Harnessing Human Ingenuity is the Ultimate Key to Ukraine’s Success

It’s time to talk about Ukraine’s tech wizardry and how they have created a culture of world-class tinkerers and builders.

Licensed by the author from Envato Elements. Ukraine flag added by author.

I’ve always been fascinated by humans’ ability to “out-think” a problem.

When I deployed to the Middle East, I took two books: A Tom Clancy novel (Clear and Present Danger, I think) and a compilation of works by Edgar Allan Poe.

Somewhere buried in the worn, yellow pages of the Poe book there’s a heavily read passage, marked by a dog ear: “It may well be doubted whether human ingenuity can construct an enigma…which human ingenuity may not, by proper application, resolve.”

In other words, there is no problem created by humans that cannot be solved by humans.

If you look it up, you’ll find that ingenuity is all about being clever, original, and inventive. But dig a little deeper, and the word itself has some fascinating origins.

The French used it to describe something “inborn” or “freeborn,” while the Latin roots connect it to “the mind” and “intellect.”

And here’s the kicker: it’s also linked to the Latin verb for “to engineer.” So, at its core, ingenuity is not just about being…