Ukraine and UK launch cooperation in science, technology and innovation under the 100-Year Partnership

Today in London, the science, technology and innovation (STI) track of the UK–Ukraine 100-Year Partnership was officially launched.

The event brought together Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, First Deputy Minister Yevhen Kudriavets, representatives of the UK Government, academic communities, and innovation businesses from both countries. Its goal was to build connections among key stakeholders to enable experience exchange and deepen cooperation between the scientific communities of the United Kingdom and Ukraine.

As part of the event, Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, and the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation of the UK, Lord Vallance, presented shared STI priorities. Both countries are committed to fostering long-term institutional partnerships between Ukrainian and British researchers and using science as a tool for resilience, recovery, and development.

Background of the partnership

In January 2025, the United Kingdom and Ukraine signed a landmark 100-Year Partnership Agreement. Science and technology form one of the key pillars of this collaboration.

How the UK–Ukraine scientific partnership works:

• Through the Researchers at Risk program over 170 Ukrainian researchers affected by the war have been able to continue their work at more than 70 UK universities.
• The UK–Ukraine Twinning Initiative connects universities from both countries to jointly implement projects, share resources and expertise.
• Joint research is being carried out to support defense and drive innovation, including:
  - Developing AI for rapid and accurate detection of shrapnel wounds (University of Warwick in collaboration with Kharkiv National University of Radio electronics);
  - Strengthening Ukraine’s energy system through green energy solutions (University of Manchester, Aston University, and Aberystwyth University in partnership with Ukrainian specialists);
• The UK–Ukraine TechBridge initiative is helping bring innovative new technologies to bear on critical tasks like clearing landmines and unexploded bombs. The TechBridge is also focused on AI, health, cybersecurity education, and agritech, and is building opportunities in both countries for trade, upskilling, and investment. 

“For Ukraine, science is not only about development — it is also about resistance. Today, our researchers are working side by side with international partners not only to support the country in its most difficult times, but also to lay the foundations for recovery. This collaboration is a mutual investment in freedom, humanity, and the future. We are grateful to the United Kingdom for a partnership built on shared values and trust?,”
— Oksen Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

UK Science Minister lord Vallance said: “Freedom is an essential ingredient for scientific progress. Without it we are denied the ability to act on the curiosity that sparks so many breakthroughs, or to get the answers that make us think that maybe we have been wrong about the way we have thought about something in the past. 

“Science is also international, which means that Ukraine’s inventions and innovations are ones that the UK and the entire world ultimately benefits from, and vice versa. We only stand to gain from working with Ukraine to keep the flame of freedom alive, and it is only natural, that the joint endeavours of our researchers, are critical to those efforts.”

We are grateful to the United Kingdom for strengthening our cooperation!