An internal conflict has erupted in one of Ukraine's largest IT clusters. According to AIN sources and confirmation from the Supervisory Board, Lviv IT Cluster CEO Stepan Veselovskyi transferred ownership rights to key trademarks to his deputy Yuriy Ogonovskyi without consent.
An internal conflict has erupted in one of Ukraine's largest IT clusters. According to AIN sources and confirmation from the Supervisory Board, Lviv IT Cluster CEO Stepan Veselovskyi transferred ownership rights to key trademarks to his deputy Yuriy Ogonovskyi without consent.
As AIN writes in its material, in the spring of 2025, the Association "Lviv Cluster of Information Technologies and Business Services" began transferring the rights to such brands as IT Arena, IT Research, IT Research Salary Report, and IT Meets, to the name of Yuriy Ogonovsky.
The changes were officially recorded in the registers in the summer. In addition, Veselovsky and Ogonovsky registered a number of new legal entities with names similar to the cluster brands, and also filed applications for new trademarks, including IT Arena Warsaw, IT Arena Tech Event, and others.
These actions took place against the backdrop of differences in the vision of the organization's development between the executive team and the Supervisory Board, which represents the interests of large IT companies. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Svyatoslav Kavetsky, called such steps an "asymmetric reaction" and confirmed that they learned about the transfer of assets after the fact, in the fall of 2025.
Another point of tension was the organization of the IT Arena Warsaw 2026 conference. The event was announced on behalf of the Polish company TIXFORM SP. Z OO, which is managed by Ogonovsky. The supervisory board claims that the announcement took place without prior approval, although the very fact of holding the event abroad is supported there as an “ambitious goal.”
The Supervisory Board advocates dialogue and maintaining the unity of the organization, but recognizes that the parties may diverge. Kavetsky emphasizes the need for transparency and consistency of action.
Stepan Veselovsky did not deny the fact of the transfer of rights in his comment, explaining it by the strategy of the conference's international expansion. He assured that the Warsaw event was discussed with the Supervisory Board, and the project itself is a response to the challenges of war and a way to attract an international audience.
Negotiations are currently underway between the parties to resolve the situation and the future of the Lviv IT Cluster.
