Policy-Making – Creating policies, development programs, and national strategies, and proposing them to government bodies is one of the main activities of APPAU, the All-Ukrainian Association of Industrial Automation.

1.1. Development of Industry 4.0 Strategy.

2018, €12,000, donor – OBSE, executor – APPAU, reference to report.

The Cabinet of Ministers commissioned the National Industry 4.0 Strategy project, but it was not approved. For the past 6 years, Ukraine has not had any state policy or strategy guiding all stakeholders regarding developing industrial high-tech sectors, particularly Advanced Manufacturing. Instead, the APPAU community has independently undertaken several projects proposed within the framework of this strategy. In 2020, APPAU also submitted a number of proposals to the National Economic Strategy 2030 – most of which were included in the NES strategy approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in March 2021.

Scaling Prospects: Ukraine needs an Industry 5.0 strategy today, as stated in the July 2023 Industry 5.0 conference resolution.

This is necessary for several reasons:

• Most provisions of 4.0 in past strategies are outdated and do not meet current or future needs. The main driver of change is the integration of green and digital transition approaches. Thus, the Industry 5.0 strategy should consider the integrated dual transition of industrial production.
• In wartime conditions, especially in post-war reconstruction, Ukraine critically requires its perspective and concepts for highly automated, modern production. The total shortage of skilled personnel should prompt all stakeholders to develop such concepts and policies more quickly – currently, they are absent in the state.
• The government today has an apparent gap between its focus on the manufacturing industry and defense industry and separately on modern technologies. Strategies that would connect and integrate a range of tools (including digital) concerning target sectors are currently missing.
• The cost of such a project is estimated to start from €20,000.

1.2. Adapting European Smart Specialization Methodology to Ukrainian Realities

2020-21, jointly with the Institute of Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, reference to report.

Over four months, the APPAU team and the IEP NASU analyzed the state of regional strategies in four regions of Ukraine until 2027. They assessed their readiness for the defined smart specialization priorities. At the same time, the project's main outcome should consider the emergence of its own methodology for deploying such projects, referring to the Ukrainian version of EDP.

Scaling Prospects: Smart specialization of Ukrainian regions remains at the level of almost unmanageable, often chaotic processes, where regional strategies have little impact on real development. Thus, all project materials and recommendations remain relevant.

1.3. Creation of Expert Think Tanks: Guide “Industrial Policy Tools”

2020, jointly with experts from the Industry4Ukraine platform, UNIDO, co-financed by Interpipe – total €5,000, reference to report.

In 2020, APPAU experts and 5 experts from the Industry4Ukraine platform developed the guide “Industrial Policy Tools.” This report addresses the needs of industrial communities to systematize the best global practices in developing support tools for industrial sectors in developing countries, including Ukraine. The work analyzes both foreign and Ukrainian experiences. The report clearly outlines the main shortcomings of past and current policies, emphasizes the importance of the triad “Tools – Institutions – Processes,” establishes guiding principles for industrial policy, and, most importantly, proposes a comprehensive set of tools maximally adapted to the choice of goals and scale of the selected industrial sector. More details about the main insights of the report.

Scaling: The guide remains a methodology that should form the basis for developing modern national or regional industrial development programs and strategies. Thus, the focus should not be on repeating similar developments but rather on their application to specific sectors.

Development of an Innovative Ecosystem for Industrial High-Tech – the second focus area of the Industry 4.0 strategy, following the policymaking sector. Over the past five years, APPAU has implemented three important projects in this field.

2.1. Development of DIHs in Ukraine

2021-23, BOWI project, €340,000, in collaboration with KPI, donor – I4MS / Horizon Europe program.

With the Center for Industry 4.0 at KPI, APPAU has been developing the functionality of four DIH (Digital Innovation Hub) roles since 2020. The partners placed the most significant emphasis on roles related to innovation fundraising (with APPAU also acting as a contact point for the I4MS program), consulting SMEs on innovation experiments, and forming an industrial high-tech innovation ecosystem. Later, APPAU also established close ties with DIH NOSC-UA. In January 2024, the partners will establish a joint EDIH Kyiv Hitech and apply for the European EDIH support program. Before that, in October 2023, when the launch of this program was announced, APPAU sought to influence stakeholders in the development of EDIHs in Ukraine by issuing a position paper titled “Development of the DIH Network in Ukraine”.

Scaling Prospects: The emergence of a network of 12 EDIHs in Ukraine creates a new context for partners. On the one hand, the Kyiv Hitech consortium gains EDIH status, but there is no funding. The partners face the challenge of significantly strengthening the joint Project Office to secure development financing in 2025-26. Equally important is the promotion and maintenance of the high standards of EDIH roles as centres supporting SMEs in their dual transition. APPAU sees several new risks with the emergence of numerous EDIHs that lack experience in this area. Thus, the key areas and directions in creating new grant proposals, taking into account previous experience, include:

• Deployment of Prototyping Centers as support hubs for SMEs
• New Reskilling/Upskilling programs for SMEs
• SME innovation fundraising support programs

2.2. Development of Sectoral Accelerators for Industrial High-Tech

2021, in collaboration with Kyiv Academic University, the budget provided by the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA).

The concept of a sectoral accelerator for deep tech startups and SMEs was developed as part of KAU’s work with KCSA. An analysis conducted across Kyiv revealed more than ten accelerators, none of which were related to industrial high-tech or, more broadly, deep-tech sectors. The concept proposed a plan to establish such an accelerator in Kyiv.

Scaling Prospects: Sectoral accelerators in key sectors such as Industry, Energy, and Infrastructure are among the top three key elements suggested by APPAU within the framework of the National Economic Strategy 2030 to accelerate Industry 4.0 development even earlier in the National Industry 4.0 Strategy. There has been no progress in this area except for Brave1 and, to a lesser extent, EO (a Kharkiv-based accelerator active until 2022). Therefore, most target industries still need their own accelerators.

2.3. Innovation Fundraising – Creation of a B2B Platform

2020-24, self-financing, I4MS, ClusterFundraise (UNDP) – a total of over €50,000.

"There can never be too many grants" – say all public organizations. However, from the perspective of SMEs, the hype around grant funding, information overload, and the sheer number of different grants significantly complicates the search and selection process. Many SMEs still see this as hype and complain about the poor quality of services in this area. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that over the past few years, no specialization in information or innovation brokerage – a profession common in Western accelerators, DIHs, or innovation parks – has emerged in Ukraine.

Since 2020, APPAU, as a contact point for the I4MS / Horizon Europe program (for digitizing industrial SMEs), has been systematically working to organize the innovation fundraising field. In several related projects, we have developed:

• A service model for innovation fundraising
• Specific elements of it, such as fundraising processes and tools and approaches to collective work with clusters of the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance (UCA). The main tool became the B2B matchmaking and fundraising platform, which serves various categories of UCA participants.
• Introduced the function of innovation fundraising within APPAU – the number of members who systematically use grant funding has increased from 4 to 15 APPAU members over the past 3 years.

Scaling Prospects: The last two years' experience has shown that the main problem in the model is the presence of qualified information brokers on staff and specialists in grant application writing. APPAU is seeking projects and opportunities to help us increase the number of such specialists in our team. This allows us to provide services to a significantly larger number of SMEs and bring the B2B platform to a new level of broader usage.

Direct Digitalization Projects at the Industry or Ecosystem Level – this area best illustrates APPAU’s expertise as a business association of industrial automation professionals. Numerous initiatives have been undertaken in this field, and the following are the three main projects that are easily scalable.

3.1. Development of Digital Transformation Roadmaps

2019-21, digital transformation roadmaps for Ukrzaliznytsia and the Food Industry. Self-financed.

Digital transformation roadmaps are a classic tool for implementing national and state Industry 4.0 strategies. Dozens of countries have followed this path since 2014, with some starting even earlier. This approach was embedded in the national Industry 4.0 strategy project. In 2019, APPAU experts released the first roadmap for one of the largest operators – Ukrzaliznytsia. That same year, we released a policy paper on roadmaps, explaining the methodology and reasons for creating such documents. The next step was to consider releasing a similar strategy for the Food Industry. Unfortunately, full implementation lacked funding at that time.

Scaling: In 2024, APPUAU will begin implementing a similar project, funded by donors, for the light industry (the project will be announced after the contract is signed). Similar roadmaps are needed for all key sectors—mechanical engineering, the defense industry, construction, energy, transportation, etc. Without these, any attempts at digitalization will remain chaotic and inefficient.

3.2. Education and Market Awareness – Promotional Campaigns

2018-22, a series of promotional campaigns, including projects like ClusteRISE, funded through self-financing and donor support (GIZ).

Since raising the banner of Industry 4.0, APPAU has made great efforts to educate and raise market awareness about modern 4.0 technologies. We have always maintained that without such widespread awareness actions, there will be no demand for these technologies. Since 2016, we have held dozens of conferences, webinars, study tours, and other events. Our experts have posted hundreds of publications across several web resources about the role of technologies, including the best case studies and success stories. Among them are some of the most comprehensive case studies on implementations at factories like Interpipe, FED, and Yuriy-Farm, as well as analytical reports on mechanical engineering, educational documents such as "What are Digital Twins?" and a series of publications on best practices in production asset management. APPAU also promotes our experts' educational channels, with Alexander Pupena recognized as the leading educational contributor.

Scaling: A range of products created by APPAU over the years can easily be scaled and adapted to educational goals, time frames, and available budgets in 2024. Many of them have evolved into specific methodological recommendations for clusters and other communities – see, for example, the methodology for deploying Industry 4.0 promotions at the regional level. Examples of products can be adapted, ranging from the simplest to more complex and comprehensive, aggregating previous experiences:

• Preparation of promotional tools
• Comprehensive case studies or success stories
• Analytical reports
• Position papers
• Development of individual websites
• Technology-Innovation Days
• Awareness campaigns

3.3. Sectoral Analytics – Industry 4.0 Innovators Landscape

2017-24, a series of analytical works on Industry 4.0 sectors, self-financed.

Systematizing and accounting for innovators by key segments of a particular market is the foundation of any strategic planning in innovative ecosystems. APPAU began this work in 2017 when the first Industry 4.0 Innovators Landscape (i.e., mapping by segments) appeared. In 2019, APPAU released the second version of the landscape. In 2021-22, efforts were made to develop similar landscapes in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions – see the Analytical Report on this topic.

For specific sectors, there are particular developments, such as:

• Sectoral level: for Ukrainian mechanical engineers – a report on the state and readiness for Industry 4.0
• Technological level: a report on the state of the IoT segment in Ukraine (2018)
• For international partners: a review of Ukrainian Industry 4.0 and the prospects of Ukrainian-Polish cooperation (in Ukrainian, English, and Polish).

Over the past five years, APPAU has released more than 40 analytical works—policies and strategies, case studies, policy and position papers, practical guides, and descriptions of standards. You can view the complete list via the provided link.

Scaling: Such work is in high demand in Ukraine. No message about the dual transition of SMEs will work without a clear understanding of the state of SMEs and innovators in a particular segment, industry, or region. Most projects in this area today are ad hoc – meaning their initiators often act blindly, without a solid analytical foundation on the state of a specific sector. APPAU is open to proposals from government structures, donors, and other international organizations to continue such work based on their requests. APPAU also requires funding to transform its experience and resources into a true analytical centre for Smart Industries. The accumulated experience and expertise make this easily achievable, but support is needed to expand the team.

4.1. Organizing Business Missions for APPAU Members to Enter New Markets

2017-24, organization of business missions abroad, self-financed, and specific projects – Export Alliance APPAU (USAID), €50,000 / Czech government assistance – over €80,000.

Since 2016, APPAU has systematically implemented several internationalization methods: participation in international exhibitions or conferences (trade missions), targeted comprehensive events specifically designed for our delegations (business missions), sharing best practices on entering new markets, special analytical reports on new markets, developing a network of ambassadors, and more. These practices became particularly robust in 2023-24, when two parallel projects focused on the markets of Poland and the Czech Republic. The results include numerous partnerships, entry into new joint projects, individual analytical reports on these countries, and an overall improvement in the internationalization level of APPAU members.

Scaling: The aforementioned methods have, to some extent, become standalone products—APPAU can easily organize them in new markets. The primary product remains the "targeted business mission," which consists of several components: organizing a 3-day visit program to an EU country, handling logistical aspects (including exit permits), ensuring appropriate communications, and following up activities.

4.2. Creation of an Industry 4.0 Marketplace

2020-24, marketplace of innovators of Industry 4.0-5.0, own funding, more than 10 thousand euros

The Land4Developers website was developed in 2020 as part of the first organized trade mission at Hannover Messe. Due to COVID-19, the mission did not take place, but APPAU, at its own expense, decided to make this resource a marketplace for Industry 4.0 innovators. In 2022, it was supplemented with a catalog of integrators, with free resources, for docking with foreign contractors. In general, the base of developers and integrators includes more than 100 enterprises today.

Scaling: The product continues to develop but needs funding, primarily for promotion, database additions, and content production. This platform is available for targeted campaigns by individual countries or for promoting developers of a particular sector (for example, AI or production asset management) in several countries worldwide. The platform is integral to APPAU's value proposition for its exporter members.

4.3. Organization of foreign companies' state tours to Ukraine

2021-24, donor and own funding, more than 20,000 euros (EEN, the Renaissance Foundation, the German government through the Dreberis agency).

Since 2021, APPAU has successfully organized visits to Ukraine by foreign partners. In 2021, we were chosen as the contractor for the German company Dreberis, a testament to our credibility and expertise. We have consistently organized visits to Ukraine by our foreign partners every year, even during challenging times. Our successful track record is evident in the report of the Lviv Conference's Sustainable Regional Development and the announcement of the 2024 event for the Professionals4Ukraine network.

Scaling: With the increasing interest of many countries in the Restoration of Ukraine projects, the number of such stages will grow. This is a promising sign for the future. With UCA partners, APPAU provides high-quality support for visits, selection of companies for matchmaking, organization of meetings, communication package and support for follow-up activities. The most relevant areas for us are industrial automation and Industry 4.0, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, the food industry, and Naftogaz.

4.4 Harmonization of Industry 4.0 technical standards

2020-21, aCampus project (GIZ), 20 thousand euros.

Since 2014, she has been looking for technical committees involved in maintaining and implementing IEC / ISO international technical standards in industrial automation. We discuss dozens of essential standards for industrial enterprises and their Ukrainian contractors - designers, developers, and system integrators. Not finding such Technical Committees under the State Standard 2017, APPAU created its own TK 185 "Industrial Automation" with working groups on cybersecurity, management of production assets, integration of control systems, etc. In 2020, APPAU will launch a 6-month aCampus project to harmonize five international standards of Industry 4.0 to the Ukrainian regulatory and legal framework. As part of the project, five standards were translated into Ukrainian, about ten white papers and analytical reports were published, the materials were systematized in a separate website, and several webinars, seminars and two conferences were held with customer enterprises. The entire project report is available at the link.

Scaling: the project, carried out jointly with representatives of 5 universities, is one of the best in the portfolio of APPAU in terms of efficiency and productivity. Similar projects are vital today in various sectors and industries, where Industry 4.0 is being implemented in 2 main directions:

• aCampus scaling (practically 1:1) – but by other standards (dozens of them in Industry 4.0)
• implementation of standards through broad promotional campaigns with a focus on pilots - enterprises that implement them

4.5 Participation in international consortia — new digital solutions and platforms

2017-24, projects with the participation of APPAU participants, 482.Solutions, Waste Ukraine Analytics, IT-Enterprise

APPAU unites leading Ukrainian developers and integrators of Industry 4.0, many of which offer scalable digital technological platforms, some for collective use. The most exciting products in this category include:

ESG Cluster Hub (developer 482. Solutions) is a digital platform for clusters and eco-industrial parks to implement effective green transition strategies. The platform gives many SMEs access to new products and available green certificates, and thus helps them obtain new green financing opportunities. It is based on Data space and blockchain technologies.
The recommendation system from Waste Ukraine Analytics ensures the transition of Ukrainian enterprises and communities to the circular economy. The system uses Nvidia technologies (Merlin framework and Rapids libraries)
SmartTender.biz (developed by IT-Enterprise) is an electronic bidding system that allows you to streamline the procurement process and find new sales markets. Since the system was created in 2013, 90,000 companies have used it. SmartTender automates the flow of money in the commercial and government procurement markets.

These products have already gained international recognition, with their developers actively participating in prestigious European programs such as Horizon Europe / Digital Europe. This global exposure has further validated their credibility and potential, making them attractive investment opportunities.

These products are innovative and easily scalable to new markets — geographic, sectoral, and industry. They are designed to create new technological ecosystems, making them attractive to investors looking to expand their portfolios. APPAU is actively seeking such investors to facilitate the entry of Ukrainian companies into these new markets.

Clustering is a separate category—here, APPAU is also the leading developer, ideologist, and often the sponsor of several programs and projects, which today are transferred to the level of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and are carried out together with experts of the Committees and Resource Centers of the Ukrainian cluster alliance.

5.1. Development of a national cluster strategy

2020 - 2023 volunteer work, from 2024 - Accelerate GDT Interreg Europe project, 95 thousand euros

In 2020, a group of experts of the Industry4Ukraine platform under the leadership of APPAU created the 1st version of the National Cluster Strategy. It was submitted to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, but there was no response. In 2023, the UCA will issue a position document, "Regulatory policy for the development of clusters", which proposes specific steps to develop a regulatory and legal framework. In 2024, UCA will join the Accelerate GDT project, the purpose of which is to strengthen cluster programs and policies in the field of double transition of SMEs. The associate partner (policy partner) is the Ministry of Economy. The partners plan to create the first regulatory documents by the end of 2025.

Scaling: Obviously, it is worth waiting for the first results of the partners' work in the Accelerate GDT project. Meanwhile, this should be fine with initiatives to launch the creation of other policies and legal documents:

1. At the level of the parliament.
2. By other ministries.
3. At the level of regional cluster development support programs.

5.2. Development of regional strategies for the development of SMEs

2024 project of UCA experts commissioned by the Zaporizhzhia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (supported by UNDP), creating a strategy for the development of SMEs in the region, EUR 5,000

From January to April, the UCA Innovations Committee developed a strategy for developing SMEs in the Zaporizhia region. As part of the project, work was carried out on analyzing local SME support organizations, available support tools, and their effectiveness. Benchmarking analysis and exchanges with other regions of the country were carried out. The main directions and tools of SME support until 2027 were determined. Separately, measures and recommendations for creating a regional program of cluster development of the region are presented.

Scaling: The project can easily be scaled to other regions where there is a similar request to create a regional program for the development and support of SMEs.

5.3. Fixation and promotion of the best practices of clusters

2020-2024, own and donor funding, micro projects (EaP, GIZ, UNIDO)

Work on this topic was started by APPAU back in 2018. Then, as part of the 1st project of APPAU on the topic of clusters, "Development of cooperation of Ukrainian and Polish clusters in the IoT segment", we had the first meetings and exchanges of best practices of Ukrainian clusters. Since 2019, regular work has been ongoing within the framework of the Industry4Ukraine cluster committee. Since 2022, these exchanges will gain greater intensity within the Ukrainian cluster alliance framework. In total for this period:

• Collected stories and case studies of clusters in the "Success stories of UCA clusters."
• The released position document states, "5 roles of clusters during the war."
• Several webinars and a conference on the best practices of UCA clusters were held.

Work is ongoing on developing and fixing best practices on several topics.

Scaling: UCA plans to hold annual conferences showcasing cluster best practices and practices. Development and fixation of best practices remain a big challenge for the cluster movement, as countries in the general business environment still do not have uniform standards of cluster management and understanding of "what clusters are". Campaigns for promoting best practices, developing new cases and position documents, and significant promotional events require financing.