Qatar’s commitment to technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and knowledge-based growth is finding a natural partner in Ukraine’s accelerated expertise in operating under complex digital pressure, an official of the Qatar-Ukraine Business Forum (QUBF) has said.
Through the forum, QUBF co-founder and chairperson Dr Olga Revina emphasised that both countries are shaping a collaborative agenda that places education, innovation, and resilience at the heart of their partnership.
Revina explained that Qatar-Ukraine ties have been strengthened by recent exchanges facilitated by QUBF, including the introduction of Ukraine’s SET University to the Qatari academic and innovation ecosystem.
"These efforts reflect a broader vision: To align Qatar’s strategic investment in technological infrastructure with Ukraine’s applied experience in science, entrepreneurship, and cybersecurity,” Revina told Gulf Times in an interview.
Revina said, "We see this as a true win-win. Cyber resilience, AI governance, and digital transformation are shared global priorities. Collaborative learning strengthens both sides. Qatar brings strategic vision and investment in technological infrastructure. Ukraine brings accelerated applied experience in operating under complex digital pressure. Together, this creates meaningful intellectual synergy.”
According to Revina, the collaboration has already taken shape through joint participation in major platforms, such as the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), the Web Summit Qatar, and specialised workshops hosted by the University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST).
She explained that these engagements have opened pathways for knowledge transfer, faculty exchanges, and applied training programmes that respond to the rapid evolution of technology.
"For Qatar, the partnership reinforces its national drive to build a diversified, knowledge-based economy. For Ukraine, it provides opportunities to share expertise developed under extraordinary circumstances, particularly in cybersecurity and AI-driven innovation.
"Together, the two countries are exploring how education can serve as strategic infrastructure — producing not only degrees but also companies, intellectual property, and technological capability,” Revina emphasised.
Revina explained how SET University’s early initiatives illustrate how this collaboration is taking shape, noting that its first cybersecurity training course drew more than 5,000 applications in less than two weeks, reflecting the urgency of advanced technical education.
According to Revina, the university has redesigned higher education around execution, such as students design solutions, launch startups, and work with real cases rather than writing traditional theses.
"Alongside master’s programmes, SET runs micro-master’s tracks in areas, such as Solutions Architecture, Generative and Agentic AI for Software Engineering, AI transformation, and cybersecurity, which is a core domain where Ukraine’s experience is particularly relevant,” noted Revina.
Revina underscored that operating "in one of the most complex cyber environments in the world” has accelerated SET’s applied expertise in AI-driven cyber defence, adversary modelling, offensive and defensive simulation, and integrating generative AI into security education.
"Artificial intelligence is now lowering the barrier to entry for cybercrime. Generative models are already used in advanced persistent threats. The speed of threat evolution demands a parallel transformation in cybersecurity education,” Revina said.
Another pillar of SET’s ecosystem is corporate upskilling, she pointed out. Recognising that technology evolves faster than traditional degree cycles, Revina said SET works closely with businesses to design short, high-intensity programmes that deliver immediate application. Participants return to their organisations with new frameworks, tools, and strategies that strengthen competitiveness in advanced technical fields, she also said.
"The philosophy behind these initiatives is clear: higher education must function as strategic infrastructure. Universities must generate economic value, produce companies, intellectual property, and technological capability. Degrees alone do not drive growth, but execution does,” Revina stressed.
According to Revina, QUBF has facilitated SET’s dialogue with Qatar through multiple platforms. She said SET University founder Iryna Volnytska spoke at the Web Summit in Qatar in 2023 and 2024, and shared her expertise as a panellist at the ESI 2024 conference hosted by Qatar University.
In 2025, SET’s strategic director attended the WISE Summit and held meetings with Qatar University, the UN office, UDST’s College of Computing and IT (CCIT), and the UNESCO chair department at Qatar University.
"Recently, SET University participated in the CCIT Talk Series at UDST, where Dr Oleksii Baranovskyi, associate professor of SET University, conducted an applied e-workshop on AI in cybersecurity for the CCIT faculty and professionals. This workshop marked the beginning of a deeper exchange. We are grateful to the management and team of UDST for this pilot stage and hope to build a sustainable partnership,” Revina emphasised.