On October 24-25, Kyiv hosted the II International Export Promotion Forum: From Ukrainian Recovery to Global Economic Prosperity, the EU4Business program being one of the co-organizers. The forum was attended by government representatives, programmes of international technical assistance, diplomats, businessmen, and expert.

The forum participants discussed ways to increase export capabilities of Ukrainian companies, and develop small and medium enterprises.

A lot has been discussed at the forum about the need for the development of small and medium enterprises and ways to support SME. This is one of the important areas of EU assistance to Ukraine.

The Programme “EU4Business: SME Competitiveness and Internationalisation” co-financed by the European Union and German Government is one of the tools of support of Ukrainian SMEs. It is implemented by German Federal company “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH”.

Tetiana also presented grant opportunities available for Ukrainian SMEs under the project in Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.

Two programmes will be launched in the near future. One of them involves providing SMEs with 100 grants of up to EUR 10,000 each for companies with export capacity and an innovative component that require trade missions, exhibitions, export- oriented events, and so on. Priority will be given to companies working in processing, creative industries, transportation, and logistics services. The second programme envisages 70 grants of up to 10,000 euros each for micro, small, and medium- sized enterprises in the telecommunications sector in the areas most affected by the fighting.

The two already running programmes will also continue for the next six months. Twelve grants of up to EUR 40,000 are envisaged for enterprises with export potential and innovation in need of export consultations. Another 20 grants with a budget of up to EUR 15,000 euros are provided for companies with an innovative component and export potential in the fields of medical and educational services, renewable energy, suppliers and producers of food products, and companies whose production or services are related to machinery and equipment.

The II International Export Promotion Forum was supported by the EU-funded project CEU4U (Communicating EU for Ukrainians). In October, the project also launched a communication campaign “Together, We Are Resilient. Together, We Are Europe,” aimed at increasing the awareness of opportunities provided by EU-funded programs for Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses.

Some 180 participants attended the European Days of Research and Innovation held on October 27-28 in Ivano-Frankivsk. The event was attended by entrepreneurs, researchers, representatives of the government and civil society.

The forum’s program was built to address the most important processes happening in this market at the moment.

Specifically, Andrii Hrabchuk, Head of Strategic Planning and Audit Department at JSC “Prykarpattyaoblenergo” shared their experience of implementing an R&D project in collaboration with European partners within the Horizon programme, the EU’s main tool for supporting research and innovation.

Mykola Maksymenko, a scientist and entrepreneur, who is also the director of the MSc in Technology Management master’s program at the UCU Business School, spoke about the commercialization of scientific developments.

The importance of innovative developments for the victory in the war, particularly in the field of military technology and drones, was discussed by Artur Shkryblyak, an engineer and entrepreneur, Antonina Romaniuk, the manager of the “Army of Drones” project, Danylo Kholyavko, the head of the “Dzhmil” drone project. The discussion was moderated by Yevhen Shevchenko, the coordinator of civil UAVs at the Serhii Prytula Foundation, and an instructor at the “Boryviter” military school.

The European Days of Research and Innovation were organized in partnership with the EU-funded project CEU4U (Communicating EU for Ukrainians), as a part of the “Together, We Are Resilient. Together, We Are Europe” communication campaigned, aimed at increasing the awareness of opportunities provided by EU-funded programs for Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses.

The project “New Economy of Ivano-Frankivsk (NEF) – supporting new clusters of innovative economic activities in Ivano- Frankivsk” is funded by the European Union under the “Mayors for Economic Growth” initiative.

30 cross-border family mediation experts completed the 7-day training court in September-October, conducted jointly by the Ukrainian Academy of Mediation (UAM) and Germany-based MiKK (International Centre for Mediation of Family Conflicts and Child Abduction) within the framework of EU-funded projects CONSENT and ACCORD.

There is a huge need for this kind of mediators at the moment, as millions of Ukrainian families have been separated by borders as a result of the war. On one hand, this naturally leads to misunderstandings or disputes, while on the other hand, it complicates their resolution through courts. Children suffer from these situations the most.

Mediation helps address issues such as determining the child’s place of residence, scheduling, and communication methods with the parent living separately, as well as shared parenting responsibilities.

This training course was part of a project aimed at supporting families separated by war. An informational booklet has also been developed for parents and Ukrainian justice system workers, along with an online platform where those in need can find family mediators.

There were experienced mediators among the participants of the training course, including Dmytro Saryan, who has significant experience as a lawyer and psychologist.

Dmytro stresses that children can be involved in the mediation process under the Hague procedure.

In Ukraine, The Law on Mediation was adopted shortly before the start of the full-scale war, and it is only now that this dispute resolution took is starting to slowly spread.

A solar power plant has been installed on a greenhouse at the Sumy Centre of Ecological and Naturalistic Creativity. The city council received a grant for the installation of the solar power plant as a part of the EU-funded project “Closing the cycle: fair energy transition, developed by cities and regions”, which is being implemented by Ecoaction and Ecoclub NGOs.

The greenhouse is a unique facility in the city. It houses over 300 species of cacti, and the entire collection features over 500 species of exotic and endangered plants. Therefore, the greenhouse serves as an educational base and a living laboratory. Children take care of the plants, learn how to cultivate them, conduct experiments and research. Young researchers participate in various competitions at the city, regional, and national levels, earning prizes. Around 3,000 under the age of 18 attend the centre.

It was these students, along with their teachers, who saved the plants during the severe power outages last winter due to Russian attacks and scheduled rolling blackouts. Heating in the greenhouse during the cold season is powered from the electrical grid.

The 7 kW solar power plant is precisely designed to heat the greenhouse. The total project cost was almost UAH 395,000, with the grant amount of UAH 375,200 and community co-funding of UAH 19,750. The funds were allocated for the project’s information component, which involves spreading awareness about the possibilities of alternative energy among the community. Additionally, the community contributed UAH 87,300 for the additional equipment of the power plant.

The solar power plant began generating energy in September and October.

The installation of the solar power plant for the greenhouse is the first renewable energy project in the field of education for the community, according to Maryna Dranichenko, Head of the Environmental Protection, Energy Efficiency, and Climate Policy Office at the Finance, Economy, and Investments Department of the Sumy City Council. In June of this year, a solar power station was also installed at the central city hospital.

Rivne NGO Ecoclub has been working on promoting sustainable energy in Ukrainian communities for over 25 years, providing expert, grant and informational support.

Since May this year alone, Ecoclub has received over 400 applications from municipalities willing to install solar power plants. At the moment, Ecoclub is working with 80 municipalities. Additionally, the EU-funded competition for communities to implement pilot projects in renewable energy is open for applications until 15 May 2024.

The House of Europe programme announced the winners of translation grants in October – a total of 12 translation projects of books. Eight publishing houses will translate works of foreign authors into Ukrainian, while four will translate Ukrainian writers into Polish, Czech, Hungarian, and English.

For example, the “Masters’ Time” publishing house will translate Krabat, a German children’s fantasy novel by Otfried Preußler, into Ukrainian.

The story revolves around a boy named Krabat who, in search of refuge, ends up at a watermill run by the Mill’s Master, a black magician. The boy learns alongside 11 other apprentices who know that at the end of the year, one of them must die to prolong the Master’s life.

Creative Women Publishing will translate the book Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard. This is a significant work by a historian and professor at the University of Cambridge, in which the role of women in politics and power is explored. It delves into the obstacles women face in their pursuit of power and leadership while also offering strategies for change.

This is the sixth wave of translation grants allocated by House of Europe. Fifty-four books for a total amount of some EUR 200,000 were published during the previous five waves, according to Tetiana Manziuk, the programme coordinator. These were grants for 29 Ukrainian publishing houses and 15 publishing houses from the EU. Some of them received funding several times.

An urban forum titled Future-Fit Cities was held in October in Batumi, Georgia. The forum was organized by the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) project, a joint initiative of the EU and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is implemented within Eastern Partnership and aims at positive changes in cities, and their focus on modern trends.

These were the issued discussed at the urban forum in Batumi. Urban development experts who attended the forum discussed how crises could be used to transition to more environmentally friendly models of urban development, how cities of tomorrow should be organized to promote growth, and innovative ecosystems at the local level. Also, protection of sustainable urban systems was discussed.

Lviv is an active participant in the M4EG project and received recognition in Batumi along with other cities.

The city of Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, is also an active participant in the project. In the spring of this year, the city became one of the grant competition winners for municipalities participating in M4EG. The focus of the competition was “Immediate Response and Recovery,” with funding for urgent needs ranging from EUR 30,000 to EUR 50,000.

Tetiana also participated in the “Future-Fit Cities” forum and found it extremely beneficial to communicate with colleagues from other municipalities in Ukraine and Eastern Partnership countries.

From 16th to 20th October, nine most active coordinators of EU Information Centres (EUis) in Ukraine undertook a study visit to the EU institutions.

With support from the EU Delegation to Ukraine, the team travelled to Warsaw, Brussels and Bruges. Intensive agenda included meetings in the visitors’ centres of the European Commission, Council of the EU and the European Parliament, as well as meetings in the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), the European External Action Service (EEAS), and the European Commission Representation in Poland. Participants learned how the EU institutions communicate with the public, promoting trust and transparency. Representatives of the College of Europe in Bruges spoke about its role in training of the EU public servants and European integration experts.

The EUis coordinators also participated in substantial discussions with European officials closely engaged in matters concerning Ukraine.

EUis is one of the EU Networks in Ukraine, which is a source of information about the EU at higher education institutions, national libraries, and research centres in Ukraine. As of today, 25 such centres are operating.