Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is aggravating the long-term trend of R&D under-investment in Ukraine, as well as accelerating brain drain. In the reconstruction period, science, technology and innovation have the potential to contribute to the societal transformation of Ukraine, feeding into an innovation-centric industrial strategy, which also includes developing linkages with selected parts of the academic sector, which should themselves be strengthened to serve that purpose. It can also significantly contribute to Ukraine’s green transition, through stimulation of grassroots entrepreneurship in co-creation with academia, in particular on the basis of Ukraine’s small but excellent scientific production in the areas of environmental and planetary sciences. The brief provides specific policy recommendations which can help policy makers address the binding constraints towards the attainment of these goals.