Ukraine's Digital Transformation Ministry plans investment fund worth $200 mln for development of creative economy in Ukraine

MOSCOW. July 6 (Interfax) - There are plans to create an international investment fund worth $200 million with at least ten large international investors for the development of a creative economy in Ukraine, and also to finance more than 240 startups worth $13 million from the Ukrainian Startup Fund, Ukrainian Digital Transformation for IT Development Deputy Minister Oleksandr Bornyakov said.

"We want to become one of the best countries in Europe and in the world for the number of startups per population number," he said at the economic forum of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, according to Ukrainian media reports.

Ukraine now has 75 startups per one million people, whereas global leader Israel has 945 and Finland, the fifth country on the list, has 525, Bornyakov said.

A court for intellectual rights was launched back before February 24, and this online court will start working with new judges after the crisis, he said.

"We also want to give an opportunity to consider disputes in other jurisdictions, for example, in the United Kingdom," he said.

Among the other projects he presented were also military industrial parks, including for the development of cyber defense projects and military startups; technical and financial support of accelerators with an emphasis on artificial intellect and robotics.

The Ukrainian Digital Transformation Ministry continues working to ensure that people working in the IT industry can become immune from mobilization and leave the country under guarantees of return for business development, Bornyakov said.

A historical record of the export of services of the Ukrainian IT industry, $839 million, was reached in February 2022, and it reached $2 billion in general in the first quarter of this year, he said.

Unlike many other industries, the export of IT services in March 2022 reached 96% of the level of March 2021, Bornyakov said.