On 21 November 2025, the Ukrainian Building Congress 2025 took place in Kyiv — one of the key industry forums dedicated to the country’s post-war recovery and modernization. The event became a platform for presenting the first “VIRA!” lifting platform — an innovative tool designed to bring together generations of students, youth communities, and experts to create conceptually new projects for Ukraine’s reconstruction. The platform was presented by Mark Kestelboym, a board member of the Ukraine Rebuilding Alliance.
In his presentation, Mark Kestelboym outlined a strategic vision: young people are not only participants in the recovery process but also its driving force and intellectual foundation. He emphasized that freshness, creativity, and the ability to rethink traditional approaches make students indispensable for shaping the new architecture of post-war development. The creation of the “VIRA!” platform became the first systemic space for sharing student ideas, allowing a wide range of creative concepts to be gathered within one professional environment.
Participants presented a broad spectrum of projects — from technological to social. In particular, innovative concepts were showcased, including 3D-printed concrete with recycled agricultural waste, models of veteran spaces for adaptation and reintegration, mycelium-based circular insulation technologies, as well as infrastructure recovery projects designed for conditions of limited resources. The solutions proposed by students demonstrated the younger generation’s ability to think both creatively and systemically — with attention to sustainability, economic feasibility, and inclusion.
The Expert Council highlighted the acute shortage of technical specialists required for large-scale reconstruction. During the discussion, one speaker gave a telling example: according to estimates, the real demand for design engineers is several times higher than the number of young specialists graduating from relevant educational institutions each year. This imbalance reveals a systemic need to expand workforce training and creates an opportunity to implement student ideas at early stages of their professional development. Council members emphasized that students possess an open mindset capable of finding original solutions where traditional approaches fail.
The “VIRA!” platform has become an important step toward consolidating youth potential within the national recovery framework. Participants of Congress 2025 noted that such initiatives create a new development ecosystem in which students, universities, businesses, and expert institutions collaborate as equals, shaping the architecture of Ukraine’s future.
