The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has presented the WINWIN AI Center of Excellence – a hub for AI development and integration that aims to transform the state, business, and society while enhancing Ukraine's global competitiveness. The center will implement artificial intelligence into governmental processes and key sectors, including defense, healthcare, education, and business.
WINWIN AI CoE is the first Center of Excellence established under the WINWIN digital development strategy. Its goal is to unite experts, resources, and innovations for the development of AI and key areas of Ukrainian life.
The primary focus of WINWIN AI CoE is the development of AI solutions for the public and defense sectors.
"This year, we will actively integrate AI into all our projects. The world is developing at an incredible pace, and if we want to be among the leaders, we must act just as quickly. Our goal in this direction is to be in the top 3 countries by 2030 in terms of AI solution integration and implementation," said Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science, and Technology, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
Artificial intelligence will help improve government services for citizens and optimize the work of civil servants. This includes the integration of AI into the Diia app, the educational app Mriya, creating tools for data analysis in government, and more.
"AI can build individual educational pathways for students, automatically identify battlefield targets, diagnose diseases, and increase business profitability. Our task is to find effective ways to use this technology in every sector — from education to public administration," noted Oleksandr Boryankov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for IT Development.
Key areas of the center’s work include:
- Development of AI products for the public sector and defense
- Integration of AI into science
- Creation of educational opportunities for AI specialists and citizens
- Supporting startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in AI integration
- Cooperation with international tech companies (BigTech)
Key annual goals for the center include:
- Launching the development of AI products for the public sector:
- Creating mechanisms for developing pilot AI solutions
- Launching an AI incubator for product creation
- The team has developed 16 pilots, 50% of which are being developed into MVPs, and at least three AI products will be launched
- Laying the technological foundation for the country’s AI sovereignty with its own LLM model:
- Creating the technical infrastructure for launching national AI products
- Developing a national language model (LLM) for government services
- Formulating a technological AI strategy focused on scaling and integrating AI into Diia, Mriya, AI Legal, and other projects
- Generating AI solutions in the defense tech sector (goals are not public)
The center is headed by Danilo Tsvok, the new Chief AI Officer at the Ministry of Digital Transformation, who has over 10 years of experience in technological and innovation management. He coordinated AI initiatives in corporate R&D and led governmental institutions in innovation. He holds a PhD in economics.
The CTO of the center is Dmytro Ovcharenko, an architect and technical director with over 17 years of experience in IT product development and AI implementation. He is an expert in building Centers of Excellence (CoE) and former director of the GenAI practice at SoftServe.
"I am impressed that Ukraine continues to develop successfully during the full-scale invasion by Russia, which has lasted for three years. We and our international partners can learn from your tireless resilience, innovation, and creativity. This is one of the pillars of the century-long partnership agreement signed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Volodymyr Zelensky in January. We look forward to more partnerships in the fields of science, technology, and innovation between the UK and Ukraine," said the UK Ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris.
The WINWIN AI CoE will operate as a project incubator — a space for analyzing, developing, and testing AI solutions. The team will gather requests to improve processes and services and collaborate with businesses to develop appropriate AI solutions. After testing, the innovations will be implemented into services for citizens and civil servants.
"Within the WINWIN strategy, we plan to create similar centers in all priority areas, including EdTech, MedTech, XR, Secure Cyber Space, and more. Their main goal is to research innovations, implement pilot projects in Ukraine, and attract investments and partners. We are also in dialogue with governments and private sector representatives from other countries regarding joint implementation of this strategy," said Valeria Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration.
The WINWIN AI Center of Excellence was established within the framework of Ukraine’s WINWIN 2030 digital innovation development strategy. The center was initiated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and its concept was developed with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and Deloitte UK.
