The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU) announces a competitive selection of scientific and technical (experimental) developments as part of the formation of the state order for the most important scientific and technical developments and scientific and technical products.

The priority areas of the competition have been developed by MESU jointly with the ministries and other public authorities concerned, taking into account the country’s current needs. The key requirement is that the developments should be aimed at achieving new applied results to ensure national security and defence, accelerate Ukraine’s recovery, and transform its economy.

This year, the following institutions contributed to the development of the priority areas under which the state order for scientific and technical (experimental) developments and scientific and technical products will be placed in 2027–2028, as well as to the development of initial technical specifications for the relevant scientific and technical developments: the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy and Environment of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Administration of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine.

The competition currently provides for the selection of applications under 13 priority areas and the corresponding initial technical specifications, approved by Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine No. 1636 of 24 September 2026. The Order also specifies the implementation period for each development (12, 18 or 24 months) and the expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the scientific and technical products to be created as a result.

The maximum total cost of one development is up to UAH 10 million.

For the first time, this year’s competition allows applicants to indicate in their application the co-executors that will be involved in carrying out the development. The relevant requirements and the list of documents to be submitted by co-executors are provided in the competition announcement.

“Our task is to scale up the state order as an instrument that starts with a clearly defined state need and ends with a specific result ready for practical use. To achieve this, two years ago we strengthened the role of state customers in defining technical specifications and supporting developments, introduced Technology Readiness Level assessment and multi-level expert evaluation. The state is increasingly shifting the focus of development funding towards solutions that can be tested, implemented and used to meet the needs of defence, the economy and the country’s recovery,” said Denys Kurbatov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

How the Competition Works

The competition is conducted in accordance with the new Procedure for the competitive selection of scientific and technical (experimental) developments as part of the formation of the state order for the most important scientific and technical (experimental) developments and scientific and technical products, approved by Resolution No. 763 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 10 June 2026.

Legal entities, regardless of their organisational and legal form or ownership structure, may participate in the competition provided that they have appropriately qualified staff, the necessary equipment and the material and technical resources required to carry out the development. These requirements also apply to co-executors.

Requirements for Applicants and Co-Executors

The development team must consist of 3 to 10 specialists.

The scientific supervisor of the development must be a researcher whose primary place of employment is the organisation participating in the competition. A researcher may supervise only one development submitted to the competition, including ongoing scientific and technical projects under existing contracts financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine that will be completed in 2027. Researchers may participate as executors in no more than two developments submitted to the competition in the current year.

At least half of the development team, including the scientific supervisor, must have their primary place of employment at the organisation submitting the application.

The Applicant’s Development Team May Include, Where Necessary:

• researchers whose primary place of employment is at other enterprises, institutions or organisations;
• additional engineering and technical staff, technicians and other support personnel.

Co-executors may be involved in the development, but no more than two legal entities, regardless of their organisational and legal form or ownership structure.

A co-executor’s team may include no more than five researchers whose primary place of employment is at the co-executor organisation.

Main Evaluation Criteria

• compliance of the development with the competition’s priority areas;
• focus on achieving an applied result brought to the stage of practical use;
• compliance of the expected results with the characteristics and requirements for scientific and technical products specified in the initial technical specification;
• relevance of the tasks and results to the needs of the national economy, society, national security and defence;
• compliance of the declared Technology Readiness Level with the requirements of the initial technical specification;
• quality and justification of the development implementation stages;
• the existing track record and capacity of the development team;
• availability of the necessary material and technical resources;
• scientific novelty and practical value of the future scientific and technical products;
• justification of the requested funding and balance of its structure.

Three-Level Evaluation of Applications

Applications are evaluated through a three-level expert review:

• scientific and scientific-technical expert evaluation;
• assessment by members of the relevant sections and consideration of development presentations at expanded meetings involving representatives of relevant public authorities, civil society organisations, curators and representatives of the real economy;
• consideration by the Scientific and Technical Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on matters related to the formation and implementation of the state order for scientific and technical products.

Application Deadline

Applications must be submitted electronically through the National Electronic Scientific and Information System (NAUKA) with a qualified or corresponding advanced electronic signature.

The deadline for submitting documents to participate in the competition is 26 October 2026 at 13:00 Kyiv time.

Applications containing information constituting a state secret will not be accepted for consideration.

Detailed information on participation in the competition is available here.

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