About Project
Ukrainian business communities and SMEs need much bigger support in their internationalization which is considered as #1 strategy for survival.
Objectives
- To unite and to coordinate the network by specific goals and projects in each target segment.
- To synchronize and align the activities with strategic goals set by the European Commission and Ukrainian governments.
- To speed up integration of Ukrainian SMEs and clusters into Euroatlantic countries and to prepare partners for Recovery programs.
Activities
- Series of C2C/B2B events / defining, profiling and prioritizing challenges, opportunities;
- Forming projects initiatives and search of funding projects;
- Coordination activities and meeting.
Outcomes
- Acceleration and higher effectiveness of Ukrainian SMEs’ and clusters’ integration into EU industrial ecosystems.
- Establishing and improving long-term relationships at the level of business communities.
- Preparing foreign partners to Recovery projects in Ukraine.
2 years / 400k euros (budget is mainly oriented to support of business trips and participation in existing conferences/ forums / trade fairs).
UA side: Common Resource Centres and Committees of Ukrainian Cluster Alliance.
EU and US/Canada side: key clusters and business associations willing to support Ukraine during wartimes and after war period.
UCA started to create such a network in April 2022. The program called "Ambassadors4Ukraine" united 30+ professionals from Ukraine, EU and US. Later it was renamed into ‘Professional4Ukraine’ emphasizing the role of individuals and leaders not just at the level of communities but even a separate business or an organization. UCA awarded 13 best professionals with the highest contribution to resilience of Ukraine clusters in December 2022. These professionals helped UCA in internationalization programs, helped to find funding or just sponsored cluster activities and built strong relationships. At the same time, UCA was unable to organize a strong network among Ukrainian professionals abroad. The main obstacle was, and it remains now, about funding their visits to business events to represent UCA and our clusters.