Poland is a key market for software outsourcing in Eastern Europe and a favorably located entryway into the region with the business style and culture that has a lot in common with Western Europe and North America. Poland’s highly concentrated IT marketplace is one of the most preferred outsourcing destinations nowadays increasingly attracting overseas attention.
Poland’s Krakow, commonly referred to as Europe’s “Silicon Valley”, represents Central and Eastern Europe’s technology hub. The city is the second-largest in the country and is one of its most important economic centers. Krakow is viewed as an optimal choice to conduct business, also proved by such global leaders as IBM, Capgemini, HCL, Hewitt, LogicaCMG, Philip Morris International, AES, Microsoft, who have their offices in the city. All in all, firms from the outsourcing sector employ 16,000 workers in 50 development centers within the city.
Established back in 1998, Krakow Technology Park (KTP) is one of the most significant factors of Krakow’s investment attractiveness. KTP is the city’s high-tech powerhouse harboring 15 higher education institutions and over 140 research centers. Special conditions are provided for investors in the branches of IT, electronics, communications, software and hardware, and material engineering.
The intellectual potential of Krakow is supported by 22 universities and 210,000 students in higher education – more than 30,000 new graduates a year, of which 8,000 are IT sciences graduates. There are altogether 8 universities in Krakow with IT degrees, among which the AGH University of Science & Technology and the Cracow University of Technology are the largest.
The demographic potential is another benefit of Krakow – approximately 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of the city. It is noteworthy, that about 60% of the city inhabitants are under the age of 45.
Many European IT companies chose Poland as their preferred outsourcing destination because of the communication, cultural, territorial, and quality issues that they find an essential advantage in software and IT services outsourcing. Poland is the country that is able to respond to most challenging IT outsourcing issues even for most demanding customers.