Talks at Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2023
Under the leadership of Mykhailo Fedorov – Vice Prime Minister for Innovations, Development of Education, Science and Technologies – Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Valeriya Ionan and the Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT) team are working on building the most digital state in the world: user-centric, easy-to-use for citizens, without bureaucracy and zero tolerance to corruption.
The Ministry was established in 2019 to implement the "State in a Smartphone'' vision, an essential part of the Zelenskyy Election Program. Valeriya joined the MDT's team right from the start, at 28, as one of the youngest Deputy Ministers in the Ukrainian government.
Before working in government, she was an entrepreneur and a co-founder of a marketing agency and local media for entrepreneurs. Valeriya has two Bachelor's degrees - Management and Spanish Translation, as well as five certificates within the MBA program at Edinburgh Business School Eastern Europe: Marketing, Organizational Behavior, Human Resources, Negotiations and Economics.
Within the Ministry, Valeriya is in charge of the national digital literacy program, supporting SMEs & entrepreneurship culture, developing regional digital transformation, and leading the Eurointegration team.
Diia.Digital Education - national educational portal with edutainment series, micro-learning format, a network of offline hubs with access to the internet/gadgets and experienced facilitators to fix the digital gap. It combines both online & offline parts. Valeriya believes that an increased level of digital literacy has a substantial impact on the economics of Ukraine.
In terms of supporting Ukrainian SMEs and developing entrepreneurship come up another big project – Diia.Business. This is a one-stop online shop for entrepreneurs with all the necessary information for starting and growing a business. 13 Diia. Business centers – offline hubs to get consultations, attend educational events for entrepreneurs, rent space for holding events, or test products at a particular pop-up location.
She is responsible for developing regional digitalisation in Ukraine, which involves implementing digital services and infrastructure in 24 regions with over 1,400 communities. Valeriya actively engages with the regional digital transformation teams and aligns their work with the MDT team.
Another important flow is leading the Eurointegration team at the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Joining the single digital market is one of the main priorities of the MDT and the Ukrainian government. "Digital visa-free" with the EU will open new opportunities in the EU for Ukrainian citizens and businesses.