and the food industry;

• Technologies of metal welding and treatment of metals and alloys, new composite materials;

• Lasers and ionization technologies; nanotechnologies, functional and instrumental materials;

• Perspective chemical materials and technologies;

• Protection of environment and sustainable development;

• Macroeconomic drivers, demography and human potential;

• Applied aspects of earth sciences;

• Innovation in construction and architecture;

• Innovation in transportation systems;

• Space technologies and “dual-use: technologies in the national economy.

If Ukraine wants to develop a national strategy of creativity and innovation it has to be a multi-pronged, multi-year and intra-governmental approach, and not a program that starts and ends with a particular minister or government, nor a “phantom” Kuchma-type program–all talk, conferences and roundtables and then no action, as so often happens in Ukraine.

Ukraine has the luxury of starting with a blank page after the collapse of their Soviet economic infrastructure. It can step back and look at the innovation efforts of other countries such as Canada, explore what’s worked and why and study failures and lessons learned and design a “made-in-Ukraine” multi-year innovation initiative. This will require passionate “issue champions” in each ministry and agency who are willing to take risks and will outlive changes in government or political stripes.

Canada’s 30-plus years of efforts and experience in teaching lateral thinking skills to children and adults, our world-class education initiatives in teaching entrepreneurial studies, our university technology transfer successes, our made-in-Canada network of small business incubators across the country and our innovation policy development experience (which have been studied and adopted by other countries, including the USA, Australia, Finland and others) can serve as a working model for Ukrainian legislative decision-makers and politicians.

Canada already has a strong working and hands-on innovation relationship with Ukraine. Winnipeg professor Ostap Hawaleshka was the first and founding executive director of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine; STCU in the early 1990s. Landis Henry, formerly with the Industrial Research Assistance Program at the NRC (National Research Council) is now the Deputy Executive Director from Canada at the STCU.

Ukraine’s greatest poet,Taras Shevchenko, two centuries ago said, “Think and Read” (Dumajte Chytajte), a slogan that helped emancipate the Ukrainian nation. The slogan for Ukraine in the 21 century should be Think and Prosper (Dumajte i Protsvitajte).

Wolodymyr (Walter) Derzko works with the Canadian, Finnish and Ukrainian governments in strategic planning and technology foresight.