The largest furniture event took place in Lviv – the All-Ukrainian Furniture Conference FURNICON LVIV dedicated to the year of the Lviv Furniture Cluster. The conference was attended by more than 150 representatives of furniture companies from all over Ukraine. Yesterday, the participants listened to panel discussions on new projects and current grant opportunities for furniture companies, and today they visited furniture production facilities.
Yesterday, FURNICON hosted a panel discussion on the innovative educational project “School of Furniture: Designer and Upholsterer”, which is being jointly implemented by the Economic Development Department of the Lviv City Council and the Lviv Furniture Cluster.
“We presented the project, talked about the prerequisites for its creation, plans for scaling, and shared our experience with the conference participants. Our joint project aroused enthusiasm among those present. After all, its goal is to strengthen the human resources potential of enterprises and promote working professions, and we are rapidly moving forward together,” said Inna Svystun, Director of the Economic Development Department of Lviv City Council.
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Natalia Tabaka, EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalisation representative, and Oleksiy Kushnir, USAID Competitive Economy Programme, presented current grant opportunities for furniture companies and shared successful cases from previous grant programmes.
“Offline business meetings are not only an opportunity to discuss current issues and find common ways to solve problems, but also an important tool for establishing long-term partnerships and sharing valuable experience,” said Volodymyr Patis, President of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers.
It should be noted that the conference is timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Lviv Furniture Cluster.
“One year is not a lot, but in times of war, it should probably be multiplied by three. But we are on the right track. When most businesses were closing down, merging, emigrating, we united and gave birth to a new baby. In the first year of operation, we launched an innovative educational project called School of Furniture: Designer and Upholsterer, and I am proud of it. Yes, it requires a lot of personal time, but it is also very important to share experience, train and nurture new staff. We give this opportunity and are happy to see the results.
I thank all our partners for their cooperation. I thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the opportunity to support and develop the economy of our city,” said Andriy Mandzhala, Executive Director of Lviv Furniture Cluster.
Today, as part of the second day of the All-Ukrainian FURNICON conference, the participants visited 4 furniture companies – WoWin, Brand Roomio, Varenycia Group and Furniture Park.