Katowice – its industrial past and the future of IT projects
Katowice is the capital of the Silesian Voivodeship and the main city of the Silesian Metropolis, and the sixth-fastest developing city worldwide. The region of Silesia is widely known for its industrial past; however, nowadays the agglomeration is developing rapidly, creating a friendly environment for both Polish and international IT investment. The city is looking boldly to the future, attracting BPO, Shared Services Centers and software development investors thanks to its modern business infrastructure.
Major business investments:
- The International Congress Centre.
- Silesia Business Park.
- .KTW offices.
Should you wish to develop an IT project, be sure to include Katowice in your plans. According to recent reports, Katowice is one of the most popular cities for Information Technology projects, and IT is becoming an area of expertise for the city of Katowice.
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By setting up your project in Katowice, you will gain access to talented graduates and IT specialists from renowned universities, such as the Silesian University of Technology, the University of Silesia or the University of Economics. There are almost 12,000 engineering & technology students in Katowice, 8000 IT / ICT students, and more than 7000 people studying philology and foreign languages.
All this ensures investors access to experts with an excellent command of languages. Currently, there are almost 24,000 people employed in over 102 Business Services Centers (including BPO, SCC, IT and R&D centers).
Not without reason is Katowice chosen by global companies which appreciate access to high-class specialists and IT talents. Among the enterprises that have decided on Katowice are e.g. Fujitsu, IBM, Groupon, PwC, Deloitte, Rockwell Automation and Honeywell.
Katowice – important facts:
- 1st place in the fDi ranking of Polish Cities of the Future 2019/2020 (fDi Strategy category)
- The 6th fastest developing city in the world, according to the EMEA Tech Cities report
- 102 Business Services Centers
- 54 IT Centers
- Katowice rated ‘Good’ (A-) by Fitch
- 2 international airports: Pyrzowice (40 min by car) and Krakow (45 min)
- 51% of the 23,000 people working in the Business Services Sector are employed in IT
The City of Gardens
The city of Katowice is known as “the City of Gardens”. You may be surprised by the fact that almost 40% of this industrial region is made up of forests. Should you decide to set up your development center in Katowice, your employees will benefit from multiple green zones in the city, including Silesia Park, the biggest park in Europe – even bigger than Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London.
Some important green activities include:
- the Green Civic Budget for 2020 amounting to 5,000,000 PLN.
- anti-smog activities (including free public transport for motorists).
- the construction of urban apiaries to stop the mass extinction of honey bees.
Katowice – summary
It is not only the expertise of your direct business partner that determines the success of your project. When starting cooperation with a particular IT company, it is worth ensuring that it operates in a friendly business environment that creates space for further development. The city of Katowice has proven over the years that it understands the requirements and needs of international investors.
Read also: Why is it worthwhile outsourcing software development to Poland?
Sources:
https://raporty.proprogressio.pl/ (“Focus on Katowice”, 2020)
https://absl.pl/en/publications (“Business Services Sector in Poland”, 2020)
Business Development Manager with ten years of sales experience on international markets. At JCommerce, she is responsible for the development of the company's services in the Benelux countries and in France. In her private life, she loves reading (Scandinavian crime novels and professional literature about sales and negotiations), travelling and cooking.