Ukraine: in the form of a hologram, Volodymyr Zelensky calls for global tech

“It may be unusual for presidents or heads of government to use a hologram to address people, but that's not the only aspect of Star Wars that we've put into practice.

This is how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the VivaTech show in Paris, devoted to technological innovation.

A way of reminding us that Ukraine is a “very technologically developed” country and that the sector plays an important role in the country's economy.

The presence of Ukraine had been decided before the Russian invasion.

There, it took a symbolic turn, with the intervention of the Ukrainian head of state while Emmanuel Macron was in kyiv with European leaders.

“Ukraine is an opportunity for your businesses, your investments,” added Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Perhaps it's unusual for Presidents or Heads of governments to use a hologram to address people but this is not the only aspect of Star Wars that we have put into practice."

🇺🇦President Volodymyr Zelensky @ZelenskyyUa, at #VivaTech.@ARHTMedia @Founders_Forum pic.twitter.com/XwYf1q3ZEV

— #VivaTech (@VivaTech) June 16, 2022

Agrotech, video transformation solutions, artificial intelligence… the country, which for the first time had a stand, came to demonstrate its know-how in tech and its resistance in times of war, with the presence of fourteen start-ups.

Among them, ClinCaseQuest, a platform that allows studying clinical trials, aimed at medical students, and Miso, which offers a monitoring system that analyzes your health using algorithms to prevent heart disease.

"We want to show that Ukrainian tech, whatever the case, despite the war, the challenges in the country, it is strong" and "can offer interesting partnerships for French and European companies", explains Diana Sidko , responsible for the Ukraine stand at VivaTech.

“Nearly 130,000 engineers”

"There are a lot of American and European global companies that have their teams of developers based in Ukraine, it's really thousands of people employed today, about 130,000 engineers", underlines Diana Sidko.

“In the fall, before the war broke out, we already wanted Ukraine to participate in VivaTech.

It is a country which, on the tech scene in Europe, is increasingly dynamic, active and interesting”, underlines the director of the show, Julie Ranty.

Despite the conflict, discussions have continued, with the objective that these Ukrainian start-ups can continue to develop their activities and find “visibility, customers, investors” at VivaTech.

Apart from Ukraine, 30 countries are exhibiting at the show;

India is honored for the 75th anniversary of its independence.