Employment of DIY potential to ensure the economic resilience of the regions of Ukraine

Abstract

Deindustrialization of regions, especially traditional industrial ones, caused by the destruction of enterprises, infrastructure facilities, relocation of businesses to safer regions of the country significantly reduces the economic potential, creating obstacles to ensuring a decent standard of living in wartime and post-war recovery. New challenges and threats form the demand for finding ways to ensure a resilient economy, which in a broad sense means the system's ability to cope with adverse shocks and recover from them. Within the framework of evolutionary economic geography, it is emphasized the need, along with traditional innovative actors, such as firms, research organizations, and state bodies, to distinguish new participants in innovative activity, in particular – citizens, who are able to play a significant role in the development, application, and scaling of innovative solutions of local problems. The article proposes to pay attention to capabilities of the modern «Do-it-yourself» activity format – DIY 4.0 or Third Wave DIY – as a potential for ensuring the economic resilience of the regions of Ukraine. DIY 4.0/Third Wave DIY relies on the functionality of the interactive and social Internet Web 2.0, digital design and additive manufacturing, which allows common people to invent, design, produce and sell the goods they create. The new advantages significantly expand opportunities of regional actors for prosumption, innovation and entrepreneurship, which are important components of the recovery of economic activity, the development of human capital and the growth of the economy based on the internal potential of the territories. The author identified the directions of stimulation of the DIY culture among population by local authorities and expressed an opinion about possible complications in the practical implementation of the proposed approach, primarily due to the lack of functional literacy of population, problems with access to equipment and resources for financing DIY activities. It is proposed to consider the expediency of including projects to create conditions for the development of DIY culture in the post-war reconstruction programs of regions, which does not exclude widespread support for this movement at the state level. The abovementioned may be related to further research.