The GDT Textile project completed a survey of 140 respondents from industrial enterprises across various branches, primarily the textile industry. These include Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs, 75%), large enterprises (15%), and micro-enterprises (10%).

The survey was conducted using the ADMA methodology, and the detailed report is available at the provided link. In summary, the portrait of Ukrainian manufacturers is as follows:

Modernization of production and staff retention are top priorities. Technologies receive attention primarily when they deliver quick results. While there is a general awareness of the importance of industrial automation, significant shifts require substantial capital investment—a resource often in short supply in Ukraine. Waste management, cybersecurity, and innovation management are low priorities due to limited human and financial resources and, frequently, a lack of motivation among decision-makers.

Small enterprises are poorly automated, with manual labor dominating most production processes. Larger enterprises show better automation levels, but they face challenges in implementing integrated production management systems, particularly those enabling data integration and real-time KPI management.

This scenario is familiar to local specialists in Industry 4.0 and 5.0. It has long been acknowledged that most Ukrainian SMEs operate at levels 2.0–3.0. Thus, these findings align with expectations and reflect the situation in many manufacturing industries.

However, growth points have been identified across seven transformation zones. These include:

• Enhancing investment strategies (e.g., grant funding opportunities).
• Expanding the use of CAD-CAM systems.
• Improving teamwork and middle leadership practices.
• Strengthening ecosystem exchanges among various actors, including external experts.
• Developing targeted waste management strategies at the cluster level.
• Integrating networks and data using modern production management technologies.

The project envisages the creation of special business cases for each of these growth points, and the project team is already working on it.

On the contrary, this first stage of the project is interesting from the point of view of how the innovative ecosystems and clusters react to the industry challenges. I will formulate key conclusions and insights in 5 key categories.

1. The ADMA Methodology: Effective but Requires Adaptation

The ADMA (Advanced Manufacturing) methodology was selected for its comprehensive focus on manufacturing sectors and support from European partners. On October 24, APPAU signed an official agreement with the Trans4Mer project, where ADMA originates.

The methodology’s implementation so far has been limited to the survey stage, but the results have been positive. The ADMA scanner covers key transformation areas and is accessible for local users after initial adaptation. However, feedback from respondents highlights areas for improvement:

• Built-in hints and clearer terminology explanations are needed to support SMEs unfamiliar with Industry 4.0–5.0 concepts.
• Balancing online and offline surveys: Given the questionnaire’s complexity, combining surveys with consultant-led interviews would be more effective.
• Consultant training: Experts from Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv’s EDIHs need further training in the methodology and interviewing techniques.
• The methodology is less effective for benchmarking, as its results tend to equate Ukrainian SMEs with their European counterparts. For example, the survey suggests Ukrainian companies are on par with EU firms in “Smart Manufacturing” and “Innovative Ecosystem Management,” which contradicts most other studies showing significant lagging of Ukrainian SMEs in all seven transformation zones.

These adaptations will be crucial for scaling the methodology to other industries.

2. End-User Readiness: Cooperation Requires Effort

The online survey demanded considerable effort from the three main project partners: APPAU, Ukrlegprom (the National Textile Association), and the Ivano-Frankivsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI). The CCI proved most effective in engaging end users, primarily through personal calls, as email and social media outreach had limited success.

Out of 134 enterprises, 88 completed the survey, while 44 (30%) only partially participated. The high dropout rate reflects low interest in the survey’s topic, correlating with broader expert assessments of SMEs’ limited readiness for the twin transition. However, some leading participants displayed openness, flexibility, and interest in collaborating with ecosystem actors.

3. Human Resources: The Greatest Challenge

Staffing issues dominated discussions during interviews and meetings. The textile industry, like other sectors, faces significant workforce losses due to mobilization of men to the army and women’s migration abroad. Compounding the issue, educational institutions fail to meet industry needs in training skilled personnel, such as technologists, designers, and engineers. Therefore, many large enterprises independently train personnel, and the greatest shortage is highly qualified personnel as chief technologists, designers, or engineers. There is a certain turnover of personnel here, and it is especially difficult for small enterprises to retain them.

The ADMA methodology has little focus on these aspects of staff shortages or the quality of educational services, and the interviews were only a first step towards clarifying the situation in these areas.

4. Ecosystem Readiness: Driven by APPAU but Misaligned

In general, APPAU is the project leader in all aspects of the project, which is natural. This is really our “native” project since we have been talking about creating industry digital roadmaps since 2016. Therefore, we have no motivation to borrow, and now we still formally have all the conditions to succeed. Instead, we had and still have much higher expectations for the project partners, who should also be interested in the progress of issues in the twin transition of SMEs in their industries or sectors where they have influence. However, the project revealed significant gaps in partner engagement, including:

• Miscommunication.
• Delayed or inadequate involvement.
• Limited internal exchanges.

These issues increase coordination costs, necessitating improved collaboration and alignment within the project team.

Today, we make significant effort for better alignment and collaboration in teams, including as well 2 UCA’s clusters and 2 EDIHs.

5. Industry 4.0–5.0 Solutions: A Fragmented Landscape

While APPAU leads in industrial automation expertise, 95% of its integrators have no experience in the textile industry. End users report a lack of awareness about available system integrators in Ukraine, indicating low demand and lagging in automation level compared to sectors such as agri-food, metallurgy, and mechanical engineering. We still have significant difficulties in manifesting the positions of vendors, for example, in CAD-CAM / PLM-PDM categories – some of them simply refused to collaborate in the project, saying ‘very busy’.

Nevertheless, some advanced solutions were identified. For instance, IT-Enterprise has implemented ERP-MES projects in the textile sector, including one in Lviv that garnered significant interest among participants. After all, nothing is so appreciated by our end users as real experience from real projects in Ukraine, specifically in their sector. All that means that building a comprehensive service portfolio for the project’s roadmap for December will require extensive cooperation from vendors, integrators, developers, and consultants offering innovative solutions.

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Next Steps

Despite the challenges inherent in such a complex project, conducted under tight timelines and with limited resources, the following actions are key:

1. Improving internal communications and coordination
2. Manifestation of real expertise and attraction of the most motivated customers
3. Focus on the project’s final results, where the development of the roadmap for the twin transition is the main one.

The experience of similar projects in APPAU and UCA clearly shows that we can overcome any barriers – but only when efforts are unified and well-coordinated.

Alex Yurchak
CEO, APPAU