Romania as a Growing Center of Software and Services Expertise
Romania is one of the most interesting markets in Europe for technology investment and trade, as well as a recognized partner for some of the world’s most demanding customers in IT services outsourcing, business process outsourcing, call center support and product development.
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2000-2007
Between 2002 and 2007, Romanian software industry registered CAGR of +20%, and at the beginning of 2008 the projected CAGR for the following 5 years was of at least 15%.
The last decade was quite a beneficial period for the local IT in industry: the number of companies tripled to 11.000, as well as the number of employees in the sector estimated at 60.000 in 2010 only for the software segment.
Romanian software companies used this accelerated growth period to accumulate knowledge, especially on the business side, gain customers and better position themselves on the regional and international market. Between 2005 and 2008 at least 15 major mergers & acquisitions and investment funds takeovers were a clear indicator of the rising interest for Romanian companies.
2008 to present
Despite significant slowdown in 2008 and 2009, accompanied by non-typical evolution of markets, niches and companies, the focus on increasing productivity and decreasing costs through technology was actually the winning card for Romanian software companies, both on the internal and external market.
According to preliminary estimates, 2010 seems to mark the post-crisis recovery year for Romanian software and services exporters. Both the number of projects and their value are on the rise, following the up-side curve of foreign partner companies’ crisis mitigation options.
General Info
Area: 231,391 km2 (92,043 sq mi.) (9th in EU)
Population: 21.6 Million (7th in EU)
GDP: 125 Bn EUR (2009)
Corporate tax: 16% flat, VAT level: 24%
Member of: EU, WTO, IMF, WB, NATO
Strategic location: at the crossing of 3 pan European transport corridors, holding the Eastern border of the inland European Union and at the turning point where EU meets the Balkans and CIS countries.
Main cities: Bucuresti, Iasi, Cluj Napoca, Timisoara, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Brasov
Industry Info
Main technology centers: Bucuresti, Timisoara, Cluj Napoca, Iasi, Brasov, Ploiesti, Sibiu, Craiova
International presence: Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent, Apple, Dell Perot Systems, EA Sports, Ericsson, Freescale, Genpact, HP, IBM, Infineon, Intel, IXIA, Microsoft, Oracle, Siemens, TechTeam, Wipro, WindRiver
Main competencies
- Business Applications: enterprise management, customer management, production cycle management
- Security Applications and Services
- Embedded Automotive Systems
- Product Design & Development Tools
- Development Services
- Consulting and Implementation
- Maintenance and Support
- Specialized Training
Opportunities for Development
- Encourage adoption of technology-based management systems
- Generate products and services to encourage new ways of doing business – web based services, mobile technologies etc.
- Create more products and services addressed to SMEs
- Educate customer demand for more innovative products and high value added services
- Identify sources of financing for new products and technologies