Ruslan Tymofieiev, founder of CLUST company, participated in the 11th All-Ukrainian Festival of Innovative Projects – Sikorsky Challenge. During the performance, he announced a major social startup. CLUST SPACE — innovative secure shelters at universities in Ukraine. The first smart shelter will be opened within the premises of the library at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
For the past 8 years, Ruslan Tymofieiev has been investing in startups. Recently, he founded the startup studio CLUST to launch and develop Ukrainian IT products. He is sure that young people are a source of interesting ideas, and for these ideas to become real projects, it is necessary to have basic knowledge of technologies, economics, marketing, etc. That is why he is concerned about the issue of continuous education in Ukraine during the war.
The founder of CLUST, Ruslan Tymofieiev, comments: “The problem I saw is that existing bomb shelters at universities are not designed for long stays and are not properly equipped to continue the educational process during danger. They exist only to wait out the air raid signal. That’s how the idea appeared to reorganize university bomb shelters and transform them into safe, modern educational hubs that can be used as coworking spaces in peaceful times and as shelters during danger. Initiatives like these need to be invested to lay the foundation for post-war recovery in Ukraine.”
CLUST is implementing the pilot project of the smart shelter in collaboration with Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Representatives of the university have already selected the location where the shelter will be built. It is one of the storage rooms on the ground floor of the KPI library. In addition to a working area for study, lectures, and presentations, there will be a relaxation zone, a kitchen, restrooms with shower cabins, a corner for children with transformable furniture, and much more.
The work on implementing the project has already started. Currently, a working group has been formed, which consists of representatives from CLUST, the management of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, students, as well as representatives from government institutions. The design of the first smart shelter is being developed by Peker&Partners studio. The inauguration of CLUST SPACE is scheduled for the beginning of 2024.
Ruslan Tymofieiev shares the plans: “We plan to scale the CLUST SPACE project across the entire territory of Ukraine and build another 10–20 smart shelters at universities next year. We welcome collaboration with like-minded individuals.”