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Professional activity of the Headman of Association Noosphere

Michael Ryabokon is a military officer with seventeen years of service experience as an engineering specialist in the field of missile trajectory and artillery equipment. In 2004, he earned a Masters Degree in Military and Public Administration at the National Defense Academy of Ukraine.

In 2008, Michael Ryabokon ended his military career and redirected his expertise to the IT field. He has been successfully leading a group of Internet companies within the Maxima Group for almost 2 years. His unusual approach to business processes contributed to the rapid growth of TrafficDNA, prior to which he worked as the Chief Investment Officer at IDE Group. This tenure was highlighted by the acquisition of Price.ua. He also has extensive experience in crisis management and organizational restructuring.

Applying the philosophy of Volodymyr Vernadsky’s Noosphere, Michael Ryabokon became a co-founder and director of Association Noosphere, a non-profit organization established for scientific research, innovation, and providing information. Later, he served as the Vice President of the Ukrainian Spacemodelling Sport Federation and Head Judge for the Vernadsky Challenge engineering startup competition, which is organized annually by Noosphere.

As Association Noosphere’s Innovation Director, Michael Ryabokon is a guest panelist at various conferences and competitions each year. In 2015 he was a jury member for the StartUp Competition within the Black Sea SummIT international technology conference. That same year, Michael also joined the judging panel for the Ukrainian startup competition Sikorsky Challenge and spoke at the IT Dnipro conferences 300 startups and Lviv IT Arena. In 2016, he became an expert at SVOD Europe, an international event organized by Google Office in Europe and the GrowthUP accelerator. In 2017, the Association Noosphere co-founder was a participant in the International IT Forum event, in 2018 an expert at AWS Startup Day, and in 2019 a speaker at iForum on the topic of New Space. In 2020, Michael Ryabokon participated as a mentor in Yangel Big Bang, a pre-acceleration online program for space startups jointly launched by the State Space Agency of Ukraine and Association Noosphere.

In 2016, Michael Ryabokon managed the organization of the FAI World Spacemodelling Championships in Lviv. The following year, Noosphere became a World Air Sports Federation (FAI) technical partner. The collaboration resulted in the introduction of the eNavigator scoring system, developed by students of the Noosphere Engineering School.

Engineering School concept

As co-founder of Association Noosphere, which promotes technology, Michael Ryabokon studies innovations and the model of integrating education and science into business. Since 2016, he has been engaged in research at Cherkasy State Technological University, where he received his PhD in 2020. His scientific works support the methods of technology business building and the model of engineering schools as the main units of science parks.

Innovation is the driving force of the economy. Science and technology are resources whose use is constantly growing. The scientific potential of Ukrainian enthusiasts plays an important role in replenishing these resources. The function of the scientific & technological business is to support talented people. Their unique achievements of creative thought and their accumulated intellectual and innovative potential are becoming the most important catalysts of modern production.

A strategically important task for Noosphere is the formation of innovation systems, increasing the level of human development and quality education. To this end, Michael Ryabokon proposed the concept of creating a new type of institution - Noosphere Engineering Schools (NES), with operation based on the paradigmatic model of Volodymyr Vernadsky and Thomas Kuhn. According to this model, innovation begins development with theoretical foundations, then moves on to the development of pilot theories (paradigms) and culminates with the creation of innovation.

The first Noosphere Engineering School, co-founded by Michael Ryabokon, opened in 2014 at the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. In 2020, this network of research and project centers, which consolidates the efforts of students, experts and business practitioners, has 7 laboratories based at technical universities in Ukraine.

Among about 40 projects implemented at the Noosphere Engineering School, Michael Ryabokon is the ideological inspiration for at least two - ArtOS (complex of automated fire control of artillery batteries, mortars and multiple rocket launchers of various calibers) and MyPol (platform for interactive communication with citizens). In 2018, the MyPol application became a national means of communication between citizens and the National Police of Ukraine.

Dr. Khanin is a prominent Ukrainian lecturer and scientist, who has patented over 100 technical inventions and written over 80 scientific papers.

Currently, Dr. Khanin dedicates most of his scientific efforts toward researching the information society and its complexities. He is a Professor of International Economics at the Dnipropetrovsk National University.

Between 2004-2012, Dr. Khanin served as the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Dnipropetrovsk. Prior to that, he held executive positions at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of the Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant, the Research Institute of Automation and Instrumentation, and established a mechanical construction company, Orbita.

Holding a Doctorate degree from Dnipropetrovsk State University (1971), Dr. Khanin is the “Academician” of the Ukrainian Academy of Cosmonautics, an “Honored Inventor of Ukraine” and the recipient of multiple international awards.

Dr. Khanin advises Noosphere in the area of strategy and development with a focus on science and technology.

Mr John Isella is current Director of International business development at Firefly Aerospace and a worldwide known space and technology business enthusiast. Almost 40 years of experience in commercial and federal business makes John one of the most flexible and well-rounded people in the industry. John is a proven expert at creating new, highly profitable business opportunities and building business relationships.

Mr Isella is the author of multiple business concepts, thanks to his strong entrepreneurial and engineering skills. He is also known as a natural leader, based in part on his experience in managing a 100+ member engineering and analytics group. His most impressive experience includes being a founder and CEO of a Canadian space launch services company, Senior Technical Advisor to NASA at Kennedy Space Center, and a member of a NASA launch team for science mission ELV launches.