On 25 November a public discussion of the draft Action Plan to support the software industry took place, organised by the IT Ukraine Association with the support of the State Agency for E-Governance.
The Plan was drafted by the Agency, taking into account proposals from the IT community, in pursuance of the Law of Ukraine "On State Support for the Development of the Software Industry". The discussion was attended by representatives of IT companies, the head of the State Agency for E-Governance and people's deputies of Ukraine.
The main areas of work for the year for executive authorities defined in the document are as follows:
– Creating a system of statistical monitoring of IT industry development and improving tax incentives in the IT sector, for which it is proposed to conduct a relevant economic study
– Improving intellectual property legislation and harmonising it with international practice. In particular, free software in Ukraine is currently outside the legal framework. And instead of the EULA (end-user licence agreement) formats customary throughout the modern world, "heavyweight" legal schemes involving the transfer of intellectual property rights or royalties are usually used.
– Developing the IT education system by increasing the number of IT specialists trained, improving the quality of computer science curricula and additional IT training for physicists, mathematicians and electronics specialists. Statistics show that specialists studying in these fields often become successful IT professionals.
Industry representatives strongly opposed the clause providing for the development and approval of a methodology for estimating the cost of software development. As Association Director Viktor Valieiev noted, "any 'standards' of this kind will become yet another feeding trough for inspectors, who will go around companies asking why a contract was not concluded in accordance with the methodology."
Yuriy Syvytsky, member of the Supervisory Board of Intecracy Group and co-founder of Softline, stated that the industry urgently needs deregulation of foreign economic activity, since under domestic legislation it is very difficult for a Ukrainian IT company to open and maintain a representative office abroad. And the "acts with a wet stamp" that Ukrainian companies demand from foreign counterparties in order not to fall under the "90-day" rule on the repatriation of foreign currency proceeds are categorically rejected by customers. The head of the Agency, Oleksandr Ryzhenko, in turn promised to finalise the document and take into account the industry's key wishes.
Today the IT industry is not going through its best times: the growth rate in the software development segment may be only 5–7%, compared with 20–25% previously. A more comprehensive programme for the development of the ICT sector until 2018 was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers in February this year.