On October 11th in Kyiv, the Ukrainian Association of Venture Capital and Private Equity together with the international NGO World Smart Cities Forum (WSCF) and a South Korean delegation organized the “Twin Cities Workshop” to discuss the reconstruction of destroyed settlements, building modern smart cities in Ukraine and designing a strategy for their development. Here are the key findings.

What is Twin Cities?

The initiative involves more than two dozen participants around the world who share knowledge, experience, and expertise to build smart cities. In Ukraine, Kyiv, and Lviv are currently piloting the initiative.

It is important to note that the collaboration between cities is primarily aimed at solving their own issues. Each smart city is unique and needs to address local challenges, so it is not a case of copying the experience of neighbors. But by joining forces, cities can borrow and share lessons learned and specific technologies that work for them. Going it alone is irrational, to say the least.

Nevertheless, all smart cities are based on the same principles: improving the well-being of citizens, technological development, digitalization, sustainable development, and environmental protection.

How to Build a Smart City?

Within the Twin Cities initiative, building a smart city consists of three main parts: creating a Master Plan, a Technological Sandbox, and attracting investment. This is a concept.

In practice, building a smart city requires companies and startups with specific projects implemented by local authorities. Twin Cities requires collaboration between municipalities, not central governments.

No one knows the city's pain points better than its residents and local authorities. After agreeing on a list of tasks, individual city projects are created and implemented.

Interestingly, these projects are carried out for further commercialization. Every innovation or technology implemented does not have to be pro bono or charitable. There are financial benefits for the executing companies, which is a strong incentive for them to develop smart city technologies.

As an example, the meeting participants cited special panels built into the surface. When the panel is stepped on, energy is generated that is stored and can be used or sold elsewhere. In other words, energy is generated with the help of ordinary pedestrians just walking around.

The speakers also noted that such projects should produce results within 2–3 years at most. Long-term plans should be avoided.

The Benefits

Today, cities around the world face a number of challenges, including the loss of people, businesses, and taxes. The Twin Cities initiative can help solve these concerns. Smart cities have established performance metrics. These include energy efficiency, carbon emission reduction, job creation, and community engagement and well-being.

For residents, smart cities offer improved quality of life, safety, reduced environmental impact, convenience, and employment opportunities.

For businesses, smart cities deliver economic growth; efficient operations; an innovation hub; access to talent; and data-driven insights.

To governments, smart cities improve administration, save money, help make data-driven decisions, improve infrastructure, and encourage public engagement.

Smart cities also help protect the environment, reduce pollution, and increase energy efficiency.

And finally, they increase tourism.

Challenges for Ukraine

For Ukraine, physical reconstruction is now the top priority. But it is also important to attract innovation, not just money. South Korea had similar problems after the war and was one of the ten poorest countries in the world. Today it is the opposite. So the South Korean community definitely understands Ukraine's situation.

In general, South Korea is interested and willing to help Ukraine build modern smart cities. However, there are some concerns. These include the factor of active war and the restrictions imposed by the South Korean authorities. In addition, local companies and investors do not have a clear protocol or action plan on how to enter the Ukrainian market. A step-by-step procedure needs to be developed.

The Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, on the other hand, offers international partners and investors a single and clear entry point. According to Andriy Kolodyuk, chairman of the UVCA board and founder of AVentures Capital, the best way to invest is to co-invest. Ukraine, unlike many other countries, allows solutions to be implemented in a real environment, not in laboratories.

Participants also emphasized the need to attract private capital as it is faster, more flexible, and generally better.

A Word of Thanks to the Participants

We would like to thank the organizers, speakers, participants, and everyone who joined us at iHUB.

• Jaewon Peter Chun. President of World Smart Cities Forum (WSCF);

• Dmytro Kuzmenko. CEO of Ukraine Venture Capital Association (UVCA);

• Minho Kim. CEO of Asian Square;

• Anatolii Vovniuk. Deputy CIO of Kyiv City;

• Denys Nazarenko. Deputy Head of the Fiber Optic Network Maintenance Team at KyivTeleService;

• Andrii Nikolaienko. Member of Parliament of Ukraine;

• Young-sup Joo. Distinguished Professor of Seoul National University, Former Minister of MSS;

• Mykhailo Artiukhov. CEO of Mission on Earth (Ukraine);

• Paul Kallee-Grover. Advisor of WSCF (UK);

• Alan Boyd. Chairman of Metaventures, Advisor of WSCF (UK);

• Byung-moo Choi. Former Managing Director of Oracle (Korea);

• Daniel Pak. Advisor of Asian Square, Former Professor of Michigan University (USA);

• Manuel Rocamora. Senior Advisor of Carbonless Asia, Advisor of WSCF (KSA);

• Nazar Podolchak. CEO, Tech Startup School, Professor at Lviv Polytechnic National University;

• Andriy Kolodyuk. Chairman of UVCA, Founder and Managing Partner of AVentures Capital.