Mayak Innovatsiy

Andrew Archer - a serial entrepreneur with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and robotic systems, began building robots at the age of 12 and subsequently started his first company at 16. Now he lives in Kyiv and runs a business here. Andrew Archer is, among other things, the CEO of Aitheon, a business automation platform giving businesses the ability to leverage Artificial Intelligence, process automation, distributed robotics and IOT easily. 

We were talking about Kyiv from the point of view of an American, about robot consciousness and perspectives of inventing a robot that would change your bed linen. 

Alex Bornyakov — Deputy Minister of The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine in charge of IT. We were talking about Diia City, a special legal framework for the IT industry. Also, we’ve discussed E-residence, paperless initiatives, digitalization of entrepreneurship tools and tax system, simplifying entry for IT-employees from other countries, and the attraction of investment to Ukraine.

The episode was recorded on October 9, 2020, exactly a year ago Alex Bornyakov had joined The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. Since the recording day, plenty of new initiatives have been launched by The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. For the news and more details go: https://www.linkedin.com/company/diia-city/ 

Vitaly Sych — Editor-in-Chief of the magazine “Novoye Vremya”, one of the leading media in Ukraine. We were talking about the standards of genuine journalistic, about media as a business, about fake news and social media as a massive phenomenon, about technologies such as AI behind the modern media, and its chances to compete with a human being in journalism. Also, from this episode, you can find out what topic is more popular in Ukraine — sex or politics. 

Giorgi Iukuridze — co-founder of SHABO, the biggest and the most innovative winery in Ukraine.
We’ve been talking about technologies in agriculture and in winemaking. What is so special about Ukrainian wine? Which technologies do help winemakers? Can we trust a robot sommelier? How did COVID change the consumption of wine? Is that true that a glass of sparkling wine could be equal to a 30 min walk in a park?

Taras Potichniy - Country Manager of Bolt in Ukraine. Taxi Bolt was launched in August 2013 in Tallinn and Riga and in 2014 it went on to foreign shores. Bolt is in Ukraine as well. And, of course, the office of Bolt is in UNIT.City! We were talking about the “gig economy”, about drivers and pandemic’s effect on business. 
This episode was  ZOOMed.

Nataly Veremeeva — Director at TechUkraine.Org, the Gate to Technological Ukraine. We were talking about Ukraine as a Wild East full of opportunities, about the pros & cons of launching a startup in Ukraine. Why the Founders of Ukrainian Unicorns often do not communicate proudly "made in Ukraine'? What else has to be done in Ukraine to have a Silicon Next Big Something? Who is in charge of that — government or people? What is an attitude to money and entrepreneurship in Ukraine? Why where are so many girls in Ukrainian IT-industry?

Yura Lazebnikov is a managing partner of esports media holding company WePlay Esports which is developing esports studios and arenas from Kyiv to Los Angeles. We discussed trends in esports, spectacular tournaments, earnings of top-ranking players, and Ukraine's advantages in terms of esports.