No one cares about technology. Businesses are interested in revenue growth, while people strive for good usability and personal benefits.

In an interview for the SET University blog, Dmytro discusses the significance of technology for businesses and users, the importance of interaction between students and instructors in the learning process, and current trends in education. He emphasizes that technology should aim to address social needs and that education should focus on practical skills and critical thinking.

In our society, learning is often perceived as a one-way process of acquiring knowledge. What does this process teach you as an instructor?

Teaching is part of my social mission. I learn a lot from the students themselves. This is because there is factual information, and then there are ideas and ways of thinking. It is the different ways of thinking when analyzing the same problem that I can borrow from students.

One of the topics in the course was futurism, and the task was to imagine the world of the future: education, finance, entertainment industry, communication, and logistics. In such a course, there are no right or wrong answers—only the implementation of a particular mindset and ideas.

My perspective is that the educational process should not be about memorizing information, but about a system of feedback and communication, where students learn not only from teachers but also from each other, thinking collectively. In implementing this approach, students primarily learn to think and form their own opinions. At the same time, the teacher also learns new ways of thinking from the students.

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The course is designed for people who aspire to create their own reality

Who is the “Innovative Technologies in Business and Society” course aimed at, and what benefits does it offer to both corporate professionals and aspiring innovators?

The course helps individuals become professionals of the latter two types, by developing skills in analysis and independent decision-making, which are crucial for creating innovations and launching startups. These skills are valuable not only for creative professionals but also for managers and technical specialists, as they enable a better understanding of the overall business goals and help in asking the right questions, thereby improving communication and work outcomes.

Could you tell us more about the format of the course?

To create innovative products and anticipate their outcomes, it’s essential to understand both group and individual social needs of humanity. Therefore, one focus of the course is to teach students to draw conclusions, form their own opinions, and develop critical thinking—one of the most essential skills in today’s world, saturated with others’ opinions and endless content.

The course is a hybrid of theory and practice. Homework assignments involve critical evaluation of resources, books, and films. The main focus is not on grading but on the process of completing and presenting the work. The course project involves imagining the future of humanity through the lens of technological development. Students describe in detail how necessary processes will be implemented, invent their own gadgets, and add, describe, and visualize them. I would call this practical ideation.

What trends do you observe in education, and how do you see its future in the context of lifelong learning?

The main trend is that traditional education often does not correlate with people’s future careers. Many graduates work in fields unrelated to their studies, or their education provides little value for their careers. The gap between the educational system and real-world needs has become so large that it is unlikely to be resolved at the governmental level anytime soon. Therefore, individuals must take their education into their own hands and focus on reality rather than accepted standards, as ideas like “if you have diploma X, you’ll get job Y” no longer hold true.

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The notion that “if you have a diploma in X, you’ll get a job in Y” no longer applies.

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Everything becomes outdated very quickly. Today, you might be a top web designer, but tomorrow, the web as we know it might no longer exist. The focus could shift entirely to mixed reality, rendering all your flat interfaces unnecessary.

What gap in the market were you addressing or what potential did you see when founding FFFACE.me?

We identified an opportunity to use a new tool that could be valuable for both marketers and ordinary users. At that time, I saw a forecast predicting that the augmented reality industry would grow tenfold over the next three years. This gave me confidence that our product could meet this market demand and become part of this growth.

Initially, I focused on technologies like augmented reality. However, over time, I realized that the technologies themselves are not the most important aspect.

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Technologies themselves are not important to anyone.

Are you a techno-pessimist or a techno-optimist?

It’s common nowadays to feel nostalgic for the tech-retro times when the world wasn’t as saturated with technology. People often overlook the threats that existed back then and that we no longer face. For example, we forget that many minor illnesses today were incurable a hundred years ago and that life expectancy was significantly lower because of that.

When people use innovations for “bad” purposes, the problem lies not with the technology but with the user. By this logic, we could ban knives because people could harm each other with them, or guns for robbers. We could ban phones because crimes are committed using them or emails because of spam. We could ban everything, but history shows that prohibition or artificial restriction often has the opposite effect. Therefore, I consider myself a techno-optimist.

Perhaps a techno-realist?

And a techno-realist as well. We are in a dangerous zone in terms of the moral and ethical development of society. Each person can develop intellectually, physically, spiritually, and morally, but rarely do these things happen in balance. Often, focusing on moral and intellectual aspects leads to neglecting the physical, or vice versa, spending time on physical and intellectual aspects leaves little time for psychological development.

In other words, technology has far outpaced the moral and ethical development of humanity. And because many innovations sometimes lack moral evaluation, humanity becomes vulnerable to some of them.

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Techno-futurism is not about understanding the capabilities of technologies; it’s about understanding the evolution of societal needs and habits.

Should the potential eco-social impact of technologies be considered during their development?

The driver of all innovations, with rare exceptions, is positive change. Techno-futurism isn’t about understanding the possibilities of technologies; it’s about understanding the evolution of societal needs and habits. It’s about envisioning how we want things to work and happen. By imagining experiences that could be convenient, we can come up with product ideas that allow these experiences to become a reality. So, the driver of the pipeline is not, “Is it harmful?” but rather, “What do we need to solve this problem? What can address it?”

What distinguishes a new product from an innovative one?

Innovation is primarily about a new approach, not just the application of certain technologies. It involves a new perspective on implementation, a new view on realizing a specific function. This doesn’t necessarily require the latest technologies; it requires empathy, the ability to have one’s own opinion, and to think outside the box.

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