The Strategy of Innovation Development in Ukraine Part I: Introduction

80% of developments in the USSR defense industry were carried out in Ukraine. Thanks to such a big school of scientists and developers, Ukraine remains among the world leaders in the field of development and production of military and dual-use products.

Today the state financing of innovative developments in this area is poor since the bulk of financing is spent on maintaining the combat capability of existing weapons and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Therefore, this traditional state monopoly was handed over to private investors, opening doors for local and foreign businesses to step into this typically closed, highly marginal market.

Moreover, Ukraine never had a mechanism that in a short time would allow developing an innovative idea into a prototype, and then — launching a serial production and passing it to the army. The most appropriate alternative under such conditions is to attract funds from Ukrainian and foreign investors for the development and production of promising defense products. But it needs to be implemented within a transparent mechanism that has proved its effectiveness in the global best practices.

Today such a mechanism is represented by open platforms — project offices which ensure the development and production of innovative products for specific market objectives and standards: DARPA in the USA, MAFAT and the Office of the Chief Scientist in Israel, DRDC in Canada, DSTO in Australia. Considering the experience of developing innovations by Ukrainian specialists commissioned by foreign customers, Ukrainian technologies compare favourably in creativity and cost-effectiveness among foreign analogues and are competitive in international markets.

Dmytro Shestakov & Oleksiy Poliarush (2017). Innovations Development Platform.

The full manuscript is available at: https://www.slideshare.net/DmytroShestakov/strategy-of-innovations-development-in-ukraine-part-i-introduction-dmytro-shestakov-oleksiy-poliarush-2017.