In regions such as Central and Eastern Europe, software development is a fast growing industry with a strong competitive environment.
Many leading companies such as IBM and Morgan Stanley are outsourcing key services to Eastern Europe, highlighting the skills of Eastern European software developers. Demand for software outsourcing in Eastern Europe has led to the growth of a variety of technological skills, allowing the region to produce skilled IT professionals.
Ukrainian and Polish developers, in turn, have more extensive experience of working with global technology companies and leading
softwarecompanies in the EU and other countries. In addition, the CEE local talent pool often comes from experience in centers such as Paris, Berlin or London, or locally at global companies such as ABB, Cisco, Luxoft, Motorola, which are major employers for IT professionals in Poland.
Poland has long been recognized as a reliable country for outsourcing technology talent. Poland is a leading country in IT, HR, financial and accounting outsourcing services aimed at companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google. With over 400 software companies and over 140,000 skilled professionals and a steady growth of the IT market of 5-10% per year, Poland remains the leading offshore destination in Eastern Europe. The domestic market of 38 million consumers representing 61% of GDP, as well as the country’s membership in the OECD and the EU, have made the country one of the most attractive countries in Central and Eastern Europe (EEC) for foreign investors. A constantly evolving economy, strong STEM education, adaptive legislation, a favorable position in Europe and a broad base of unique IT talent have helped Poland to become one of the world’s leading IT leaders.
Poland is widely regarded as the biggest tech star in the CEE region and is seeing growth in ICT exports outpacing mature technology markets such as Japan.
Over the past decade, Poland has become a major producer of ICT solutions, thanks in part to the globalization of the ICT market and outsourcing of production to Asia, Mexico and Central Europe, and Eastern Europe. Many international technology companies are ready to invest in the development of the Polish IT sector, and many of them have already opened their R&D; centers in Poland, including Microsoft, Intel, Google, IBM, Delphi, Samsung and many others.
Rapid investment in technology and network connectivity, favorable government support, a growing OTT and gaming market, the implementation of the GDPR, and the announcement of new cloud regions by hyperscale operators will be strong drivers of the data center industry in Poland in the coming years. years. The use of cloud computing services and applications will continue to grow in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which will lead to the further development of large data centers in the market. Due to the increasing inaccessibility and high cost of land for data center development in Tier 1 cities such as the UK and Germany, Central and Western European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic, with extensive land availability, energy access and government support, they see growth.
The Czech Republic is a major investor in technological development among European countries. The growing wealth of the CEE region, its Western European neighbors and corporate investment culture mean that the CEE region is uniquely positioned as an ecosystem for start-ups.
One of the opportunities for developing the startup market and scaling up in CEE is industry conferences in particular. Central and Eastern European governments are working hard to create the best conditions for start-ups to grow. Other CEE countries offer accelerator programs, incubators, co-working spaces and business angel funds to support innovation.
„The MIT Enterprise Forum CEE program is focused on Central and Eastern Europe, but we also want to enter Western Europe and other countries, as we see great potential in young companies in these markets,” said Lukasz Ovczarek, Director of Growth at EF CEE at MIT.
In recent years, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (EEC) have earned a reputation as hotbeds of technological innovation with vast talent pools. This lightning pace of development becomes even more effective when combined with another key driver of growth and investment in the CEE region’s broader technology sectors: talent.
However, its main task now is to retain and nurture technological talent for the improvement of the entire region, and not just become a talent factory for the rich countries of Western and Northern Europe, North America and other countries. According to Natalia Mileshik, when asked what source of investment market would prove to be a permanent and important ally for the wider region of Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the United States were named as the most important.
