Increasing the competitiveness of the national economy of Ukraine is largely ensured by strengthening the competitiveness of domestic enterprises and organizations. In the context of the war and post-war reconstruction, ensuring high quality of business processes and products should become a national idea that will allow Ukraine’s economy to recover quickly. The dominant ideology of human civilization is the path of sustainable development aimed at high quality products, environmental friendliness, digitalization, and transparency of production processes.
On December 17, 2024, the final conference “Sectoral Roadmap. Double Transition of SMEs”, which revealed the main provisions of the strategy, practices, and trends of the light industry, which is important for hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In Ukraine, thanks to the GDT Textile project, the light industry will be the first among other sectors to receive a transition roadmap that allows industry stakeholders to understand the priorities, timelines, and interconnections between the various components of change to achieve the goals, and more specifically, the digital and green transformation of the light industry, which are becoming the standard in the global economy. European and international support programs provide funding to companies that implement sustainable and digital practices.
The conference was attended by managers of small and medium-sized enterprises from various sectors; ecosystem representatives – vendors, developers, light industry integrators, EDIHs; members of professional expert communities in the fields of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0; government and international policy makers on the double transition; associations and clusters, investors and donors interested in cooperation with key players. The representatives of Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Natalia Ostapenko, PhD, and Svitlana Bondarenko, PhD, also joined this important event. They listened to the speakers’ materials about the best digital and sustainable practices that are becoming a standard in the global economy, about current challenges and prospects of the double transition for the development of the domestic fashion business.
The conference was opened with welcoming remarks by Larysa Samosonok, Business Development Services Analyst for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Tetyana Izovit, CEO of Ukrlegprom Association, who emphasized the activities of enterprises in accordance with the new environmental and social standards of the circular economy. The market is getting tougher on the environmental impact of business, and new EU legislation is becoming less tolerant of importers who deviate from the new standards.
Oleksandr Yurchak, CEO of the Association of Industrial Automation Enterprises of Ukraine (AIEU), spoke about the main results of the GDT Textile project. The speaker listed and characterized planning and coordination tools for various stakeholders – components K1-K6 of the light industry roadmap; emphasized the benchmarks for 2025-2027. Mr. Yurchak described each component, including: К1: Light Industry as an Industrial Ecosystem; K2: Production and Technology; K3: Production Approaches and Standards; K4: Human Capital – Human Centricity; K5: Eco-factory; K6: Tools of influence and support.
The speakers presented both international cases of dual transition and industry cases of domestic enterprises and partners in the supply of equipment and innovative technologies for the industry. Thus, Oleksandr Stepanets, Associate Professor of Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, eDIH Kyiv HITECH expert, and Dmytro Lazarenko, representative of the Circular Economy Cluster, shared the best practices of the best foreign cases of double transition. Oleksandr Stepanets highlighted the main trends in the digital transition of the enterprise and noted that digital solutions, such as automation and IoT, make it possible to reduce energy, material, and time costs. Among the priorities for small and medium-sized enterprises, the speaker focused on equipment upgrades, automation, and production flexibility.
Dmytro Lazarenko spoke about the digital product passport, which is part of eco-design to regulate sustainable products and one of the key actions under the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. He also noted that the textile industry faces a lack of transparency and traceability in the value chain. Consumers, processors and other supply chain participants do not have access to information about the composition of products, their environmental impact, production methods and recycling capabilities. This limits their ability to make decisions about sustainable consumption, resale and disposal.
The best Ukrainian cases of double transition were presented by: Andrii Ilchenko, CEO of Reinventex LLC, authorized representative of Ukrlegprom Association in the Circular Economy Working Group EURATEX, representative of K.tex LLC; Serhii Pryschepa, representative of Lectra-Ukraine in Ukraine; Iryna Daus, representative of Intelltex; Ihor Didok, commercial director of Ma'rizhany Hemp Company LLC.
Andrii Ilchenko presented the results of the study of the Ukrainian textile waste market, exports and imports of light industry products – textiles, clothing, leather and footwear – in the context of a full-scale war. He emphasized that among the measures to increase the circularity of production processes in the sphere of the textile and fashion industries, the priority is eco-design of products taking into account their recyclability; selection of materials that can be recycled, are safe or have a minor impact on the environment; reduction of production waste and integration of recycling processes; providing the customer with a subscription or lease of products; increasing the service life of products through quality care and repair.
Serhii Pryschepa and Iryna Daus spoke about innovative equipment and new technologies in the light industry.
Ihor Didok emphasized that green initiatives help to use resources more efficiently, reduce waste, and create new eco-design products. He spoke in detail about the main prospects of Ukraine’s largest project for processing industrial hemp for the textile industry. Mr. Didok emphasized that industrial hemp is a niche crop in Ukraine and Europe.
A professional panel discussion was also held on the topic of “Dual Transition Tools for Production Modernization” with the participation of Tetyana Izovit, CEO of Ukrlegprom; Valeriy Dobrovolsky, Director of Competitiveness of Manufacturing and Advanced Industries, representative of the USAID Competitive Ukraine Program; Volodymyr Vlasiuk, PhD, CEO of Ukrpromvneshexpertiza; Yulia Ryzhkova, representative of the UCA Cluster Policy Committee, Institute of Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tetiana Izovit informed the audience about the current state of the light industry in Ukraine, expected major changes in the textile and clothing sector in the EU, the main EU goals for digital transformation by 2030, and the EU strategy for environmentally friendly textiles.
Volodymyr Vlasiuk emphasized that during the war, industry is called upon to play a key role in ensuring the production of goods for defense, the state industrial policy should stimulate the development of local production of goods for domestic consumption and integration into global value chains, and named the tools to stimulate industrial production.
Natalia Ostapenko spoke on behalf of the University’s educational community and emphasized that KNUTD is a globally recognized leader in training experts in design, modeling, construction, technologies of clothing, footwear and other fashion products. She expressed her gratitude for the professional expertise and powerful and informative speeches, noting that the conference has become an important platform for dialogue and cooperation between representatives of the light industry ecosystem to discuss the ways to transition to a circular economy and outline the prospects for the development of the textile and fashion industries under martial law and post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. In particular, the speaker highlighted the current issues of training professionals for the light industry.
The second panel discussion on “From Challenges to Changes: Main Directions of the Dual Transition Roadmap” featured an interesting exchange of industry visions and tools. The discussion was attended by Roman Yavorsky, CCO of IT-Enterprise; Oleksiy Hrushevetsky from the Office of Entrepreneurship and Export Development; Lesya Sobolevska, GDT Textile Project Manager, APPAU. Thus, Roman Yavorsky reported that legal entities and individuals in Ukraine continue to use Russian 1C software even after the start of the full-scale invasion. He also provided statistics on the use of Ukrainian companies by businesses and the state. Yulia Ryzhkova raised the issue of mandatory involvement of government organizations in such conferences.
The event ended with the signing of the Roadmap Implementation Memorandum and networking, which became the unifying result of the project. The event took place despite the difficult times for our country and thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
We are sincerely grateful for consolidating the stakeholders of the industry ecosystem, for fruitful professional work, constructive dialogue, expanding scientific horizons, new ideas and lively discussions!
17.01.2025
