About 20% of IT employees have gone abroad, and 89% will donate to charity. What the study showed about the impact of war on IT in Ukraine

From 17% to 20% of IT specialists in Ukraine went abroad with the beginning of a full-scale war, and 89% of the total number give part of their income to charity. These are the data from the study of the Lviv IT cluster" it research Resilience: the impact of war on the development of the IT industry in Ukraine", according to a DOU journalist who is at the presentation. Here are the key facts.

How many IT workers were mobilized

By this time, about seven thousand Ukrainian IT specialists had been mobilized into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the TRO.

How many IT specialists went abroad and how many moved to the west of Ukraine

From 50 to 57 thousand IT workers went abroad after the start of a full — scale war with the Russian Federation, 64% of them were women. This is 17% -20% of the total number of IT specialists as of December 2021.

In addition, according to the IT research Resilience study, more than 52 thousand IT specialists now live in the western regions of Ukraine.:

Most of all — 37 thousand IT employees-are located in the Lviv region. Most specialists from other regions also moved here — about 4,300.The next largest hub is Ivano — Frankivsk. In total, 4.5 thousand It residents live here, of which more than 2,100 have moved from other regions. Then-the Ternopil region (from the total 3.9 thousand IT specialists, the number of displaced specialists is about 800).2,300 it residents live in the Rivne region, of which more than 500 are relocated.Of the 1,700 IT specialists in the Chernivtsi region, about 900 have been relocated.The total number of IT specialists in Transcarpathia and Volhynia is one and a half thousand each. However, if in Volhynia the number of relocated specialists is only about 500 people, in Transcarpathia — more than 1,150. the form of employment of IT specialists and the amount of donations

The study showed that 88% of specialists work under a contract. Under the employment contract-14%, and another 1% indicated "other" as a way of cooperation with the company.

At the same time, 18% of sole proprietors plan to be legalized abroad, and 4% plan to change the place of registration of sole proprietors.

It is known that 12% of IT employees switched to a simplified system of paying EN (that is, they pay 2% tax instead of 5%), and 19% simply did not know about this possibility.

At the same time, 203 thousand IT specialists send part of the budget to charity, which is 89% of the total number of IT specialists. 14% donate more than a quarter of family income.

Companies ' plans to open new offices

41% of CEOs of IT companies plan to open new offices in the coming year, 26% said that they will do it abroad. The most popular choice of a new location is Poland. It accounts for 20% of applicants. 4% of CEOs each said they would choose Spain or the United States, 3% each supported Estonia and Portugal, and 2% each supported Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.

At the same time, there is a low level of interest in Opening regional offices in Ukraine. 3% plan to open an office in Kiev, the same number — in Lviv. 2% each — in Dnipro, Odessa and Chernivtsi. But in Transcarpathia, in Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kamianets-Podilskyi, they do not plan to open offices at all.

Three scenarios for the development of the future of Ukraine and IT

There are three key factors that affect the future of Ukraine in general and IT in particular, says Valery Pekar, a Ukrainian entrepreneur, publicist and teacher at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School. These are: war, Western support, and economic freedom. These factors form the three most likely scenarios for the future.

Democratic modernization means that the war is over or frozen, the West is actively helping to recover, the state is taking a course to liberalize the economy, not interfere, and form fair and transparent rules of the game. In this case, from 87% to 94% of IT employees remain in Ukraine, 6% leave.Forced European integration is a scenario in which the war ended, Western partners give Ukraine money, the economy is recovering, but there is strict state regulation, high taxes, minimal freedom, and the State plays a big role in the economy. Under such conditions, from 72% to 86% of IT specialists are ready to stay, 13% leave.Ukrainian authoritarianism — can happen if the wartime in the country is extended for the period of its restoration. This will mean restricting economic rights, freedoms, the work of the opposition, and so on. 43-62% of IT employees said they would not leave Ukraine under such conditions, while 36% said they would.

At the same time, today 78% of CEOs of IT companies believe that despite everything, the industry will grow. 0% believe that there is a scenario in which the IT industry will lose a lot of ground.