How do Ukrainian businesses invest in the country’s economic future, or why are they building smart shelters for students?

On January 25, in the Central Library of the National Technical University of Ukraine (KPI), named after I. Sikorsky, the official opening of the CLUST Space smart shelter for students took place. CLUST Space is a unique project that combines safe shelter and modern coworking.

Who needs it and why?

The project was created by a group of enthusiasts led by Ruslan Tymofieiev, the founder of the CLUST venture builder and the head of the Adventures Lab Venture Fund. As CLUST communications manager Olesya Zorina emphasized in an interview with UBN, this is an exclusively social, charitable project. “When the war started, we looked for ways to help people and the country systematically. And one of the topics that resonates with the founder is education. That’s how the idea of smart shelters in Ukrainian universities appeared,” she explained. As Olesya Zorina clarified, the company realized that both the country’s labor market and economy are facing a crisis because students’ parents are trying to do anything that will allow them to take their children abroad. Therefore, there soon may be a significant shortage of new specialists, particularly in the IT sector, which is how a corresponding idea arose. The choice fell on KPI because Ukrainian technical specialists are highly valued on the market. The premises were also chosen specifically – they are the largest such facility, and at the same time they also possess the worst infrastructure.

Pavlo Peker, the chief architect of the CLUST Space project and the founder and director of the Peker & Partners architectural firm, emphasized: “My special mission is to provide children and students with conditions in which they can receive education, study, and live and develop in Ukraine.”

So, what is CLUST Space?

The shelter was created in the basement, on the second underground floor, where one of the library’s book archives was located, so it is classified as a dual-purpose building. Currently, it is 600 square meters of modern multifunctional space, which has been transformed according to the needs of students – it can be used for lectures, conferences, presentations, hackathons, or as a co-working space for studying or exams. As a shelter, the space can accommodate about 500 people.

The entire infrastructure, including the autonomous ventilation system, is designed to safely house this number of people for 72 hours in the event of a radiation or chemical attack. The shelter is equipped with a water supply and sewage – there are toilets and showers, which are necessary for long-term use. There is also an autonomous power supply system – power will be available even when nothing else around the shelter has power.

The main directions for the project’s investment are engineering and acoustic systems. At the same time, thanks to the competent design, the space also looks very nice.

As Pavlo Peker, who has experience working in Iraq, Libya, and other countries at war, said to UBN, no one has ever undertaken such a project. “It is unique, and no country has ever been in such a state as ours. This is the largest country in Europe, fighting in the era of the greatest technological progress,” he added.

According to the architect, the space design alone took two months (October-November 2022). The next stage was a search for donors – among them were the Freedom Holding Corp., the Swichado Charitable Foundation, and the Usyk Foundation. The total invested amount reached $415,000.

Construction took about five months and was finished in December 2023. Overall, the project’s implementation spanned 13 months.

Social investment in the future

 As Olesya Zorina explained, CLUST Space is an area for KPI students. However, the university plans to rent it out for various events because its unique properties are urgently needed. In addition, this will provide funds for the maintenance of the premises.

“The history of corporate social responsibility is no longer surprising. In addition, this space will function even after the war. This is a complex and systematic project; such a space will serve for many years to come. And we want it to become a platform for businesses to meet talented, creative youth. This year’s Sikorsky Challenge will be held in this space. In addition, together with the founder (Ruslan Timofeev), we also decided to give grants to students. We want to develop the student community so that it is interesting to study in Ukraine, as it is in Stanford and Harvard, and their advantage is that a community has been formed,” explained the CLUST spokeswoman.

Who’s next?

Enthusiastic initiators want to implement a similar project at the State National University named after O. Honchara in Dnipro. The choice of the city, according to Olesya Zorina, is because the most pressing need for these facilities is primarily in the front-line territories. Kharkiv was initially considered, but it turned out to be too dangerous due to constant shelling. As a result of these conditions, many students from Kharkiv and Donetsk moved to Dnipro. Therefore, this location is currently the most critical priority.

The first $100,000 has already been raised for the Dnipro project from KPI graduate and IT entrepreneur Mykhailo Savchenko. However, the search for partners continues, and any caring, socially responsible business can join the initiative.

Reference: CLUST is a Ukrainian company that works in the venture builder format. It was created by entrepreneur Ruslan Timofeyev in 2022 to launch, develop, and scale IT products. CLUST is an ecosystem where young entrepreneurs can realize their ideas and launch startups. Entrepreneurs who already have a ready-made product can use the resources of a venture builder to enter new markets, particularly the markets of Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Currently, the CLUST ecosystem has six projects. One of them went from concept to $1M MRR in eight months. The plan for the next 12 months is to add five more projects to their portfolio.