Ukraine has become Europe’s #1 IT outsourcing and software development powerhouse

Nearly 100,000 Ukrainian programmers serve thousands of companies as the demand for IT workforce is constantly growing on the global market

In spite of the country’s recent political turbulence, Ukraine has seen its IT service and software R&D sector grow every year by double-digit figures. From Cisco, to Oracle, to Rakuten, to Samsung, more than a hundred global major tech firms conduct R&D activities in Ukraine, while an array of local IT outsourcing companies of all types and sizes serve clients worldwide.

The export volume of Ukraine’s software development industry reached at least $2.5 billion in 2015 (number 3 export sector. This is just a fraction of the country’s potential, taking into account its large and skilled workforce.

In partnership with local and international industry associations, Ukraine Digital News  is releasing the first comprehensive report on this industry.

KEY FINDINGS Ukraine’s IT service industry

• Ukraine has the largest and fastest-growing number of IT professionals in Europe; its IT engineering work force is expected to double to over 200,000 by 2022.
• Ukrainian outsourcing companies offer a wide range of engineering capabilities, with most companies having already switched to agile development over the past few years.
• The export volume of Ukraine’s software development industry reached at least $2.5 billion in 2015 (number 3 export sector), showing double digit growth year after year. This is just a fraction of the country’s potential, taking into account its large and skilled workforce.
• The US market is the main destination for Ukrainian IT firms, with an estimated 80% volume of exported services.

R&D facilities of global companies in Ukraine

• Ukraine is home to over 100 R&D subsidiaries of global companies from a variety of industries, including telecoms, software, gaming and e-commerce.
• A significant part of these global companies entered the Ukrainian market indirectly, through M&As, joint R&D with an outsourcing component, or outstaffing service companies.
• The United States remains Ukraine’s largest partner for joint R&D activities (around 45% of the companies involved), followed by EU countries and Israel.
• Kyiv (Kiev) is the most popular location in Ukraine for opening an R&D center, concentrating over half of all such bases in the country. Other key cities for R&D activity include Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv (Lvov), Odessa, Kharkiv (Kharkov) and Vinnytsia.

Source: Ukraine Digital News