The awards ceremony, held on December 3 in Kyiv, was an excellent opportunity for us not only to share our experiences but also to learn about other important business initiatives. It was especially gratifying to be recognized at the event, where the awards were presented by Kostiantyn Koshelenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation, and Digitalization.

This prestigious international award, initiated by the UN Global Compact in Ukraine, recognizes the joint efforts of businesses, the state, and civil society aimed at creating a better future. The competition brought together over 500 cases from companies and public organizations from Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Poland, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. This demonstrates the importance of shared values such as human rights, sustainability, and development, which form the foundation of the civilized world.

Our finalist project is titled “Digital Library for the Humanitarian Hub of Starobilsk District State Administration in Kyiv.” This hub supports internally displaced persons from the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk region. A unique platform, “Digital Library Space,” was created for it, featuring textbooks, monographs by KNEU professors, and digitized Ukrainian literature from the university’s institutional repository. Fourth-year students of the Institute of Information Systems in Economics, Dmytro Sidenko and Danyil Shkolnyi, implemented the platform, which has become a new digital knowledge space. The project leader was L.L. Antonyuk, Vice-Rector for Research at KNEU.

The project partner was the Starobilsk District State Administration, headed by Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Cherevatyi.

The projects were evaluated by esteemed international experts:

• Antonio Hautle, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

• Vanessa Hans, Head of the Private Sector Division at the Basel Institute on Governance

• Hitomi Sakamoto, Distinguished Professor at Toyo Gakuen University, Tokyo, Japan

• Patrizia Gazzola, Associate Professor of Management, Business Union, and Business Planning at the University of Insubria (Italy)

• Gautier Wasseur, Executive Director of the Fisher Center for Business Analytics at the University of Berkeley

• Eugenia Afanasenko, British-Ukrainian environmentalist, ESG expert, and promoter of sustainable development

The Chief Operating Officer of the UN Global Compact in Ukraine is Alina Konovalenko, a graduate of Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, Faculty of International Economics and Management.

We are proud of the achievements of our alumni and sincerely thank our team, partners, and the award organizers for the opportunity to share our ideas and accomplishments!