On September 19-20, 2019, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine hosted the XVIII International Scientific and Practical Conference “Building an Information Society: Resources and Technologies”.  The main objective of the conference was a comprehensive discussion of urgent scientific and practical problems of society’s development in the era of digitalization. The main organizers of the event were the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (hereinafter – MES) and State Scientific Institution “Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information” (hereinafter – SSI “UkrISTEI”).

The conference was attended by representatives of authorities and administrations, scientists, teachers, heads of information and analytical services, libraries staff, digital technologies and security experts, representatives of business associations and innovation structures, as well as independent experts.

The State Scientific Institution “Institute of Educational Analytics” was represented by Andrii Lytvynchuk – Deputy Director for Scientific and Organizational Work, Ph.D. in Economics, Andrii Kiryanov – Head of the Department of technologies for the processing of statistical information, and Natalia Pron – a scientific researcher of the Scientific and Organizational Department, Ph.D. in Economics.

The conference was held in the format of panel discussions and plenary sessions in the following thematic areas:

• digital economy: formation and main challenges for society;
• digital technologies in education and research;
• technology security VS security technology;
• state online;
• digital data and its storage;
• artificial intelligence technologies;
• electronic storages, archives, repositories;
• Big data, Internet analytics technologies, and new business formats;
• social networks in professional communication, research, and marketing.

The main moderator of the conference was Volodymyr Kamishin – Acting Director of the SSI “UkrISTEI”, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, senior researcher, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine.

The First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Yuriy Polyukhovych addressed the participants of the conference with a welcome speech, in which he focused on the urgent need to advance the Ukrainian education and science to a new quality level. He stated that without digital technologies, without the creation and introduction of innovations, Ukraine would not be able to become a developed country. The Deputy Minister concluded his speech by wishing all the participants the fruitful work in the conference. At the end of his speech, the Deputy Minister wished all the fruitful work in the conference.

The special guest speaker of the conference “Building of information society: resources and technologies” was Dominic Farace, Director of the GreyNet International from the Netherlands. In his speech, he expressed appreciation to the conference organizers for the invitation to visit Ukraine and participate in the conference, and then he showed the presentation entitled “Grey literature resources for science and society”.

Within the framework of the conference, panel discussions were held in the following thematic areas:  “Digital economy”, “Digital services and technologies”, “Development of science and education in the digital space”.

In particular, the panel on digitalization in education and science was dedicated to discussing the following issues: digital technologies in education and research; electronic storages, archival repositories; digital data and digital storage services; social networks in professional communication, research and marketing. The main speakers of this panel were:

• Vasylenko Andriy – D. in Geological Sciences, State expert of the Directorate of Science of the MES;
• Oleksander Gordeev – D. in Technical Sciences, Associate Professor, Director of Educational Programs of the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovation Companies;
• Vitaliy Zaytsev – Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, Director of Educational Innovation Engineering Center of the O. M. Beketov National University of Urban Economy in Kharkiv, Project Manager of the Educational Portal “Klasna Ocinka”;
• Nanaeva Tatiana – Chairperson of the Committee on Digital Technologies in Education of the MES;
• Plevako Ksenia– Head of educational projects of the Information and Communication Technology Department of the Kyiv City State Administration;
• Olena Chmyr –  Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of academic resources support of the SSI “UkrISTEI”;
• Shapoval Olga– Executive Director of the “Kharkiv IT Cluster”.

All materials of the XVIII International Scientific and Practical conference “Building of information society: resources and technologies” are publicly available on the website of the SSI “UkrISTEI”.

At the end of the event, the results of the intense two-day work of the conference were summed up and everyone interested was invited to cooperate in order to develop the information society in Ukraine.

Photo from the State Scientific Institution “Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information”