Ukraine is home to over 240 companies that deal with artificial intelligence (AI), while the number of AI professionals has grown fivefold?over the last decade.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development, and Minister of Digital Transformation, announced on Wednesday that Ukraine ranks second among Central and Eastern European countries in the number of operating AI companies.

Among the 240+ AI startups operating in Ukraine, some of the most notable are Grammarly, Preply, and People ai. Since 2019, two Ukrainian AI companies have become unicorns, and the three largest Ukrainian AI startups are currently valued at over $14.5 billion.

Presenting the results of joint AI segment research by the Ministry of Digital Transformation, AI House, and Roosh, Mr Fedorov highlighted that to increase the number of high-quality AI specialists, education programs need to be invigorated and updated. At present, 106 AI training programs are available in Ukraine. The minister believes the key to education reboot is close cooperation between universities and AI companies. It enables students to get practical knowledge and skills rather than bare theory and be better prepared for future jobs.

At present, Ukraine hosts over 5,200 AI professionals, a number that has grown fivefold over the last ten years. Fedorov expects a further 330% growth in the next few years. The joint study estimates the potential number of AI talent in Ukraine at 22,500, so there is still much room for growth.

The total number of IT specialists in the country is 307K. In Central and Eastern Europe, only Poland has more IT specialists (600K). The share of female IT specialists is constantly growing in Ukraine, now standing at 28.3%.

The median age of AI/ML specialists in Ukraine is 21-25. The most popular professions in the field are Data Scientists and ML Engineers, which jointly contribute to 63% of all AI-related jobs in the country. Moreover, those jobs are the most highly paid.

Despite the ongoing war, Ukraine excels in innovation. We have earlier reported that Ukraine is behind only Argentina, the U.S. and Colombia in the global crypto adoption ranking.