The Innovation DTEK Team and the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF) held DTEK Startup Day by USF, the first joint corporate innovation event. Six startups pitched their innovative products and solutions at NEST in the UNIT.City Innovation park. The presentations were judged by Emanuele Volpe, DTEK's Chief Innovation Officer, Oksana Prykhodko, DTEK's Innovation Manager, Yevhen Bushma, D.Solutions Sales and Customer Service Director, Pavlo Kartashov, Ukrainian Startup Fund Director, Kateryna Dehtiar, Startup Grind Kyiv Director, and Olena Malytska, ISE Group Director.
“At DTEK, we approach innovations openly and publicly share the challenges our business faces at openinnovation.dtek.com. We are looking for innovative products and solutions all over the world. DTEK is an industrial partner for the development of Ukraine's innovation ecosystem,” said Emanuele Volpe, DTEK's Chief Innovation Officer. "DTEK relies on startups just as a large ship relies on tugboats in port," Volpe added.
“Last fall, Emanuele and I signed a memorandum marking the start of official cooperation between the Ukrainian Startup Fund and Innovation DTEK to help startups and corporations connect. We pledged to take real actions, and today we are happy to announce the first joint event,” said Pavlo Kartashov, Ukrainian Startup Fund Director.
DTEK Startup Day by USF allowed startup teams to demonstrate their products to corporate managers. All presentations were adapted to DTEK's industry, so the jury had the opportunity to learn about relevant projects. The Ukrainian Startup Fund plans to hold more similar events. This is one of the strategic directions of non-financial support of startups. "Quality networking and the opportunity to pitch your product to potential clients can be as useful as receiving a grant," the event’s organizers commented.
Nadiia Kolybaba, Amazon Web Services' representative for startups in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, thanked DTEK for the invitation and, together with the partners, such as the Ukrainian Startup Fund and UNIT.City NEST, provided all startups participating in the event with the opportunity to use Amazon Web Services under the AWS Activate program.
Six startups took part in the pitching: ALTER ECO EV Charging Stations, RENOVATOR, ELUPAY, AutoBI, Sorbsys, and Sellpax. Svitlana Yurkevych won with the startup AutoBI. The startup provides a solution that will automate vehicle fleet management processes to prevent human error. The tool will reduce costs and increase vehicle fleet revenues, as well as gather data from various sources and display it in a user-friendly interface. The ELUPAY startup took the second place with a set of hardware and software solutions that allow owners of any vending machine to accept non-cash payments at EV charging stations, parking meters, and other infrastructure facilities. The RENOVATOR startup had the third place. Its team protects equipment from phase break and powerful electromagnetic impulses, as well as maintains the reliability of electrical networks.
