City of Lviv in Western Ukraine, better known for its UNESCO-listed tourism attractions, is boosting its credentials as a progressive IT center in Central and Eastern Europe. Local IT-BPO Cluster, established by major industry players, has started to implement innovative public-private partnership initiatives that greatly increase city’s capacity as an upcoming outsourcing destination.

Recently Lviv IT-BPO Cluster and Lviv City Council launched a promotional video Find yourself in Lviv! that positions Lviv as a major destination for IT talent in Ukraine. It is an innovative example of public-private partnership in the IT industry in the country. Companies produced the video, featuring staff members, who moved to Lviv to pursue careers in IT, while the City Council supported promotional campaign in the country, including rotation of the video in cinemas across major cities. The campaign urges young specialists to consider Lviv for their next career move, offering a dedicated site featuring cluster member companies.

Lviv IT-BPO Cluster is raising, for now at least in Ukraine, the battle for the IT talents. Apart from the PR offensive, IT-BPO Cluster has been actively working on improving the skills of local IT students and professionals. Additional English courses for IT students were introduced with the cluster support and a soft skills training programme is in plans for 2012.

In 2009 KMPG named Lviv among the most promising locations for the next outsourcing boom. Strategically situated close to major European business centers, Lviv boasts cost effective and qualified workforce, dramatically improving infrastructure with the EURO-2012 football tournament fast approaching, lower market entry cost and cultural proximity to Europe.

With over 30 local and foreign IT companies present in the market, sector employs over 6000 professionals, and is expected to grow by at least 20% annually until 2015. Anticipating the need for growth in IT talents pool, leading local IT companies (Eleks, lohika, N-iX, SoftServe, SymphonySolutions) were the first in Ukraine to establish a cluster, in collaboration with local Universities and city council.

Business services sector is a cornerstone of the Lviv Development Strategy for 2015. The city is committed to support companies interested to establish themselves in Lviv.

With innovation in cross-sector collaboration, over 1000 IT graduates supplied by local Universities and a growing number of high quality professionals joining Lviv IT industry from other parts of Ukraine, the city is continuously improving its capacity to accommodate the needs of IT industry, and transforming itself to a major outsourcing destination in Eastern and Central Europe.