Krakow IT Market Report 2022

Krakow IT Market Report 2022 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH h REV 202205A Introduction 5 Krakow - growing through technology 6 About Krakow 7 Krakow - a beacon in an uncertain world 8 4 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Introduction Micha? Pi?tkowski Co-founder & CEO at MOTIFE It is with great pride that we present the 2022 edition of the Krakow IT Market report. Last year was marked by the continued investment in Krakow from technology companies of all shapes and sizes. We saw hundreds of already-present companies growing their footprint here, and the city welcomed about 20 new players to its tech scene. Krakow is proving to be a strategic location for technology companies and a key hub within the global IT market. The global tectonic changes in the IT labor market are one of the key trends influencing our local ecosystem. As an example, with the transition to remote- and hybrid-working models, the accessible tech talent pool has grown from 50 000 in Krakow and the surrounding region, to more than 300 000 IT professionals nationwide. Since the publication of the 2021 edition, we�ve received words of appreciation from numerous companies already in Krakow that are seeking to stay on top of market trends, as well as from potential new entrants to the market. Our aim with the Krakow IT Market report is to combine our market research with input from local experts and industry sources to create a single, comprehensive, and up-to-date source of information about Krakow�s IT market. The report wouldn�t be possible without the involvement of community leaders, local and international companies, and our friends from across the ecosystem. We thank them sincerely for their contributions. There is a great deal to be proud of and yet, at the time of publication, our thoughts are dominated by the plight of Ukraine and its people. Everyone we know stands united with Ukraine. With its established position as a global strategic IT hub, and Poland�s status as a member of NATO and the EU, Krakow acts as a safe harbor for both the people of Ukraine and tech organizations in the region. Wherever you are in the world, I wish you peace and enjoyable reading. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow - growing through technology Jerzy Muzyk Deputy Mayor of Krakow for Sustainable Development A city is nothing but the sum of its people � this is why all scenarios for Krakow�s development are based on its most valuable assets � the activity, knowledge, and creativity of its residents. With this in mind, the local government should do everything within its power to channel this positive energy and promote collaboration between all relevant partners to ensure the sustainable development of the city. The economy remains one of the key areas where this is possible, with IT sector making up an essential part of it. This is due to the extensive research and development facilities of our universities and our highly-renowned academic staff, well-educated people, and Krakow�s genius loci � combined, these create an attractive proposition for investors and companies active in the IT market, as well as with all of the digital dimensions of modern life. In line with the strategic goal of developing a knowledge-based economy, our city implements and supports a number of initiatives, following the strategic �smart city� paradigm � we understand this as the skillful use of the city�s resources to optimally meet the needs of the residents and respond to emerging challenges. Digital transformation, based on a strong foundation � the presence and operations of IT companies in and around the city is a prerequisite for creating a dynamic space and a modern city. Moreover, it enables positive change and makes Krakow an even better place to live and work. In a highly competitive global market, Krakow continues to attract young people who want to develop their talents here. This is made possible thanks to start-ups, which can grow dynamically and effectively attract investors by way of local incubators, venture capital, and access to funding, as well as by the reputations gained by the many highly specialized IT companies that operate here, in the City of Kings. In order to complement the attractive job market and the competency and talent development in the digital technology industry, we make sure that the city offers a high quality of life, work, and leisure. We are doing this by facilitating cooperation between all partners across a wide range of domains , including business, academia, local government, and residents. We do this to provide opportunities for growth for businesses operating in our friendly, open and safe city, and to enable them to bring their modern technologies to all. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 About Krakow 1.5M Population of Krakow metropolitan area 2nd Largest city in Poland 14M Tourists visiting Krakow annually (pre-COVID) 3% Krakow, the medieval capital of Poland, is the country�s second largest city with approximately 780 000 inhabitants. Krakow�s metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1.5 million people. Krakow is a visible sign of the success of a Polish transformation. Over the last 25 years the city has become the top outsourcing destination in the European Union. Global players such as ABB, Motorola, IBM, UBS, Shell, Cisco, Capgemini and Motorola have established their business service hubs here. Krakow is also a vibrant city with over 140 000 students at local universities and over 14 million tourists visiting every year. The city has been named one of the top tourist destinations by many reviewers including CNN or The Telegraph. Krakow is located in the southern part of the country. The city is well connected with Europe with its airport featuring direct flights to major European cities and international business hubs such as New-York, Chicago and Dubai. Since 2012, Computer Science has been the most popular field of study among Polish students. Krakow, as a university town, not only turns out over 2 300 new ICT graduates every year, but, as a business hub, attracts talent from other cities and countries. Sources: krakow.stat.gov.pl, krakow.pl, krakowairport.pl. December 2021 Unemployment rate in Krakow Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow - a beacon in an uncertain world Andrew Hallam General Secretary at ASPIRE Krakow�s evolution challenges the very notion of offshore; more than a source of attractively priced, skilled labour, Krakow is a compelling strategic choice, a safe haven, a first port of call, a trusted partner, and a source of expertise. This report is being published at a time when war is raging in Ukraine. Just 150 miles from Ukraine�s western border, Krakow has demonstrated great solidarity with its neighbour, welcoming as many as 150 000 Ukrainians displaced by the war, alongside the nearly 60 000 already settled in the city. Krakow�s admirable and lightning response to the plight of its neighbours demonstrates the same characteristics that have helped the city emerge � and thrive � as a major global hub for the tech industry. The same qualities of resilience, energy, enthusiasm, creative thinking, resourcefulness, and strong sense of community that have enabled the city to respond so quickly to the current crisis are also the very qualities that equip Krakow companies to compete so successfully on the global stage � hardly missing a beat during the pandemic and responding to the ebb and flow of economic events. As this report demonstrates, companies large and small, established and new, continue to set up or expand their scope in Krakow, with the tech and business services population now exceeding 100 000, and many of the world�s leading corporations playing active roles in a rich, diverse, and robust ecosystem. With every new arrival and with every extension of scope, the city gains something new, its talent pool swells, and its networks and connections become stronger. All of this makes the city more diverse, more mature, and better equipped to help companies to navigate and thrive in uncertainty. At ASPIRE, we look forward to helping shape the next chapter of Krakow�s evolution, confident in the city�s capacity to sustain its remarkable growth trajectory, eager to consolidate and build on the city�s status as Europe�s No.1 location for tech and business services. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 9 144 Stand with Ukraine At the time this report was being finalized (March 2022), Europe was facing arguably the most-concerning security crisis since World War II, with the invasion of the Republic of Ukraine by Russian Federation troops. The events in Ukraine and neighboring countries are already having an influence on the the Krakow tech scene and it is highly likely that they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Krakow as a Safe Harbor MOTIFE, ASPIRE and our partners stand with Ukraine, and are committed to promoting Krakow as a safe harbor for Ukraine-based tech companies, and Ukrainian IT professionals and their families. As the situation evolves, it is possible that some of the analysis and predictions in this section become obsolete. Here we seek to report on early effects and the possible implications for the Krakow tech scene in the near future. Future editions of this report may provide more-detailed information and insight on how the events in impact the Krakow IT landscape. Impact of war on the region�s and Krakow IT Market The outbreak of war in Ukraine has had a real and significant impact on the tech talent in the region. � There are approximately 200 000 Ukrainian software engineers and IT professionals. Some of them left their professions to bear arms. The most visible impact is business continuity driven attempt of international companies to find alternative to their locations in Ukraine. � Approximately 400 000 Russia-based IT professionals are no longer available or eligible to be considered by non-Russian companies due to sanctions or moral stances (i.e. to avoid investing in Russia) prompted by Russia�s invasion of Ukraine. Even in those instances where companies feel comfortable continuing to work with Russia-based service providers or contractors, sanctions placed on Russian financial institutions and decisions by financial services providers to prevent the influx of funds into Russia could make payment for services impossible. � A further 50 000 engineers from Belarus can also be discounted due to the country�s association with Russia and the decision by many institutions to extend their boycott of Russia to its ally. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 With global demand for software and IT professionals already high, a decreased availability of couple hundred thousand engineers will naturally have ramifications for availability and cost. Poland has a major role to play in this scenario: � Many companies that had been considering Ukraine, Russia or Belarus either as locations to hire or to set up operations will likely now look at Poland. � Many projects, teams, and companies previously located in Ukraine will now be looking for alternative locations. Poland, and Krakow in particular, will be among the preferred alternatives for both of the aforementioned scenarios. 650K Estimated total number of engineers and IT professionals in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus Map of talent pool in Central and Eastern Europe, as of 2021 Sources: Nofluffjob�s Specialists in Central-Eastern Europe, 2021, Atomico�s State of European Tech 2019 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Impact of war on talent relocation to Krakow The effects of Russia�s invasion of Ukraine were felt within one week of the first military strikes. Since the end of February 2022, we have observed the following: � Strong interest in relocating teams previously based in Ukraine to Krakow and to diversify regional footprints by adding a Krakow location. � IT companies located in Krakow, if previously opened to hiring Ukrainians, now made it a priority and an explicit goal to increase the number of people from Ukraine among their staff. � Legal, HR, IT companies of the city run initiatives to help people of Ukraine settle here and find a job. This include advisory, guidance or even CV writing workshops. � Krakow-based companies, such as Brainly, are offering assistance and relocation packages to new employees originating from Ukraine. Wherever possible, the intention is for such packages to cover transport, shipping of possessions, accommodation and official permits for the employee and their family. � Increase in demand for serviced offices, co-working spaces and subleases as a result of companies relocating Ukrainian staff to Krakow, or Ukrainian professionals that have been forced to leave their home country and now require suitable facilities in order to continue their professional duties. � People of Krakow help Ukrainians find jobs by reaching out to their networks in channels like LinkedIn. � On countless occasions, IT companies showed their support by offering donations, encouraging volunteering activities among their staff or even converting sections of their offices to temporary refuges for people from Ukraine. In general, we expect an increase in the number of companies seeking to set up operations and hire in Krakow. However, it is currently too early to see how significant this effect will be Focus Wix.com quickly relocates and expands in Krakow At the start of February 2022, just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Wix.com, the world-renowned cloud-based drag-and-drop website builder, arranged for the relocation of 45 members of staff and their families from Ukraine to Krakow, as reported in an article published in the Washington Post. The Israeli- founded company, which has been present in Krakow since its acquisition of Modalyst in 2021, quickly found and rented additional office space and arranged accommodation for its relocated staff and their families. It has also been supporting the rest of its Ukraine-based staff with their evacuation efforts. Whether it proves to be a long-term solution or temporary, the decision by such a renowned organization to move a large part of its operations to Krakow, is a major vote of confidence in the city but also highlights the possibility of increased pressure on the supply of high-quality office space 12 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 13 144 Key findings Growth of the talent pool 50K in Krakow 300K in Poland The IT Talent pool in Krakow grows by around 10% each year, driven by new graduates and candidates from other cities and neighboring countries attracted by career opportunities. Two years of pandemic conditions have decoupled the idea of place of living and place of work, increasing flexibility and enabling companies to access a national talent pool of 300 000 engineers and IT professionals. Largest IT employers The largest 5 employers of IT talent in Krakow account for close to 10 000 engineers and As per IT headcount: #1 Comarch, #2 HSBC, #3 Aptiv, #4 Motorola, #5 EPAM IT specialists. The top 20 large corporations account for 20 000 engineers and IT professionals. Almost 20 new IT players New companies continue to set up in Krakow, adding to the booming tech scene Among the new arrivals, there were 3 recognized unicorns (Project44, Bitpanda and BlockFi), demonstrating that Krakow appeals to companies of all shapes and sizes, and from a variety of sectors. By the end of 2022, these companies are expected to employ more than 1 000 IT professionals in Krakow. Fintech momentum The Fintech scene is booming, enhanced by the arrival of 2 unicorns (Bitpanda and BlockFi) 5 unicorns and over 1.5K engineers and IT professionals employed in Krakow Fintech scene and a growing representation from the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, financial and commodity trading, digital banking, and more. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Increased demand for tech talent Employers working harder to appeal to candidates Continued digitalization of the global economy means that demand for tech talent continues to rise. Candidates can afford to wait for approaches and are likely to wait for the right opportunity (company fit, tech stack, mission) before changing jobs. Employers are having to work harder to differentiate and appeal to discerning tech talent. Quality, not cost Ongoing IT market globalization means that Krakow stands out for quality more than cost. With the ongoing globalization of the IT market, costs and salaries are aligning around the world. Despite rising costs, Krakow remains an affordable destination, but cost is no longer the main factor. Availability, quality, time-to- hire, low attrition, and culture matter more to companies considering Krakow. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Chapter 1 Tech ecosystem 20K Estimated number of engineers employed by large IT companies in 300+ FTEs development centers in Krakow 50K Estimated number of engineers and IT professionals working in Krakow region 2.35K Number of Computer Science students graduating yearly from Krakow universities Sources: stats.gov.pl, MOTIFE Insights In this chapter, you will find information about which companies are present in Krakow, and about the academic and business ecosystem that contributes so strongly to Krakow�s appeal. You will also learn from leaders of Krakow-based companies about their reasons for establishing operations in Krakow, their experiences, and their plans for the future. Firmly established as one of Central and Eastern Europe�s most important technology centers, Krakow�s technology and business scene continues to go from strength to strength, demonstrating its resilience and appeal despite the global economic and societal disruption caused by the pandemic. Early arrivals to Krakow continue to grow and many are expanding their scope of services, new companies of all shapes and sizes continue to come, and more and more Polish companies are establishing themselves as major players on the market. The city is also growing in importance in the dynamic startup scene, with a growing number of unicorns and VC-backed players now calling Krakow their home. Despite the disruption to education caused by the pandemic, the city�s strong academic and business ecosystem continues to develop large numbers of candidates with strong technical skills, while fostering relationships between talent, investment, and business. Whether companies are looking to strengthen their existing teams, expand their scope or create game-changing new products, platforms or services, Krakow is better prepared than ever to satisfy the need. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Large companies The largest IT companies in Krakow List of the largest IT companies in Krakow (300+ engineers/IT professionals) The Krakow IT market has a fair portion of big players. At least 80% of these large companies are software engineering centers focusing on software development and service delivery. Company Name Number of employees in Krakow Number of engineers/IT professionals in Krakow Country of origin Krakow office setup year Key competencies Comarch 3 480 2 430 Poland 1993 Java, .NET, Scala, System Solutions Systems Corporation Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Java, C++, IBM 3 000 710 United States 2005 Virtualization and Cloud technologies SII Group 800 700 France Java, .NET, 2011 Embedded, C++, Cloud Capgemini* 2 640 640 France 2003 Systems engineers Nokia Networks* 670 600 Finland 2010 C, Linux, Networking Luxoft* 650 500 Russia 2010 Java, .NET Ericsson* 580 480 Sweden 2003 Java, C++ Akamai Technologies* 680 440 United States 2011 Java, Python, Scala, React Grand Parade 470 410 United Kingdom Java, Scala, 2011 React, node.js, Angular Pegasystems 450 320 United States Java, Kotlin, 2005 React, JavaScript, Go, Pega Ocado 350 300 United Kingdom 2010 Java, Linux, Networking Sources: based on data provided by companies mentioned *LinkedIn insights (January 2022), headcount likely understated by 20-40% Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Przemys?aw Zakrzewski Head of Corporate Technology Center at ABB In 2022, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of our ABB R&D operations in Krakow, which is one of only seven such ABB centers worldwide. We will also celebrate the sixth birthday of our Global Business Services (GBS) Center � the most prominent in the ABB Group. Across R&D and GBS, ABB employs more than 2,200 people in Krakow and our teams here support some of the key functions in the ABB business � from research, to purchasing and finance, and front- line customer support. Krakow is a strategic location for ABB. We have built and expanded our presence on the strength of the city�s academic excellence and the presence of leading research and scientific institutions, as well as our collaboration with leading universities and the support of EU funding. The modern laboratory facilities at our campus and at the Krakow University of Technology are testament to the strength of the local ecosystem and collaboration. Krakow is one of our most important locations � it is home to core functions and teams, and the source of great pride and globally recognized achievements, such as: � Location for ABB�s only center of excellence for the digitalization of ABB products. � The origin of future digital solutions powered by the ABB Ability cloud platform, based on Microsoft Azure. � The location where ABB designs and develops production management systems for the manufacturing, food and petrochemical industries, used in 150 of the largest factories and manufacturing plants in the world. � Home to the ABB Marine Software Development Center, which develops software and integrated systems for the marine industry. � Source of pioneering new solutions for use in electro-mobility and Formula E. Some of ABB�s major differentiating capabilities are based in Krakow and our presence in the city is an integral part of our global footprint. We are proud of our growth in the city and proud of our contribution to the city�s development as a major tech hub in the world. It�s safe to say that for the last 25 years Krakow and ABB have been living in true symbiosis. We look forward to the next 25 years. 20 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view EPAM has been present in the Krakow market since 2011 and currently employs almost 2 000 people in this branch. We have five established locations in Poland with more than 4 000 EPAMers delivering digital transformation solutions to our clients, helping them to reimagine their business through a digital lens. Kamil Dowlaszewicz Country Head, EPAM Poland In 2021, almost 800 talented professionals joined our Krakow team and together, the teams launched many successful projects.. Last year we also significantly expanded our healthcare and life science projects portfolio and developed our delivery capabilities for gaming and entertainment. What our employees value most are clearly defined career paths and the possibility of continuous professional, multi-dimensional development, no matter if they are junior or experienced engineers, Project or Delivery Managers, or if they want to grow as Technology Consultants. Focus on this aspect, combined with multiple company and people- driven initiatives and programs enabled through our cherished startup mindset, make us recognized as a Great Place To Work�. 22 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view 2022 marks a very important milestone for Cisco Krakow. We will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of our site. We started back in 2012 with 80 people on board, and now, 10 years later, we are the biggest Cisco site in EMEAR, with 2 200+ working in Krakow. Jacek Przybylski Krakow Site Lead at Cisco My priorities for Cisco Krakow are threefold: to continue the development of the site, not only in terms of headcount but mainly in terms of our teams� seniority and site maturity; to move Cisco Krakow even higher up the value chain by adding new competencies and specialized functions strategic to Cisco, also in advanced areas of engineering; and to nurture the unique Cisco Krakow culture of inclusion, diversity and giving back to the community. In terms of our business focus, Security, Software, and Innovation are top priority areas for us in Krakow. We have Cisco�s only Security Operations Center in EMEAR located on our campus, and a team of 300 specialists in various security roles. We have also recently become a hub for Cisco acquisitions like AppDynamics and ThousandEyes, delivering Software Engineering support to our customers across EMEAR. And we have 20 patents developed by our engineers in Krakow that either already are or will soon be implemented in our products and services. Our goal as a site is not only to evolve in alignment with the transformation of the company but to be at its forefront. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 23 144 Non-IT companies hiring engineers in Krakow List of the largest non-IT companies hiring engineers in Krakow (300+ engineers/IT professionals) Approximately 100 000 people work for corporate business centers in Krakow and 40% of them are IT specialists. Other functions located here include various financial roles, customer service, procurement, HR, or marketing. Many companies started by employing non-IT personnel and then expanded to hire technology specialists. With that, there are also non-IT companies in Krakow that employ significant numbers of engineers. These are primarily financial institutions, such as UBS (Switzerland) or HSBC (United Kingdom). Name and sector Number of employees in Krakow Number of engineers/IT professionals in Krakow Country of origin Krakow office setup year Key competencies HSBC (Financial Services) (Financial Services) 5 200 2 200 United Java, JavaScript, 2010 Python, Data integration Java, JavaScript, (Tobacco) (Oil & Gas) Kingdom (Financial Services) (Financial Services) IG (Financial Services) United Kingdom Java, C++, 2015 Android dev, Python Sources: based on data provided by companies mentioned *LinkedIn insights (January 2022), headcount likely understated by 20-40% Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Focus ASPIRE � Association of IT and Business Services Companies Established in 2008, ASPIRE brings together key players in developing the Krakow tech and business services sector under one umbrella. ASPIRE is acknowledged as being a key player in Krakow�s rise to the position of the top ranked location for global services in Europe. ASPIRE currently has 160 members, comprising leading multinational companies operating delivery and development centers in Krakow and companies providing support services to the industry. The association takes a city-centric approach to the development of the industry, through the organization of conferences or events, the publication of reports and surveys such as the ASPIRE Headcount Tracker, and the facilitation of networking and information sharing between members. aspire.org.pl Krakow IT Market Report 2022 25 144 Start-ups landscape Krakow, dynamic start-up city It would be a platitude to say that everything has changed in the start-up scene in Krakow over the last 20 years. From being a deserted land with only a handful of businesses that could be called start-ups, Krakow now has a growing ecosystem of new ventures that operate internationally. There are incubators, business angels, advisers, and access to funding at both private and public levels. Start-ups in Krakow attract investors and receive the highest funding in Poland. According to the report �Polish start-ups� from the Start-up Poland Foundation, as many as 40% of companies that have acquired over 10M PLN ($2.6M) from investors, come from Krakow, Krakow being number one before Wroclaw, Warsaw, Tricity region and the rest of Poland. Krakow�s leading position in investments comes from the existence of a truly connected start- up ecosystem, including incubators, mentors, investors and organizations collaborating with start-ups, such as the Foundation Supporting #OMGKRK or the Krakow Technology Park. $148.5M Total funding received by the most successful Krakow start-up Brainly since its creation in 2009 Start-up associations, accelerators and incubators for young entrepreneurs have helped start-ups to flourish in Krakow. Below you will find the five most active organizations that help develop start-up businesses in Krakow: � Krakow Technology Park and its Technology Incubator � Foundation Supporting #OMGKRK - Krakow Start-up Community � hubraum, Deutsche Telekom�s tech incubator � #Start-up Ma?opolska, the regional accelerator of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship � Foundation ��Krakow City of Start-ups�� There are at least 150 companies in Krakow that meet the criteria of a start-up. There are three very specific areas where Krakow start-ups specialize. � The first group of start-ups are IoT ventures which includes Silvair, EMBETECH, Airly, SEEDia, Husarion, Findair, Estimote, Elmodis or Kontakt.io � The second group focuses on Sales & Marketing tools/services. The list here includes Zendesk Sell (formerly BASE), CallPage, Codewise, Synerise, SALESManago, FreshMail, Edward or edrone. � And the third group, Game Studios. Over 20% of Polish game studios are based or have offices in Krakow, including Infinity Ward/ Activision (Call of Duty), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077) and Gamesture (Questland). Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Katarzyna Wysocka Director of Department for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Municipality of Krakow In recent years, video games have become the fastest-growing creative industry worldwide. Due to the fact that gamers have been growing up with the industry, today both adults and children enjoy this kind of entertainment. All signs point to continued growth for this market, based on the fact that we spend more and more time in the virtual worlds. Access to games is also getting better � distribution networks make it easier to buy, sell, and enjoy digital content , which increases the visibility of games released by smaller studios. These days, games are created not only by large corporations, but also by start-ups and individual developers. The growth of this sector goes hand in hand with the development of the services market � the video game sector has a positive impact on the entire economy, brings in new jobs, and helps companies that are not directly involved in developing games to grow as well. Thanks to e-sports and pop culture events, the market for event services and � indirectly � tourism is also growing. The gaming industry today encompasses not only the production and distribution of games and hardware, but also a growing galaxy of related businesses. Krakow is home to an annual international gaming industry event � Digital Dragons � a highly renowned conference and trade show, ranked as one of the key meetings of its kind in Europe. The DD Awards, Poland�s most important annual awards in the games industry, are also presented here. Set to celebrate its tenth edition in 2022, the Digital Dragons events regularly attracts more than 1 400 attendees. Importantly for the city of Krakow, the gaming industry is attractive to investors. Last year alone, global giant Tencent invested in two Krakow studios � The Parasight and Bloober Team. Game developers, service companies, and manufacturers of gaming hardware are becoming increasingly important creators of the vision of modern Krakow, as well as sources of the revenue that enables us to deliver on this vision. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 27 144 Start-ups born in Krakow The following list includes 15 of the most successful start-ups born in Krakow, selected according to their respective Crunchbase Ranking. Together, these 15 companies have raised over $400M in total funding since their creation. Although originally from Krakow, The most successful start-ups from Krakow according to Crunchbase ranking some start-ups such as Estimote, Kontakt.io or Silvair now have their headquarters located in the United States while continuing to run and grow they R&D centers in Krakow. Name and sector #1 Brainly (EdTech) Year founded and total funding 2009 $148.5M Description and Crunchbase ranking Brainly is the place to learn, for students, by students. The world�s largest social learning network with 350 million users monthly. CB ranking: 1 088 brainly.com #2 SALESmanago (Marketing automation) 2011 $7.7M SALESmanago operates a cloud-based online marketing automation platform used by over 10 000 customers in over 40 countries. CB ranking: 6 830 salesmanago.com #3 Synerise (Software, Sales. Marketing) #4 Kontakt.io (IoT) #5 Estimote (IoT) 2013 $19.2M 2013 $8.3M 2012 $29.6M Synerise produces a Big Data and AI platform that allows users to process data in real time from various sources based on proprietary database systems and proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms. CB ranking: 12 160 synerise.com Kontakt.io builds secure and configurable beacon hardware and software to power competitive proximity-based solutions. CB ranking: 14 953 kontakt.io Estimote is a technology start-up, building a sensor-based context and micro-location platform for mobile developers. CB ranking: 16 501 estimote.com #6 edrone (CRM, Marketing & Sales automation) 2014 $5.9M Edrone is an autonomous e-commerce CRM platform that provides advanced marketing automation solutions. CB ranking: 17 044 edrone.me Krakow IT Market Report 2022 #7 Airly (IoT) 2016 $6,4M Airly specializes in providing hyper-local data about air pollution. It empowers individuals and communities with knowledge about the air they breathe. CB ranking: 17 527 airly.eu #8 Talent Alpha (Software, HR) 2018 $5M Talent Alpha is a human cloud platform that connects global enterprises with European software houses, offering tech talent as a service. CB ranking: 19788 talent-alpha.com #9 Onteon (Software) 2015 $0.7M Onteon is a software stack to orchestrate, scale, communicate and manage modern applications and legacy ones in an efficient and effortless way. CB ranking: 28 397 onteon.com #10 CallPage (Software, Sales) 2011 $6.7M CallPage is an ICT SaaS company that converts website visitors into sales calls. CB ranking: 30 473 callpage.io #11 LiveKid (EdTech) 2017 $2.4M LiveKid is the most popular system for kindergartens and nurseries in the EU and includes tools for communication with parents, settlements and documentation. CB ranking: 31 331 livekid.com #12 HCM Deck (Software) 2017 $4.2M HCM Deck empowers enterprise business and HR management to deliver employee development experience at scale, thanks to enterprise-grade solutions embedded into user management, roles, and permissions. CB ranking: 42 427 hcmdeck.com #13 Mobiltek (Software) 2002 $29.7M Mobiltek is a software house specialized in online and mobile payments. CB ranking: 45 389 mobiltek.pl #14 Sinterit (3D Printing) 2014 $3.7M Sinterit specializes in development of SLS 3D printers. CB ranking: 46 250 sinterit.com #15 Silvair (IoT) 2013 $23.3M Silvair is a turnkey smart lighting platform enabling manufacturers to provide an enhanced lighting experience. CB ranking: 48 287 silvair.com #unlisted Zendesk Sell (formerly BASE) (Software, Sales) 2009 $85.5M Zendesk Sell (formerly BASE) is a service-first CRM company that builds software designed to improve customer relationships. CB ranking: 1 106 zendesk.com/sell Sources: crunchbase.com, January 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Rajesh Bysani Chief Product Officer at Brainly Brainly is the leading global, online learning platform that provides over 350 million students, parents, and educators from over 35 countries with the collaborative tool they need to succeed in any educational environment. 2021 was a huge year for Brainly as we continued to introduce new products and tech-driven solutions to help students thrive in this challenging learning environment. We even grew our team to over 400 employees globally, which makes us one of the biggest Polish startups in operation. In March we launched Math Solver. With our Snap to Solve feature, Math Solver provides simple step-by-step solutions by just taking a photo of the problem or writing it into a mobile device�s touchscreen. Powered by AI, this product gives users another always available tool for tackling the most challenging subject for middle and high school aged students. In May we rolled out another first of its kind product in the U.S., Brainly Tutor which is an affordable subscription service connecting students with real-time access to live chat support for subjects such as Math and Physics. Resulting in very impressive user stats, we expect to roll this out globally in 2022. Brainly Tutor has become a go-to resource for many students who would have otherwise been unable to afford or access traditional in-person tutoring. Additionally, throughout 2021, Brainly users and staff experts continued to add even more solutions to our ever-growing Knowledge Base, which now holds over 200 million answers to the most frequently asked questions in middle and high school coursework. This database is the heart of the Brainly platform and is drawn upon by our AI-powered products such as Math Solver to make thousands of homework help recommendations a day. Finally, one of the newest additions to Brainly is the Dextbook Detective, a product feature which allows users to uncover more from their textbooks by browsing expert explanations and practice on questions straight from the books. We�re going to continue the momentum in 2022 by constantly improving and expanding product offering to more users. With over 350 million users in 35 countries - we have many students, parents, and teachers relying on us for homework help than ever before. We consider this a huge privilege, and responsibility. That said, the demand for innovative edtech products has never been higher which really gives the whole team a sense of purpose and pride when we continue to deliver the solutions users are looking for. 30 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 31 144 Foreign start-ups with offices in Krakow Selected foreign start-ups with offices/hiring engineers in Krakow The Krakow start-up ecosystem does not only consist of Polish start-ups, but also includes foreign businesses that have decided to set up offices in Krakow. Here are examples of foreign start-ups that opened a subsidiary in Poland and are well-established in the city. Name and sector Country and year founded Description bidroom (Hospitality) The Netherlands 2014 bidroom is a membership-based travel club and online booking platform that offers hotels and apartments at discounted room rates across the globe. bidroom.com Karhoo (Mobility) UK 2016 Karhoo is one of the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) leaders, operating a B2B platform model for people transportation and building a digital marketplace that connects fleets with travel & hospitality brands. karhoo.com Expert view Karhoo is a UK-based mobility start-up, we build mobility solutions for the world�s largest brands. We opened our Krakow office in March 2019 and it now counts around 50 team members, working across various areas such as Software, IT Infrastructure, Finance and Support. Bill Wilkins Group CTO / CPO at Karhoo To enter new markets, we needed to scale up our engineering capabilities quickly. What we found in Krakow was a great talent pool and the possibility of building a larger team thanks to reduced operational and labor costs. With the opening of our primary development center in Krakow, we exceeded our objectives of transformation and the Krakow team has proven to be a key contributor to the rapid development of Karhoo�s platform. 32 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Esatto (Digital agency) Sweden 2013 Esatto is a digital agency offering an extensive expertise in digital communication, from strategic consulting, concept development, design, system development and management of the solutions tailor-made for their customers. esatto.se Revolut (Fintech) UK 2015 Revolut is a world-renowned Fintech company offering digital banking services to its users via online and mobile applications, offering customers a digital alternative to traditional banks. revolut.com MojoRank (AI/Recruitment) USA 2017 MojoRank is a Silicon Valley start-up focusing on building the next generation of AI technology for the talent acquisition industry, allowing recruitment teams to increase their productivity by speeding up the decision and hiring process. mojorank.com DataFeedWatch (Marketing/Sales) USA 2012 DataFeedWatch offers data feed optimization and management software that integrates with the most popular eCommerce platforms, providing marketers with detailed cost and revenue data on product level. datafeedwatch.com NEXTA (AI/Media) Denmark 2017 NEXTA created the first AI-driven Sales and Media Activation Platform tailor-made for digital media and commerce companies, enabling them to increase value for their customers by unlocking new advertising demand with intelligent automation. nexta.io FLYR Labs (Mobility) project44 (Supply chain) USA 2012 USA 2014 FLYR Labs is a provider of commercial intelligence and automation across the travel and transportation industry. It has developed a deep learning platform to help airlines price and plan flights. flyrlabs.com project44 is a provider of an advanced supply chain visibility platform for shippers and third-party logistics firms. project44.com W1TTY (Fintech) Stonly (B2B SaaS) Kitopi (Food Tech) UK 2020 France � Poland & USA 2018 United Arab Emirates 2018 W1TTY is a financial app that renders scholarship programs, financial products and services for people and businesses. www.w1tty.com Stonly is a platform to create and distribute interactive guides without code. From interactive knowledge bases to in-app product tours and contextual help, Stonly provides an all-in-one solution for onboarding, product adoption, support and internal training. stonly.com Kitopi is a Kitchen as a Service (KaaS) platform that enables restaurants to open delivery-only locations by providing the necessary managed infrastructure and software with minimal capital expenditure and time. kitopi.com Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view What have you been able to achieve with Kitopi in the last 2 years? Marcin Welner VP of Engineering at Kitopi What is Kitopi? Kitopi is a tech-powered food company founded in 2018, in Dubai. Today, we operate a network of over 100 kitchens in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. As a managed cloud kitchen platform, Kitopi became known for the ability to help restaurants and F&B brands scale and expand their reach in as little as 14 days. One of the fastest growing startup companies in the MENA region operating a portfolio of both invested and franchised F&B brands, we serve as enablers in the food market by helping brands to grow and scale while providing services around (but not limited to) sourcing, preparing, producing, cooking and packaging- both in the delivery and dine-in space. In 2019, we opened our main engineering hub in Krakow. Our engineering hub is focused on accelerating the evolution of our tech platform, so that Kitopi can offer more services and solutions to clients, enable them to enhance the experience for diners, and to facilitate global expansion for Kitopi and our clients. We have achieved a lot of success in the last two years. At the global company level, we closed two financing rounds, which resulted in the value of the company surpassing the $1B mark. We also expanded to several new markets. Globally, the demand for �contactless� ways to enjoy �eat out� experiences has intensified as a result of the pandemic. This is an acceleration of an existing trend that is expected to continue into the future. In Krakow, we�ve successfully created a state- of-the-art engineering hub that � thanks to an intensive recruitment effort in the second half of 2021 � now employs more than 70 engineers. Our team boasts a variety of specializations, from Java and Front-end Developers, through to DevOps and Data Science. Today, the Krakow center is Kitopi�s primary global R&D center. To what do you attribute your success? As a company, Kitopi has been steadfast in delivering its mission and to always listen to our customers. This has enabled the company to succeed and grow at an impressive rate. We must also acknowledge the hard work, commitment and technical expertise of our global team, without which this level of success would be impossible. How do you facilitate collaboration between the Krakow and Dubai teams? We invest a lot of time and effort into making sure that the core Kitopi values are embraced globally. To achieve success, we first had to acknowledge and truly understand the cultural differences between our regional teams. Equipped with a stronger understanding of this, we were then able to build a culture that is inclusive, celebrates diversity, and empowers both people and the company to thrive. 34 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Of course, the pandemic made life a little more challenging. However, as a tech company, we pride ourselves in finding tech solutions to overcome challenges. When conditions permitted, we�ve been able to send 30 members of our Poland team to Dubai and have also been able to bring some of our Dubai-based colleagues to Poland. These trips range in duration from a couple of days to 1-2 months, and they enable people to meet their teams, be fully onboarded, and kick off new projects. As a product company, we consider these opportunities for colleagues to meet in person essential. Our teams work closely together for extended periods of time, so it�s vital that they have the opportunity to get to know each other, understand different work styles, and enjoy each others� company in person. Such interactions have helped us build a solid foundation for the ongoing success and growth of Kitopi. What are your plans in Krakow for 2022? We want to continue to build our capabilities in Krakow. Our goal is to attract the best candidates from Krakow�s rich talent pool, double our headcount in Poland, and cement the Krakow center�s status as Kitopi�s primary engineering hub. To help us achieve this, we will be predominantly focused on hiring the best Java developers and Data engineers. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Unicorns in Krakow As of February 2022, there are 1 000 unicorns (VC-funded private companies valued at USD 1 billion) in the world, according to CB Insights. While a Polish-born company hasn�t yet made the unicorn list, the dynamic growth of companies like eObuwie (an online footwear retailer) and Docplanner (MedTech) suggests that we won�t have to wait too much longer. For now, Brainly (EdTech) is arguably the best bet for the title of first Krakow-born unicorn � the company behind the fast-growing peer- to-peer learning platform has raised the most funding among Krakow-born startups and the EdTech sector is forecast to grow by an average of 15% per year over the next five years. Despite the current lack of a Polish-born unicorn, the unicorn scene is well represented in Krakow, with eight such organizations currently operating in the city and tapping into the city�s pool of IT talent and expertise. 8 unicorns with R&D centers in Krakow Foodtech Dubai, UAE Fintech San Francisco, USA Fintech Vienna, Austria Fintech Jersey City, USA Fintech London, UK Supply chain Chicago, USA Software Chicago, USA Fintech London, UK Source: cbinsights.com, The Complete List Of Unicorn Companies, February 2022, Global EdTech Market Outlook & Forecast Report 2022. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Focus InPost, the EUR 2.6 billion Krakow giant InPost has been a major disruptor in the logistics and e-commerce sectors � first in Poland and then internationally � thanks to its introduction of self-serve InPost parcel lockers and courier services. The growth of the InPost locker network has facilitated the rise of e-commerce in Poland and elsewhere, and the contactless nature of delivery means that InPost (and companies that use its services) was optimally positioned to thrive during the pandemic. In the twelve months to 30 June 2021, InPost handled 381 million parcel deliveries through its networks in Poland, France, the UK, Italy, Benelux, and Iberia. Established in Krakow in 2006, InPost introduced its first lockers in Poland in 2009, before expanding into courier services in 2015. The company has successfully expanded into markets like Italy, France, the UK, and many others. It has achieved this via acquisitions (e.g. Mondial Relay in France) and partnerships with local players (e.g. TotalErg and Repsol in Italy, and supermarket chains Tesco and Lidl in the UK). Indeed, the acquisition of Mondial Relay in July 2021 resulted in InPost becoming Europe�s leading out-of-home automated solution for e-commerce. As of April 2022, InPost�s market capitalization is EUR 2.6 billion. Based on its market capitalization, the parent company, Integer.pl, could easily qualify as a unicorn but chose different routes to raise capital. Fintech companies Fintech in Poland The number of companies operating in the Fintech industry in Poland has increased by more than one- third (35%) since the onset of the pandemic (Q1 2020), according to The Map of Polish Fintech 2021, a report by cashless.pl that surveyed 273 Fintech companies in Poland. Companies focused on payment solutions account for the largest category of Fintech companies in Poland, and Warsaw is the most popular location for the headquarters of Polish Fintech companies or Poland offices of international Fintech companies. Krakow Fintech scene driven by international companies Krakow welcomed the arrival of some major Fintech players in 2021. The decisions by Bitpanda and BlockFi � both major global players in cryptocurrency trading and recognized unicorns � to open offices in Krakow were strong votes of confidence in the city�s talent pool and solid evidence of its appeal to foreign Fintechs. It also demonstrates the strong position that Krakow has attained within the cryptocurrency domain. Bitpanda and BlockFi joined Revolut and SpotOn as Krakow- 30+ Fintech players with R&D centers in Krakow based Fintech unicorns that are advancing the adoption and trading of digital assets. Although Krakow trails slightly behind Warsaw and Poznan (which has developed a reputation as a hotbed for digital payment services and innovation for the Polish market) in terms of the number of Fintech companies present, the city is perhaps strongest in attracting foreign Fintech companies and Polish Fintech companies that are operating globally. 5 Fintech unicorns with R&D centers in Krakow Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Krakow, with its globally-renowned developers, an exciting local tech scene, and geographical proximity to Vienna, made it a pretty clear choice for Bitpanda. Krzysztof Ras VP of Engineering and Head of Bitpanda Technology Poland Bitpanda is a Fintech company based in Vienna, Austria founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer. For the last seven years, Bitpanda has been working on making investments accessible for all. Initially offering cryptocurrencies, the company developed its offering by adding tokenized digital assets such as precious metals and fractional stocks to the platform, allowing anyone to start investing with a minimum of just one euro. With a straightforward signing up process from your phone or laptop, the company allows you to create an account you can access and control from your phone to buy/trade/sell digital assets. Bitpanda�s overall vision is to accelerate the transition to a tokenized world and bring traditional financial products to the 21st century. Bitpanda has over 3 million users and over 600+ staff members from more than 50 nations. In 2022 Bitpanda aims to double up the current employee size in its world-class Technology & Innovation Hub in Krakow, Poland that saw 50 people join at the end of 2021. Bitpanda is looking to hire skilled and top-notch qualified tech talent, but also to build a local marketing team, starting with a Country Manager. Our unique culture based on trust, openness and collaboration puts us in a strong position for IT candidates to choose Bitpanda. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 39 144 Types of Fintech companies in Krakow The Fintech scene in Krakow is as diverse and exciting as almost anywhere else in the world. Although the range of Fintech companies is broad and diverse, we have identified several categories that are particularly well represented in the city. Share (in %) of Fintech companies in Krakow as per category 10% Trading / Investment 21% Cryptocurrency / Blockchain 28% Software 41% Payments / Digital Banking / Financial Services Source: MOTIFE insights, 2022 Cryptocurrency / Blockchain These are companies that are either active in facilitating the trading of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, or organizations involved in developing their own blockchain solutions (also represented by tradeable tokens or currencies). This category includes the unicorns Bitpanda and BlockFi, as well as players like Metahero and Aleph Zero. Payments / Digital Banking / Financial Services Organizations in this category are advancing the state of digital payments and pioneering digital-first alternatives to traditional banking and financial services to facilitate commerce and quick and easy transfers of funds between consumers, merchants, and businesses alike. This category includes unicorns like Revolut, SpotOn and Zepz, as well as the P24 DotCard group, PragmaGo, and W1TTY. Software These are tech companies and software houses that are developing and maintaining solutions specifically for Finance organizations or other organizations that offer Fintech or Fintech-like services to businesses and consumers. This category includes companies like Backbase, Metrosoft, InFakt, and Softnet. Trading / Investment These organizations are bringing the possibility to trade (currencies, shares, CFDs, etc.) to consumers and businesses alike with sophisticated trading platforms and slick, consumer-like user experiences. This category includes the big three of OANDA, StoneX, and IG. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Backbase continues to expand its Development Center which started in Krakow in 2020. After a successful 2021 which saw us concentrate on building our engineering capacity, we plan to continue the momentum. Robert Liziniewicz Delivery Director & Development Center Leader at Backbase This means more roles around managing the development and delivery cycle will be opened, creating more space for people with domain knowledge. Due to further expansion of the BaaS (Backbase as a Service) offering � we�ll continue to grow our production operations teams, serving customers from all continents. So far we have been mostly concentrated on engineering roles, and now our core competencies are around software development � starting from backend engineers writing applications in Java, through to Web frontend based on Angular, and ending on native mobile applications written in Kotlin and Swift. In addition to this, we have managed to build a strong QA automation group helping projects across the globe. We have also started to fill the domain roles such as Product Owners and Business Analysts where deep knowledge of the banking industry is crucial. Krakow is a very competitive market for IT companies � and for us it is not only a challenge but also an opportunity. Competition attracts talent and a good offer allows us to hire. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 41 144 A growing talent pool with Fintech competencies One of the main reasons that Krakow appeals to foreign Fintech companies is the city�s rich pool of talent and expertise within the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector. The city is home to large centers operated by international companies like UBS, HSBC, State Street, and Brown Brothers Harriman, who employ both IT and non-IT roles (including trading, marketing, and customer-facing positions). We estimate that there are approximately 15 000 people employed in the BFSI sector in Krakow, which is equivalent to around 15% of the total number of people employed in the city�s Business Services centers. This depth of Finance expertise and talent, combined with the city�s strong reputation as a hotbed for tech / software development talent, creates a unique and compelling value proposition for Fintech companies seeking the ideal location to begin or expand their operations. The IT talent pool in Krakow Fintech is estimated to over 1 500 engineers and IT specialists. Share (in %) of Fintech companies in Krakow as per number of engineers/IT specialists 15K employees in the Finance sector in Krakow 1.5 K engineers / IT specialists in Fintech in Krakow 5% 11% Software 23% Trading / Investment Source: LinkedIn insights, MOTIFE insights, 2022 Cryptocurrency / Blockchain 37% Payment / Digital Banking / Financial services 24% Software houses / IT services providers supporting the Fintech industry Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 43 144 Selected Fintech companies with R&D centers / remote base in Krakow Cryptocurrency / Blockchain Name and specialty Aleph Zero (Blockchain) Bitpanda (Cryptocurrency) BlockFi (Cryptocurrency) Cardinal Cryptography (Blockchain) Metahero (Cryptocurrency) Star Beta (Cryptocurrency) Country and year founded Switzerland 2018 Austria 2014 USA 2017 Poland 2018 United Arab Emirates 2021 Australia 2002 Description Aleph Zero is a peer-reviewed DAG platform that is scalable, fast, and developer-friendly. alephzero.org Bitpanda is a digital assets platform used to facilitate the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, fractional stocks and metals. Bitpanda opened its Krakow office in 2021. bitpanda.com BlockFi is a secured non-bank lender that offers USD loans to crypto-asset owners who collateralize the loan with their crypto- assets. BlockFi opened its Krakow office in 2021. blockfi.com Cardinal Cryptography is a consultancy, providing cryptography, blockchain, data science, web applications, and machine learning solutions. cardinals.cc Metahero offers a next-generation deflationary utility token coupled with Ultra-HD metascanning technology. Metahero boasts a Krakow-based senior team and private funding from the original co-founder of Codewise. metahero.io Star Beta is a trading company that offers investment strategies and cryptocurrency services for various organizations. starbeta.com.au Payments / Digital Banking / Financial Services Atom Bank (Digital banking) Equiniti (Financial services) UK 2014 UK 2007 Atom Bank is a mobile banking application that offers a range of personal and business banking products to UK consumers. Atom Bank arrived in Krakow in 2021 and operates from Pragmatic Coders office. atombank.co.uk Equiniti offers financial and administration services, including payments. Equiniti�s Krakow-based technology hub operates under the name of EQTek. equiniti.com Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Mobiltek (Payments) OTI Group (Payments) P24 Dotcard (Payments) PeP (Payments) PragmaGO (Financial services) Revolut (Digital banking) Smart (Financial services) SpotOn (Payments) W1TTY (Digital banking) Zepz (Payments) Poland 2002 Israel 1997 Poland 2019 Poland 2010 Poland 1996 UK 2015 UK 2014 USA 2017 UK 2020 UK 2010 Mobiltek specializes in online and mobile payment, and also offers software development services. Mobiltek is based in Krakow since its creation. mobiltek.pl OTI Group offers cashless payment solutions for public commuting, parking systems and contactless prepaid card systems based on GSM communication. otiglobal.com P24 DotCard group resulted from the merger of Przelewy24, Dotpay and e-Card in 2019. Those three operators create the most comprehensive online payments solution dedicated for Polish ecommerce. The operator Dotpay is based in Krakow since its creation. przelewy24.pl, dotpay.pl, ecard.pl PeP (Polskie ePlatnosci) is a payment processor delivering innovative business services, providing support for payment transactions using payment cards and terminals in retail outlets. pep.pl PragmaGO is a non-bank financial institution providing factoring, leasing, and loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. pragmago.pl Revolut is a world-renowned Fintech company offering digital banking services to its users via online and mobile applications, offering customers a digital alternative to traditional banks. Revolut opened its Krakow office in 2019. revolut.com Smart is a pensions and retirement technology business, delivering pensions technology platforms in partnership with other financial institutions, and running a defined contribution master trust pension scheme setup for employers. smart.co SpotOn provides mobile payment technology and management system for restaurants and small businesses. SpotOn opened its Krakow office in 2019. spoton.com W1TTY is building a new digital finance platform and a fully mobile- based finance app, offering multicurrency accounts, domestic and international transfers, debit cards, and instant payments. W1TTY is currently operating fully remote, with a strong R&D base in Krakow. w1tty.com Zepz (formerly known as WorldRemit) is an online service that lets people send money to friends and family living abroad, using a computer, smartphone, or tablet. zepzpay.com Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Software Backbase (Software) Chargify (Software) InFakt (Software) Medius (Software) Metrosoft (Software) Open GI (Software) Pico (Software) Softnet (Software) The Netherlands 2003 USA 2009 Poland 2008 Sweden 2001 Poland 1991 UK 1979 USA 2009 Poland 1991 Backbase is a Fintech software provider offering digital banking solutions to financial institutions all over the world. Backbase opened its Krakow office in 2020. backbase.com Chargify is a billing and subscription management platform built specifically for modern B2B SaaS business. chargify.com InFakt is a provider of an online invoice and billing software designed for entrepreneurs. The company�s software offers an application using artificial intelligence that automatically recognizes and documents the bills using. InFakt is based in Krakow since its creation. infakt.pl Medius is a leading global provider of accounts payable (AP) invoice automation solutions in the cloud. medius.com Metrosoft develops multi-tier, service-oriented asset management software using the latest programming technologies. Metrosoft is based in Krakow since its creation. metrosoft.com Open GI is a specialized provider of software for the insurance industry. Their solutions provide multi-line, multi-channel, multi-brand trading capability complemented by innovative eCommerce and mobile technologies. opengi.co.uk Pico provides solutions to the Financial Markets community including infrastructure hosting, network connectivity, live and historical market data, normalized market data, Corvil analytics, and cloud services. pico.net SoftNet provides software, technologies and banking products connected with credit services, deposits, settlements, IT services and digital banking. Softnet is based in Krakow since its creation. softnet.com.pl Trading / Investment IG (Trading / Investment) OANDA (Trading / Investment) StoneX (Trading / Investment) United Kingdom 1974 Canada 1995 USA 1981 IG is a global trading company, providing access to financial markets, including shares, indices, commodities and binaries to a retail and institutional client base. ig.com OANDA is a foreign exchange company that provides internet- based forex trading and currency information services. OANDA opened its Krakow office in 2020. oanda.com StoneX is a Fortune 500 company, providing customers across the globe with customized financial services and tools. In 2020, StoneX has acquired GAIN Capital, which opened its Krakow office in November 2018. stonex.com Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 47 144 Software houses and IT providers supporting the Fintech industry Although not all exclusively focused on supporting the Fintech industry, these software houses and tech companies are developing and maintaining solutions specifically for Finance organizations, or augmenting the teams of these organizations, whether they are located in Krakow or elsewhere. These providers constitute a non-negligeable part of the talent pool with Fintech experience (close to 25%). Selection of software houses and IT providers in Krakow supporting the Fintech industry Name and specialty Country and year founded Description Ailleron (Software house) Poland 1999 Ailleron is a provider of software development services, offering products such as Fintech and leasing platforms, smart telecommunication solutions and hotel technologies Ailleron is based in Krakow since its creation. ailleron.com Code & Pepper (Software house) Poland 2014 Code & Pepper provides a development framework and a team that includes all the roles required to build FinTech products from start to finish. codeandpepper.com Grape Up (Software house) Poland 2006 Grape Up is a technology consulting company that helps companies deliver their most impactful software by bringing together AI, Machine Learning, Cloud-Native Technologies, and a unique approach to software delivery. grapeup.com Rumble Fish (Software house) Poland 2017 Rumble Fish is a software development house specializing in Blockchain, Fintech, e-commerce and Cloud Computing. Rumble Fish is based in Krakow since its creation. rumblefish.dev Visiona (IT services) Poland 2003 Visiona supplies the financial sector with IT solutions, with a focus on supporting and optimizing processes in two business areas � electronic fund transfers and cash management. visiona.pl Xceedance (IT services) USA 2013 Xceedance is a global provider of strategic operations support (SOS), which includes consulting, managed services, data sciences, and technology across the entire insurance lifecycle. xceedance.com Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 49 144 Most common technologies Share of developers in Poland having experience with a specific programming language The ever-changing technology landscape of Krakow is quite diverse. It is hard to find a technology or a programming language that would not be used here. Most of the trends seen here reflect trends around the globe. When analyzing surveys of engineers� familiarity with different languages we can identify some leading ones. JavaScript Python SQL Java TypeScript C# C++ PHP C Go 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 % Source: Stack Overflow�s 2021 Developer Survey of 1282 Polish professional developers. 3rd Global rank of Polish programmers according to HackerRank 1st Rank of Polish Java programmers according to HackerRank Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 51 144 Expert view a safe and almost obvious choice for new projects. The fact that the entire JavaScript ecosystem is adopting TypeScript is the strongest indication of its success. Maciej Grzyb Partner & Software Architect at Forte Digital Forte Digital is a consultancy company that builds solutions for web, mobile e-commerce, and service platforms. The company has built teams in Poland and Norway. JavaScript is eating the world JavaScript and TypeScript account for 35% of IT job ads published in 2021*. Without doubt, JavaScript continues to be the most popular coding language. For years, it was primarily used for front-end/client-side applications. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly popular to use JavaScript as a backend language. The use of JavaScript in larger projects was made possible by the introduction of TypeScript, which makes the long-term maintenance of inherently dynamically typed code much easier. Although it shares many of its goals with previous failed attempts to create �better JavaScript� (e.g. CoffeeScript), the main difference with TypeScript is that it is designed as a superset of JavaScript, which makes it The position of JavaScript as the only client- side language is being challenged by many languages that support WebAssembly as a compilation target. Rust and Go is a leading example of this, while C#/.NET with Blazor is an interesting attempt to enable C# usage on both client and server side. The potential benefits of such a project is compelling, namely that it enables code reuse and means that there is no need for different skills on a team based on whether people work on the frontend or backend. However, it should be approached with caution � Microsoft has previously attempted something similar with Silverlight � a project that was killed after just a few years. .NET ecosystem C# accounts for 7% of IT job ads published in 2021*. Thanks to big investments in cross-platform capabilities and a move to open source, C#/. NET and the .NET ecosystem in general is starting to become a viable choice outside of its traditional domain of enterprise solutions. Other languages Python accounts for 15% of IT job ads published in 2021*, C/ C++ 5%, Kotlin 3%, and Scala 2%. Surprisingly, Python is becoming an increasingly popular language, although use cases still remain largely limited to the domains of Machine Learning and Data Science. There continues to be increased demand for C/C++. This could be attributed to either embedded or game development. However, for system programming Rust is becoming an interesting memory-safe alternative. 52 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 While new programming languages are being created all the time (research, niche applications, etc.), very few of them enter mainstream use. Our experience in recent years shows that if a new language solves an important problem and does not compromise ease of use, then it has a good chance of achieving widespread adoption and creating a community around it. TypeScript (mentioned above) is one example of such a language. Others include GoLang, which makes concurrency easier; Rust, which enables memory-safe system coding; Scala and F#, which are adopting a functional paradigm without abandoning the rich OO ecosystem of Java or .NET; and Kotlin, which serves as a modern version of Java. Cloud vs. on-premise hosting The use of virtual machines and traditional, on-premise, hosting continues to decline. Containerization and serverless options are becoming increasingly popular due to the versatility and speed-to-market benefits of this technology, as well as the vendor-agnostic nature of these options. At the same time, identifying a chosen Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider can decrease development and maintenance costs, although this does come at the expense of cross-cloud portability. * Source: inhire.io, IT Market Snapshot 2021, based on 75 496 job ads published in Poland in 2021 on 4 reference IT job boards Education Higher education schools 23 Higher education schools in Krakow 10 Higher education schools with IT courses 143K Students in Krakow 11.5K Computer Science students One of the key strengths of Krakow is its continuous stream of new graduates. In fact, the city is dominated by students: more than one in ten people who live in Krakow are students. There are over 15 computer science courses at B. Sc. level run by various universities. They turn out over 2 350 graduates every year. The majority of CS students usually start working in their third year of school, and by the time they graduate already have professional experience. 2.35K Computer Science students graduating yearly free Higher education in Poland Source: krakow.stat.gov.pl, agh.edu.pl Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Main universities Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364, is the oldest university in Poland. It offers 3 different computer science courses. 35 000 students attend this university. www.uj.edu.pl Courses offered at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science: � Computer Science (including software engineering, modeling, artificial intelligence and machine learning) � Analytical Computer Science (including algorithms, software engineering, programming, operating systems and web) � Computer Mathematics (including mathematics analysis, combinatorics and probability theory, programming languages, algorithms and software engineering) Highlights: � 100% of graduates from these computer science courses find a job right after graduation � Video Games Development - new specializations within Computer Science course: Video Games Production, 3D Modeling and Animation, and Video Games Design � Jagiellonian University has developed cooperation with IT companies and gives opportunities to its students to participate in concrete IT projects Krakow IT Market Report 2022 AGH University of Science and Technology is the largest Polish technical university with 15 different faculties offering 10 computer science courses. 20 000 students attend this university. www.agh.edu.pl Computer science courses offered at diverse faculties: � Electronics and Telecommunications � Software development methods � Data Science � Modern Technologies in Forensics � IT technologies and business processes � ERP systems on the example of SAP ERP � Database systems � Cybersecurity in practice � IT - design, programming and operation of systems � Automatics and Robotics Highlights: � AGH University of Science and Technology was ranked second of EngiRank - Best universities of technology in the �New Europe� countries. EngiRank, short for European Ranking of Engineering Programs, covers higher education institutions and engineering programs in 13 countries of the so-called New Europe, countries that joined the European Union on or after 2004 � The Faculty of Computer Science also conducts certified courses for everyone who wants to expand their IT knowledge in areas such as UX web application design, VPN networks, BGP Routing, C ++ and Scala programming, cryptography and safety, or introduction to Agile / Scrum � 100% of graduates from these computer science courses find a job within 3 months of graduation � 65% of students find employment during their studies � 55% of graduates receive more than 1 job offer when finishing studies � Nearly 80% of AGH students decide to work in Krakow and its region Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow University of Technology (Politechnika) is the second largest technical university in Krakow offering 3 computer science courses. 13 000 students attend this university. www.pk.edu.pl Courses offered at the Faculty of Computer Science and Telecommunications: � Computer Science � Data Science � Cybersecurity Highlights: � Krakow University of Technology has an extensive role in the cooperation between education and industry via the Technology Transfer Center within the campus � The university also had a major role in the creation of the Krakow Technology Park in 1997 ICT post-graduate studies Learning does not stop at bachelor�s or master�s degree. Krakow universities and schools offer a large array of academic postgraduate courses related to ICT topics, complemented by a multitude of professional courses offered by public institutions and private companies. Each year, over 600 students in Krakow enroll for ICT postgraduate studies. The profiles of these students fall into two categories: students with an IT background, willing to expand their technical or business knowledge, and students with a non-IT background that see a value in learning new management skills or popular programming languages and seek a career in the IT industry. The share of women is also higher in ICT postgraduate studies in Krakow with 42% of female students vs. 18% for ICT bachelor/master studies. 630+ IT postgraduate students in the Krakow region yearly (nearly 4000 students yearly in Poland) 6 universities/schools in Krakow offering IT postgraduate studies MBA IT 2 year program in Krakow launched for the 2021/2022 academic year with 25 participants 42% IT postgraduate students in the Krakow region are female (vs. ca 18% for ICT bachelor/ master students) 28 postgraduate studies in Krakow (13 for graduates with IT background and 15 for graduates with non-IT background) Source: krakow.stat.gov.pl, MOTIFE insights, 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Finally, the essence of this puzzle is modern leadership, combining a charismatic definition of vision, purpose, and strategy which supports people every day. Justyna Pawlak-Mihu?ka Program Director at MBA IT, Cracow University of Economics To attract talent and retain employees, IT companies should build their business strategy around four key axes. The first element is project management based on agile methodologies. This allows work to be done efficiently, gives transparency and increases employee engagement. The second, non-obvious element is product thinking, which allows us to clearly define the goal and vision that our employees are working towards. Third, an organizational culture based on trust, transparency, respect, and autonomy is significant. Building a culture and defining values important for the company is a process in which employees should participate. The Krakow School of Business at the University of Economics meets the needs of the IT sector and offers an MBA IT program that holistically addresses the challenges faced by today�s leaders. The program is characterized by an innovative approach to issues specific to technology organizations and the knowledge and experience shared by practitioners and experts from top high-tech companies, as well as the high level knowledge of participants. It is a space where IT leaders can improve their vision and skills to create and manage organizations ready for an uncertain future. The program is built on 5 pillars � which we believe are crucial for IT top managers education: Tech Organization Management, New Technology & Digital Transformation, Project, Program Management & Product Development, Business Models & Scaling Up, Leadership & Tribe building. The main goal of the program is to provide participants with knowledge, skills, and competences useful in developing a managerial career in the IT and technology industries. The second aim of the program is to educate directors, managers, and leaders in the fields of modern leadership, technological trends, organization management strategies and building a culture of innovation based on autonomy, trust, and transparency. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 59 144 Communities Krakow, as a university city, is home to many young people interested in different facets of technology. These are students and young graduates who want to explore domains they are passionate about. Several years ago, they started creating community groups around specific technologies. Enthusiasts, technology geeks and programmers initiated regular meet-ups to exchange information and educate others. Examples here include frameworks and programming languages such as Angular or Java. Although the ecosystem originally started with technology groups, later, new communities appeared, some of which focused more on business and entrepreneurship. During these meet-ups they would talk about start-up pitching, financing, validating product ideas, legal aspects and more, with a heavy focus on networking. There are also communities that explore the software engineering methodologies, including lean, agile, scrum, or Kanban. Some of the communities in Krakow were formed more than 15 years ago, while others, such as French Tech Cracovie, are relatively new. Most of the communities are very active. They organize regular meetings, presentations, and workshops. They use social sites such as meetup.com to organize the events. Communities may also be helpful in recruiting new employees. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Selected Krakow technology communities Name Website/social Focus area #OMGKRK omgkrk.com Start-ups Krakow Technology Park kpt.krakow.pl Start-ups linkedin.com/company/ open-coffee-krakow lafrenchtech.com/en/ community/cracovie Start-ups Start-ups AleKrakow alekrakow.com Methodology KRAQA kraqa.pl Quality Assurance Angular Krakow facebook.com/AngularKrakow Technology / Software WTMKrakow womentechmakers.com Technology / Software Women in Technology womenintechnology.pl Technology / Software Hackerspace hackerspace-krk.pl Technology / Software Krakow Scala User Group meetup.com/pl-PL/Krakow- Scala-User-Group Technology / Software Development OWASP Poland meetup.com/pl-PL/owasp-poland Technology / Software Segfault segfault.events Technology / Software Polish Java Users Group Technology / Software Development ITCQF itcqf.org Technical Communication TechWriter.pl techwriter.pl Technical Communication Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Krakow is one of the top European innovation hubs, attracting both early-stage start-ups and more mature entities willing to establish their business operations here. Dominika Walec President of OMGKRK What makes Krakow unique is its innovation ecosystem, which consists of high-quality educational institutions, local communities, supporting organizations, and funding entities, as well as a vast pool of talent and enterprise expertise offered by international business centers. OMGKRK has been a leading facilitator of the start-up community for the last 6 years, focusing on creating a world-class business ecosystem and catalyzing innovation in Krakow and the Ma?opolska region. Our main activities are concentrated on building a positive brand of the city and province, supporting digital transformation, technology entrepreneurs, building a network of connections between people, companies, and organizations, and accelerating, inspiring, and educating technology companies. Since its founding, OMGKRK has organized more than 50 events, 4 acceleration programs for 30 teams, involved 110 speakers, mentors, experts, and collaborated with over 100 members and partners. Learn more about OMGKRK and browse our Krakow Startups Report on omgkrk.com. 62 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 63 144 Chapter 2 Hiring In this chapter, you will find key information about the size and makeup of the Krakow talent pool, as well as insight about average salaries, in-demand skills, candidate expectations, the different ways to contract tech talent, and some vital information about Polish labor law. Talent pool K professional developers in Poland IT Talent pool in Krakow and Poland Krakow attracts a considerable number of domestic and foreign technology companies. They come to the city attracted by the large IT talent pool. With more than 50 000 IT professionals, Krakow is the second largest pool in Poland, after Warsaw and before Wroclaw. The key characteristics of the Krakow talent pool are: � Big share of engineers with strong international experience, as foreign companies employ more than 80% of the engineers in Krakow � A rapid growth supported by the local universities as well as migrations from other Polish cities and from Ukraine � Software development is the primary area Sources: stats.gov.pl, 2021, nofluffjobs.com�s Specjali?ci IT w Europie ?rodkowo-Wschodniej, MOTIFE Insights Krakow IT Market Report 2022 In 2020, 2 350 Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) students graduated from Krakow universities. Many of these graduates will find work in Krakow, contributing to the growing local talent pool. Krakow also attracts a number of computer science graduates from other regions in Poland. An average of 14 000 ICT students in Poland graduate each year. Number of ICT graduates per main city in Poland, 2020 3 000 2 500 2 000 1 500 1 000 500 Warsaw Krakow Wroclaw Poznan Katowice Tri-City Lodz Source: stats.gov.pl The IT job market in Krakow is dynamic and offers a number of job opportunities yet it is not as large as the capital city, Warsaw. Number of IT job ads per main city in Poland, Q4 2020 - Q4 2021 7 000 6 000 5 000 4 000 3 000 2 000 1000 Warsaw Krakow Wroclaw Poznan Katowice Tri-City Lodz Q4 2020 Q1 2021 Q2 2021 Q3 2021 Q4 2021 Source: inhire.io, IT Market Snapshot 2020, 2021 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Salaries The IT job market in Krakow grows every year as the city continues to be an attractive location for IT and software businesses. There are numerous compensation reports available that display salaries in Poland and in Krakow. Also, websites like Glassdoor or Payscale feature information about typical pay in the city. The majority of IT job ads feature salary brackets, which also makes fairly transparent the access to compensation data. However, the information available in these sources can be misleading as it represents current average salaries of the employees, or median salaries advertised on job portals, but to some extent does not reflect the expectations of the potential new hires. The differences between the two can be significant. This trend is also amplified by companies who offer salaries above the market when hiring new employees, usually for one or more of the following reasons: � Companies want to attract senior engineers by offering a higher compensation than their current one � Foreign companies entering the market want to hire a significant number of engineers quickly. According to Sedlak & Sedlak�s Salary Report these firms can propose salaries 10 to 15% above market � Start-ups can offer higher salaries to cover the �risk-factor� for joining a potentially less stable organization � Hiring in Q4 is usually more difficult, which may influence salary level. Candidates are least likely to change jobs before year end partially due to an expected bonus payout. The above practices impact the salary ranges, for all roles and seniority levels. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 New hires salaries In this section, we offer an overview of the gross monthly salary ranges for software developers and IT professionals in Krakow on employment contracts, taking into consideration the most popular programming languages and profiles as well as seniority. This is how much a new hire will expect to be paid. 16 000PLN ~3 600EUR Median salary for hiring a Regular engineer (3-5 years experience) in Krakow (gross, monthly) Gross salary ranges for hiring an engineer in Krakow (monthly, in PLN and EUR) 12 000 PLN 2 700 EUR 16 000 PLN 3 600 EUR 19 000 PLN 4 200 EUR 24 500 PLN 5 500 EUR Junior Engineer (no prior experience) Regular Engineer (3-5 years) Senior Engineer (5+ years) Sources: MOTIFE Recruitment insights, inhire.io IT Market Snapshot 2021, nofluffjobs.com. 1 EUR = 4.5 PLN Methodology The research was conducted by MOTIFE Insights team between December 2021 and February 2022. Our aim was to produce a set of salary ranges data that would be representative of new hires current salary expectations (vs. salaries earned or salaries advertised in job offers). We chose a methodological approach of mixing quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative research consisted of data collection of salary brackets from industry reports and portals (qualified sources: inhire. io, nofluffjobs.com), salary brackets of jobs advertised on motife.com, salaries offered to candidates by IT companies via MOTIFE, and acceptance rates for said offers. The quantitative analysis started by checking the datasets for outliers, normalizing the values (gross, monthly salary on employment contract; definition of regular and senior profiles; definition of popular technologies), before merging data from the different sources with respective weights. The result was a calibrated salary range for each selected technology composed of 3 salary data points (minimum regular, maximum regular/minimum senior, maximum senior). Qualitative analysis consisted of a series of interviews and dataset reviews with IT recruiters and hiring managers, allowing to finetune the dataset with a margin of correction equivalent to +/- 10% of quantitative analysis results. Assumption: 1 EUR = 4.5 PLN. Values in EUR rounded. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 New hires salary expectations in Krakow, per most popular technologies (monthly, gross in PLN) PHP Python* C# JavaScript Java Mobile Test Automation DevOps Data Scientist 10 000 PLN 15 000 PLN 20 000 PLN 25 000 PLN 30 000 PLN Regular (3-5years) Senior (5+ years) Sources: MOTIFE Recruitment insights, inhire.io IT Market Snapshot 2021, nofluffjobs.com. *For regular Python development, not Data Science Krakow IT Market Report 2022 New hires salary expectations in Krakow, per most popular technologies (monthly, gross in EUR) PHP Python* C# JavaScript Java Mobile Test Automation DevOps Data Scientist �2 000 �3 000 �4 000 �5 000 �6 000 Regular (3-5years) Senior (5+ years) Sources: MOTIFE Recruitment insights, inhire.io IT Market Snapshot 2021, nofluffjobs.com. *For regular Python development, not Data Science 1 EUR = 4.5 PLN Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Join us in creating software for the future world energy industry! TechnipFMC is a company that provides technology related to energy harvesting in the seas and oceans of the world. It has just started developing its Digital Factory, which is a kind of IT start-up inside the organization. Digital Factory develops software for internal use and for its external customers. It is connected with the designing field extraction, engineering calculations, production, purchases, logistics or monitoring. The Krakow branch of the company cooperates with offices in Oslo, Houston and Paris. Benefits offered at TechnipFMC: � B2B or employment contracts � 13th salary for employment contracts � 100% remote work, hybrid work or work from the office of your choice � Krakow office right by the AWF Park, chosen as one of the best in Europe in the Office Interior Category (INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY AWARDS 2021) � A MacBook Pro or PC, two monitors and necessary peripherals � MyBenefit, LuxMed, integration meetings and others � Co-financing of trainings, certificates and studies. It�s not about salary alone The observed inflation of salaries in Poland is driven by macroeconomic factors such as an increased global demand for IT professionals, worldwide inflation trends or overall the state of the IT job market today. Globally, the pressure converts into increased IT costs and often leads to companies turning to Eastern Europe to support their staffing needs. While the cost to run a software team in Poland continues to be very attractive, it is worth knowing that the gap has shrunk significantly in the last 15 years . The savings are there, but are not as substantial as they used to be (two- three- folds in the past). With that, while planning to build a team in Krakow, one should assure the cost related expectations are realistic. While global trends are not something most of companies can influence, there are factors that companies have control over, and which can drive up (or down) the new hires salaries expectations. Companies looking for solutions to increase their attractivity and to assure their offer doesn�t come down to just financial dimension consider the following levers: Brand Companies with a well established brand can expect to pay the lower side of the range. New companies or companies with no visible brand on the market can expect to pay the highest side of the range. Benefits A rich offer of benefits can take away the focus on salaries during the recruitment processes. Benefits that are worth looking into to maintain salary expectations steady are stock options/ESOP, paid holidays and paid sick leave for B2B contractors, and travels abroad to HQ. Work model flexibility Offering a large array of work models will allow every single candidate to find a model that fits them, whether it is full remote, occasional hybrid, work anywhere, full flexible schedule� The more flexibility, the better. Contracts flexibility The choice between permanent contracts and B2B contracts, but also choosing the currency you want to be paid in. Technology It�s a broad aspect of what technology is used and how it is used. It mostly means using the latest and greatest, but also means keeping codebase tidy, avoiding technology debt and employing right quality assurance practices. Culture Understood as a set of behaviors that are promoted and encouraged in the organization. Are people treated equally? Is the organization hierarchical? Do team members have autonomy to make decisions? Does the company practice true transparency? Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view There is no indication that salary increases will slow down in the upcoming months. Well-paid specialists will need to compensate for both inflation and tax changes under the Polski Lad (New Deal) tax reform. Szymon Adamczyk Senior Compensation and Benefits Analyst at Sedlak & Sedlak With this in mind, it is unlikely that those in the industry will be willing to lower their standard of living and any additional costs will need to be offset against a higher salary. According to the Sedlak & Sedlak 2021 Salary Report � in 2022, companies plan to increase the salary budget for IT specialists by an average of 9%. It is worth adding that this value does not include salary raises due to e.g. promotions/changes in positions. When it comes to benefits, we can observe that a high emphasis is placed on these by specialists employed in the IT industry. A basic must-have currently is private medical care, life insurance, gym/sports passes, and financing/ co-financing of studies/professional trainings. Focus IT market average salaries vs new hires expectations from a candidate point of view The IT job market in Krakow is no different from other industries and changing jobs is commonly regarded by candidates as the right moment to reach for higher levels of compensation. New hires salary expectations will likely be 10-15% higher compared to their current level of pay. Sometimes the expectations can also be higher compared with the current salaries of employees in similar roles in prospective companies, thus creating salary gaps. This is even more true for candidates with newest and rarest technologies such as Go, React.js or Kotlin, for which the demand is driving salaries upwards. This trend causes significant differences between compensation of junior specialists and regular/senior specialists. The most talented individuals can double their compensation in 5 years by continuously working on their skills and� changing jobs. In a dynamic job market with the salary gaps mentioned above, replacing departing employees with candidates from the talent pool can sometimes result in an increase in costs of salaries. The impact can be even more hard felt for smaller organizations and start-ups. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 73 144 Employment and benefits Polish labor code is very detailed and outlines precisely the rules of employee - employer relation. In addition there are number of practices and customs that are not implied from law, but became a norm and need to be observed. Forms of employment Contract for an indefinite period of time The most popular form of employment in Poland is the permanent contract, referred to officially as contract for an indefinite period of time (in Polish umowa o prac? na czas nieokre?lony). Hiring on a permanent employment basis usually starts with a 3 months� probation contract, followed by a contract for an indefinite period of time. For most employees, this type of contract is synonymous of stability and job security. Fixed-term employment contract The Polish Labor Law also offers employment contracts to respond to shorter or unique needs to hire. First of all, the fixed-term employment contract (umowa o prac? na czas okre?lony) for a maximum period of 33 months and maximum 3 consecutive fixed-term contracts. This contract is common for temporary replacements such as maternity/parental leaves. Contract of mandate & employment contract for specific task There is also the contract of mandate (umowa zlecenie) for performance of a specified activity on a given period (for example SEO analyst support for a 3-month campaign), and employment contract for specific task (umowa o dzie?o) for the achievement of a specific result (for example a freelance graphic designer creating a set of web banners). B2B contract In addition to the regular employment contracts, we observe a trend on the IT market of applying alternative forms of engagement, the most popular one being the B2B contract. Rather than an employment contract between an employer and an employee, the B2B contract is a service agreement between a company seeking services and a contracting party that can offer these services. Typically, this is a registered, one-person company. This type of engagement is attractive particularly for more experienced engineers for its financial benefits and self- entrepreneurial freedom. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 B2B contracts 40% Estimated share of B2B contracts vs. permanent contracts for new hires in the Krakow IT market 20% Extra income an employee can get after taxes on B2B contract vs. permanent contract There are two main reasons to explain the popularity of B2B contracts in the IT industry. The first reason is that B2B contracts usually allow the contractor to be independent and allow them to deliver services to more than one company. Secondly, the contractor is able to increase his net income without increasing the total cost for an employer due to taxation and social insurance regulations. B2B contracts allow an employee to take home approximately 20% extra income. Also, during the first two years of self-employment a B2B contractor pays a preferred social insurance rate. From the hiring company perspective, the following tables illustrate the main differences between hiring an employee on a permanent contract and hiring services from a B2B contractor. TAX Permanent B2B (Contracting) Personal Income Tax 1 model � Progressive tax: 17%* income tax rate under 120K PLN annually, and 32% income tax rate over that threshold *likely to be changed to 12% as of July 2022 3 models: Flat tax: 19% flat rate, Progressive tax: 17%-32%, Lump Sum tax: 8.5% or 12% for IT, and up to 17% for other roles Social Security Cost Deduction Approx. 21% of gross salary at the charge of the employee and similarly approx. 21% at the charge of the employer |(up to 23%), capped at 177K PLN of annual income It is possible for the employer to implement a Tax-Deduction Costs scheme for creative work Entirely at the charge of the contractor. Total monthly cost is a mix of flat and variable contributions: flat from 300 PLN to 1200 PLN depending on duration of self-employment + variable 4.9% to 9% of income depending on personal income tax model Flat tax/Progressive tax: The contractor can deduct the costs incurred to the one- person company (hardware, leasing etc.) Lump-sum tax: No cost deduction allowed Krakow IT Market Report 2022 CONTRACT Permanent B2B (Contracting) Rate Monthly Daily or hourly Duration Usually starts with 3-month probation period, followed by indefinite contract Custom Notice Depending on employment length, notice period can either be 2 weeks, 1 month or 3 months, or custom by mutual agreement 1 month paternity leave In terms of company and team integration, we observe that most companies do not create any significant differences between regular employees and contractors. For instance, contractors are invited to company events, and benefit from all office perks on offer. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Market customs around B2B contracts B2B contracts leave a certain level of flexibility in terms of contractual details and benefits. These are the trends observed for custom agreements in the Krakow IT market. Probation period None. First month is usually regarded as a trial period, but can be ended at any time as per notice period. Notice period 1 month, however this can be 2 or 3 months for key individuals in senior positions. Holidays There are no paid annual leave and public holidays on B2B status. It is up to the contractor to take unpaid days off, in agreement with the company hiring his services. Companies can ask a B2B contractor to align his number of days off with the permanent employees� limit, i.e. 26 days of annual leave. Sick leave There is no paid sick leave on B2B status. The contractor needs to take unpaid absence if he is unable to perform his work duties. We observed that some companies allow flexibility in the form of remote and flexible work, or sickness days off fully or partially paid. Benefits package B2B contractors are not guaranteed to receive the same benefits package offered to regular employees such as medical coverage, a gym pass or life insurance. In order to keep attracting talent, we observed that some companies would offer access to these benefits package to B2B contractors with costs recharged to contractor. Non-exclusivity Contractors are allowed to offer services to other companies unless this would violate competitive clauses of their contracts. Opting for a B2B contract can be beneficial for both the employer and contractor. However, this requires legal advice and must be done with greatest care to comply with Polish law. Improperly written B2B contracts can be questioned and considered to be an employment contract. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Tax-Deductible Costs (TDC) for IT professionals, aka �Creative Tax� The Polish Personal Income Tax Act allows for special tax-deductible rates for authors of copyrighted works. If they receive a remuneration for the transfer of the copyright, they may apply tax-deductible costs in the amount of 50% of a portion of earned income. The scheme has gained popularity throughout the IT industry. Both smaller IT firms and large international software companies with 1 000+ employees utilize its benefits. In terms of benefits, the TDC scheme allows employees to reduce their personal income tax and therefore increase their net income. Without increasing employer costs, the employee�s net income can increase by as much as 13% per year. As an alternative, some employers use the TDC scheme to reduce the cost of salaries, by offering lower gross compensation but still an attractive net compensation. Implementing the TDC scheme in an organization requires a thorough process that can take up to 6 months and require the support of a local partner and legal verification. The cost of necessary legal services has to be taken into account when planning. Non-statutory benefits Employers attract developers with rich benefits packages. The most popular ones are paid gym/fitness cards, professional trainings, and private healthcare. These are often considered as three at minima components of a benefits package. 100EUR Estimated monthly cost of benefits package per employee Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Most popular benefits offered by companies in the IT industry in Poland Private healthcare 100% Sport and recreation vouchers 100% Professional trainings 100% Life insurance 95% Language lessons 89% Partial cover of study costs 76% Vouchers/prepaid cards 48% Occasional lunch vouchers 37% Additional paid days off 25% Employee shares program 11% Source: Sedlak & Sedlak Salary Report for the IT Industry � 2021 (Fall) Benefits popularity can differ per seniority. Employees in leadership positions might be expecting a company car and fuel costs reimbursement (respectively 61% popularity for department director role and 40% for a senior manager role) or employee shares program (32% for department director). Apart from these 3 benefits, the popularity of benefits is comparable across the career levels. Other types of benefits, more seldomly encountered in Krakow companies include: � Reserved parking space, especially when offices are in the hyper-center � Mobility or car bonus integrated in compensation � Premium office well-being, in-house gyms, massages, nutrition coach � Permanent indefinite contract from Day 1, without trial period � Company loans and additional retirement plan � Workations and longer company retreats Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Practices from abroad not common in Poland The idea of social welfare and benefits can differ from one country to another. Unlike some Western European countries with a richer heritage of social welfare and generous branch/company agreements (i.e. France, Germany), some benefits would not form part of the expectations from employees in Poland. Here are some examples that are rarely found in Poland: � Restaurant vouchers co-sponsored by employer for every working day � Company cafeteria on-site (even for large- size corporations) � Public transport abonnement paid/co- sponsored by employer � Company Committees offering employees the access to discounted/co-sponsored holidays, leisure activities, green camps for employees� children, etc. � Allocation of free company products/ services to employees or overly generous discounts to purchase these products/ services � Company shares or incentive stock options Companies setting up their teams in Poland are not expected to offer these benefits, unless an employer wants to attract specific talent with out-of-the-box benefits/perks, or import a strong company culture from the home country. Home office and flexible working time Similarly to other European cities, Krakow struggles with heavy traffic during rush hour. Despite continuous investments, the road infrastructure is not able to handle the ever- growing number of cars. Students, tourists and visitors alike all contribute to the issue of congestion seen in the city. Although Krakow is well-known for its well- organized public transport links and cycling routes, the time spent commuting is increasing year by year. Due to this, flexible working hours and home office opportunities have become important and attractive benefits offered by IT industry employers in Krakow. Nearly all employees (96%) are offered an opportunity to work from home on a part time. Before COVID-19 crisis, job descriptions would often mention ��1 or 2 days of home office per week��. Regarding flexible working hours, 81% of IT industry employees are offered this work arrangement no matter their seniority. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Remote, hybrid, and in-office working models One of the enduring effects of the pandemic is the widespread acceptance of remote working. Within the Polish IT sector, hybrid and fully remote models have become the norm, with very few companies insisting on full-time presence at the office. The three main working models used by Polish IT companies can be defined as follows: 100% remote. The employee never comes to an office and performs all of their work for the company from remote locations. This option can be considered suitable for roles that require little or no face-to-face interaction and for employees who live more than 1.5 hours� commute from the nearest company office (or who reside in another country). For such employees, switching to a hybrid model is unlikely to be feasible. Hybrid. The employee comes to the office 2-3 times a week and spends the rest of the week working remotely (either from home or other, often unspecified, locations). This is suitable for roles that require low levels of supervision and face-to-face interaction with other team members, and for people who live within a 1.5- hour commute from the office. 100% from office. The employee travels to and works from a company office (or client location) every day (perhaps with occasional exceptions). This model is generally suited to roles that require high levels of supervision or for which there are client-specific requirements for work to be done at a designated location (e.g. contractual obligations around data security). It is suitable for people that live within an hour�s commute of the office. There can be variations to each of these models � some companies operate a 100%-remote model, but maintain hub facilities that provide the option for employees to work from or to meet. Hybrid models can be tuned to include more or fewer days in the office than 2-3. Similarly, a company that operates a 100% �in office� model can also offer policies such as provisions for employees to work from home one day per week. These variations can become key differentiators when seeking to attract talent and defining a company culture. Working model options and their impacts on key organizational aspects in the Polish IT sector 100% remote Hybrid 100% from office Less/no need to provision office facilities Lower need for office facilities, but solution required to accommodate varying in-office presence Office facilities (e.g. designated workstations) required for all employees. Attrition Productivity Long-term impact, with potentially weaker ties in the team; More effort is required by employers to promote unity and team spirit Difficult collaboration; Too many meetings Potential impact of attrition of those who want to � now or in the future � work fully remotely; Regularity of in-office interaction and presence can positively contribute to team spirit and culture Days can be designated as collaboration or individual contribution, according to location High probability of attrition caused by lack of flexibility; Potentially easier for an employer to gauge the mood of the team and to build company/team culture Easy collaboration; Easy ad-hoc interactions Cost Savings on office space; Potential need to subsidize home office costs Potential for savings to be made by provisioning fewer work stations (e.g. hot desking or partial hot desking) High office cost and potential lack of flexibility in case of future turbulence Culture & Employer Branding Potentially difficult to build teams with all members in different locations; Greater effort required to build and communicate culture (internally and externally) Right balance between demonstrating an understanding of employee needs and maintaining company and team culture Company can be perceived as overly rigid (even old fashioned) Onboarding Very difficult to onboard some roles (e.g. juniors) and team members remotely Limited/no impact; Can be organized around in-office/remote schedule Limited/no impact; Can be done easily, in office Source: MOTIFE Insights, 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 IT recruitment 4-8WEEKS Time to recruit an experienced IT specialist Recruitment projects for IT specialists in Krakow usually take between 4 and 8 weeks. After accepting an offer, candidates have a 1-month, or in some cases 3-month, notice period. Companies adopt four main approaches to sourcing talent in Krakow: utilizing in-house recruitment function, hiring external recruitment services, RPO or staff augmentation services. In-house recruitment function When entering a new market, an obvious choice for many companies is to hire candidates using their own recruitment team. To be successful with this option, a company needs to build a recruitment function in the chosen location, as hiring with a remote recruitment team rarely works. Building one�s own team however, is an investment which requires time and can slow down initial growth. Hiring with just an internal team is in most cases slower compared with hiring external agencies. Recruiting for senior IT roles can be particularly difficult with only an internal team due to a limited database, relations with candidates, and a need for in depth knowledge of the market. An in-house recruitment scenario is often chosen when the demand for recruitment is high in the longer perspective, but a slow start is acceptable and when there is no budget for external recruitment agency fees. To decrease the hiring cost, but to keep a fast pace, companies often choose a hybrid mode when they start with an agency and then continue with a mix of internal, agency and potentially RPO consultants. External recruitment services There are numerous local and global IT recruitment agencies operating in Krakow. The scope of involvement of the agencies differs from one project to another, but usually consists of advertising the roles and actively attracting candidates, screening interviews, coordination of the process with hiring managers and other interviewers, and finally issuing an offer. With experienced technical recruiters, agencies use their in-depth knowledge of the local IT job market and professional recruiting tools to accelerate the hiring process. The agency fee is anywhere between 15% and 25% of the new hire�s yearly gross salary. The value can be different for the most senior roles. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Key developments in IT recruiting in 2021 Fewer organic applications. Recruiters need to spend a lot more time and effort finding and engaging the right candidates. Furthermore, recruiters need to be able to talk confidently about the role, organization, and requirements in order to attract candidates and achieve a fit that works for all parties. Agnieszka Widacka Recruitment Manager at MOTIFE Podcaster at HR-UP! 2021 was a year of major change for Krakow�s IT recruitment scene. Although increased competition has made the market more challenging, it has also resulted in several new opportunities. Increased demand is driving up salaries, and while this is not the only factor that influences a candidate�s decision to participate in a recruitment process, it is a quite important one. Inflow of candidates from Eastern European countries is diversifying the workplace and is also opening new sources of talent for recruiters and growing the pool of talent available to companies in Krakow. Growing number of ways to recruit, hire, and contract. Companies based in Krakow already or in the process of setting up operations can now choose from a variety of different ways to build their teams. At one end of the spectrum, some companies are hiring numerous recruitment agencies and receive hundreds of CVs. At the other, there is the option of collaborating closely with a specialized local partner that operates as if it were an extension of the client�s own team (i.e. RPO model). In between, there are multiple different hybrid options to consider. When considering your recruitment strategy, it�s important to choose carefully and to consider the entire recruitment experience and the impact it can have on your employer branding efforts and how you are perceived by candidates and the entire Krakow tech community. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 85 144 Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) In addition to external recruitment services, some agencies propose Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). In RPO a team of recruitment professionals is plugged-in into the in-house function of the hiring company and often uses the company�s branding for a seamless experience for the candidate. RPO usually comes with a management fee which is in addition to the recruitment fee. RPO can take many shapes and does not only apply to candidates� acquisition roles such as sourcers or recruiters. An entire array of recruitment roles can be subject to the RPO model, including Recruitment Lead or Talent Acquisition Business Partner. Staff augmentation services Staff augmentation, also known as team augmentation, is a solution when an outsourcing partner provides engineers who are plugged-in into existing teams. This option is different from a practice of outsourcing a whole project to a third- party provider. With staff augmentation, the candidates are onboarded as members of the company�s team and the project ownership remains in-house. Staff augmentation is used when a company cannot or does not want to hire engineers on a traditional employment contract. Typical scenarios are: � company is unable to hire sufficient number of people in a short period of time; � a project has a budget for limited time � company doesn�t accept B2B agreements with candidates � company doesn�t have a legal entity in Poland to hire permanent employees � company has a limit on the headcount There are several models of staff augmentation: a rapid staff augmentation which involves the outsourcing of engineers already on the outsourcing partner�s payroll or dedicated staff augmentation when candidates are hired from the market to match a precise set of skills. The costs structure of staff augmentation can vary from one outsourcing partner to another. Most common models include hourly and daily rate, or a mark-up on monthly gross salary, and is inclusive of social security, benefits, payroll and HR support. Expert view John Nash Chairman & Founder at Nicholson Search and Selection Nicholson Search and Selection is a London-based recruitment firm, specialized in the exec and tech talent acquisition. Last year proved to be a bumper year for European start-ups and scaleups that set records in the amount of money raised: $116B has been invested in these companies (+159% compared to the $45B invested in 2020). These companies are now looking to dramatically scale up recruitments in all departments, especially in their R&D, engineering, and tech areas. The same goes for US companies wanting to expand in Europe. Thanks to their openness, these companies are more and more willing to work with remote teams so it therefore makes sense for them to concentrate their recruitment efforts on a European-wide scale including Poland and Central Europe at large. Talents scouted from these countries are skilled, up to date with the newest technologies, and consequently extremely attractive profiles for these types of companies with substantial recruitment needs. For expert UK-based search companies like Nicholson Search & Selection, it was crucial to look towards the East and partner with local recruitment firms, such as MOTIFE, to include candidates from Central Europe to our portfolio. Central Europe boasts some very impressive talent that many Western Europe-based & US- based companies are not aware of. Our aim is to connect them. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 87 144 Employer of Record (EOR) Restrictions on travel and the subsequent difficulty in visiting and scouting locations, a greater acceptance of remote work and reduced reliance on physical meetings, and the accelerated digitalization of work and administrative processes all made EOR providers and platforms more popular. Organizations realized they don�t always need a local entity and a fully-fledged, on-site HR department. Engagements with EOR providers are typically fee based, per employee, and are considered on top of salary and applicable taxes. Their rates typically cover payroll services, access to HR tools, assurance of compliance with local laws and regulations, and all required paperwork, such as contracts, work permits, etc. The emergence of Global EOR providers In recent years, thanks in no small part to the pandemic, we saw an advent and growth of global EOR providers. Global EOR providers have entities in hundreds of locations worldwide and provide a unified experience for hiring parties and for staff across the world. Their automated platforms typically include onboarding, billing, attendance tracking and reimbursement support. Providers often allow hiring both on employment and service contracts. The flexibility of terms is limited, but ease of use, standardization and automation make it a viable choice for many organizations. Global EOR service providers Local EOR partners Provide the same range of EOR services in multiple countries Companies with very distributed fully- Provide tailored EOR services with local expertise / sector expertise Companies with substantial Their clients What they do remote teams, companies that allow a certain portion (e.g. 20%) of their staff to be based anywhere Payroll processing, compliance, billing, attendance tracking, reimbursement number of people in one place, eager to offer extra benefits Same as Global EOR providers plus tailored services beyond administration (custom benefits, local advisory, procurement of equipment) Omnipresent.com, Remote.com or Letsdeel.com MOTIFE Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Advantages of EOR services OR providers combine software platforms with lean presences (typically HR and Compensation & Benefits specialists) in local markets to help companies accelerate the process of setting up and running a team in a new country and by enabling the following benefits: � No need to invest in establishing a local entity. � No need to establish a local HR function or become intimately familiar with all aspects of local labor laws. � Guarantee of compliance with local regulations (subject to provider and agreement). � Access to HR tools, workflows, and best practices that have been honed across multiple locations and client organizations. � Favorable access to employee benefit packages such as healthcare packages and benefit cards, due to economies of scale. � Reduced administrative burden � EORs typically offer simple billing solutions, including across multiple geographies. Potential disadvantages of EOR services Although EOR providers are a great fit for some companies, there are potential drawbacks, such as: � They rarely extend their support to recruitment, which means hiring in a new country still requires significant effort and an understanding of the local market. � Sometimes employees need support from a HR or HR-like function within the organization they�re working for. This is especially true in Poland, where it is common for employees to expect HR support or representation. Not all EOR providers offer it. � Limited or strictly defined scope of most of EOR providers. � Limited ability to deal with the cultural nuances and sensitivities of specific markets. Labor law In many aspects the Polish Labor law is aligned to the other European countries� Labor regulations with comparable working time, paid holidays allocations and contractual principles. Polish regulations are considered as business-friendly, while caring for employee status and ensuring a family-friendly environment boasting one of the most generous maternity leave schemes in Europe. 40 Hours/week 50-100% Overtime pay 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week working time 251 Working days on average 50% regular overtime pay, 100% overtime pay for working nights, Sundays and public holidays 80% Paid sick leave 13 days of public holidays annually 20 OR 26 Days of vacation From first day of sick leave with medical certificate 100% Paid maternity leave (up to 6 month) Vacation entitlement depending on experience 1 OR 3 That can be extended by a 6-month parental leave (60% paid). Paternity leave lasts 2 weeks (100% paid). Maternity and parental leave can be split between mother and father. Months� notice The termination period depends on the length of employment with a given employer: � 2 weeks� notice for < 6 months, � 1 month notice for > 6 months, � 3 months� notice for > 3 years. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 91 144 Chapter 3 Cost of doing business In this chapter, you will find essential information that will help you understand the cost of running a business in Krakow, including office space, professional services, cost of living, and the taxation that will apply to your business. Despite being a top tourist destination, Krakow continues to be an affordable location. Unlike many large European cities, Krakow manages to keep the cost of doing business here competitive. Office space leasing, professional business services, accommodation and dining provide amazing value with a great price-to- quality ratio. Krakow offers excellent offices, hotels and restaurants, all whilst managing not to become as crowded, rushed and pricey as the capital, Warsaw. Key figures 19 000EUR Average gross annual salary in the business sector in Krakow PLN Polish zloty Currency of Poland 2.9% Unemployment rate in Poland in December 2021 NATO member since 1999 Source: gov.pl, krakow.stats.gov.pl, Eurostat Krakow IT Market Report 2022 The last 15 years has seen a significant growth in office building construction, new modern hotels and restaurants. More recently there has been an incredible effort to develop city infrastructure, with event venues such as the ICE Congress Center or large Tauron Krakow Arena. Krakow Airport has also undergone a complete make-over, and the ongoing development of a Regional Fast Railway network brings office centers closer to peripheral areas. 6TH Largest economy in the European Union 5.7% GDP growth in 2021. EU countries average: 5.3%. Eurostat 39.7% Combined GDP growth rate between 2010 and 2021. EU countries average: 15.3%. Eurostat EU member since 2004 and Schengen Area member since 2007 Office space in Krakow Office market MLN m2 Office space surface in Krakow 60.7K m2 Office space completed in 2021 Krakow offers a variety of office options. Some of them are large buildings with a capacity of 2 000+ people such as Kapelanka 42, Fabryczna Office Park, High5ive or Quattro Business Park. There are also smaller buildings offering a unique vibe and a more private, low-key experience. In this section we present an overview of the office market in Krakow with different options for office space leasing and the associated costs. In 2017, Krakow became the first regional market in Poland with modern office space exceeding 1 million square meters. In just 4 years, this number has increased to 1.6 million square meters. In addition to the modern, A-class office space that is available, there is also a supply of office space in old, often historic, buildings. Some firms look for space with unique character and choose office space in the Old City or in the post-industrial areas of town. Office stock evolution in Krakow (in m2) 200 000 2 000 000 150 000 1 500 000 100 000 1 000 000 50 000 500 000 0 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022F 2023F Source: Cushman & Wakefield, 2022 Annual supply Total office stock (m2) Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Lease costs 13.5-15EUR Lease per 1 m� of office space/month in an A-class building 10-13EUR Lease per 1 m� of office space/month in a B-class building Lease costs for A-class and B-class spaces have remained stable over the last 3 years. The usual lease period for an A-class office space is 5 years, and 3-5 years for a B-class office space. Sublease The standard rental period for A-class spaces is 5 years and 3-5 years for B-class spaces, but it is possible to find shorter offers, e.g. office sublease. The office space available for sublease in Krakow is now estimated at approximately 28 000 m2. Subleasing is another flexible form of office space rental. It can be beneficial to both the original lessee and sublessee, because the lessee leases out part of the occupied office space, thus reducing fixed operating costs. On the other hand, the sublessee can rent space for a shorter lease period, which may come potentially cheaper than under a traditional lease agreement with the building owner. Based on our observations, it can be concluded that a sublease rent in Krakow can be cheaper than the standard rent by as much as 8-18%. However, it is worth noting that a sublease is not always a good alternative to a standard lease. For example, a lease agreement may limit the office space customization and branding or may not be suitable for companies working with sensitive data. 28K m2 Office space sublet in Krakow 8-18% Sublease cost saving vs. standard lease Expert view For years, the sublease market has accounted for a portion of leases offered in the marketplace and has grown linearly along with an increasing volume of office space. In 2020-2021, considerable variability in this type of space availability was observed. Dariusz Madej Senior Negotiator at Cushman & Wakefield � Krakow With a significant increase in the number of sublease offers for office space in 2020, the office space stock began to decrease gradually in the spring of 2021. Many companies have opted for ready-made solutions, choosing offices available offhand on a sublease and flex basis. As a result, the total supply of offices for sublease decreased from approx. 53 000 m2 to 28 000 m2 (as at the end of December 2021). Nevertheless, such a space stock is still considered higher than in recent years. For flex offices, the demand side was also very active here. Currently, a significant part of serviced offices are leased; some hubs are 100% leased, while the other operators offer only single modules. When it comes to demand for modules providing a larger number of workstations (e.g. 100+), the availability of such offices is very limited. In 2021, many new investors entered the market and, instead of choosing traditional lease, they opted for ready-made and flexible solutions, which was dictated by the uncertain economic situation. Therefore, the office space absorption recorded a significant decrease compared to 2020 despite the higher volume of transactions completed in 2021. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 97 144 Flexible office space 43K m2 Flexible office space in Krakow 300EUR A growing number of start-ups and high- tech companies in Krakow accelerated the development of co-working spaces, serviced offices and hybrid spaces. Flexible office spaces provide fully equipped office space shared among multiple companies, with administrative and maintenance services. The undisputed advantage of such an office solution is that it can provide a flexible rental period, while providing privacy and separation from other companies. Monthly rental cost per desk in a serviced office in Krakow Selected coworking and serviced offices operators in Krakow Of?ce & Cowork Centre (5 of?ces) Regus (4 of?ces) Rise (5 of?ces) Biznes Lab (3 of?ces) Cluster Cowork (3 of?ces) At Of?ce (2 of?ces) Business Link (1 of?ce) City Space (1 of?ce) Yolk (1 o?ce) Source: OMGKRK Krakow Startups Report, 2022 98 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Max Burgess Co-Founder at Yolk Community & Workspace Krakow�s co-working scene, which is roughly split into large corporate and smaller boutique outfits, has been �shaken out� in the past two years of the pandemic. The corporates have scaled up - building more floor space regardless of demand, while the boutique outfits have focused on niches of the market with more personalized service and have seen more organic growth. Yolk is a community-focused workspace and social hub in the center of Krakow. Since the start of the pandemic, we have expanded our membership base and rentable area by about 300% as we see a steady rise in people opting to work around people they know, but not necessarily who they work with. We attribute this to our work on creating a strong social network centered around an international, English- speaking core and helping them to integrate and collaborate by holding small events and community-building exercises. We offer thoughtful flexibility for different workflows; from a cafe-style workspace called the ClubHouse to more traditional office environments. Whether this is catering for solopreneurs or remote workers that have a dedicated desk in one of the co-working spaces or early-stage startups and small companies renting a private office by the day or by the month. The concept that binds all the different members at Yolk is our commitment to the larger community and creating social spaces like the ClubHouse to give them a platform to connect. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 99 144 Professional services EUR Monthly cost of accounting services for a small limited liability company 100EUR Monthly cost of payroll services for up to 10 employees 50-100EUR Hourly fee for legal services When operating in Poland, companies need to comply with local regulations. Most of foreign firms choose to outsource most of the work associated with bookkeeping, payroll or legal. Krakow offers competitive pricing for these types of services, which minimizes the overhead costs of running a business here. Business services providers are often familiar with elements of foreign legal and tax laws as well. Accounting and bookkeeping Payroll calculation Legal Health & Safety IT Equipment Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 101 144 Taxation in Poland Personal Income Tax There are 3 primary taxes that a company pays in Poland: the Personal Income Tax paid by companies for their employees by deducting it from their salaries, the Value-Added Tax and the Corporate Income Tax. 17%* under 120K PLN (26K EUR) annually, and 32% over that threshold *likely to be changed to 12% as of July 2022 Value-Added Tax Corporate Income Tax 23% standard VAT rate 9% for companies with <2M EUR annual revenue and 19% over that threshold Tax incentive for new investment in Poland Polish Investment Zone program offers options of CIT tax break for companies who set up their operations in Poland. This income tax incentive is available for investments in the Krakow and Ma?opolska region, and is granted by a regional entity (Krakow Technology Park) on behalf of the Polish Minister of Economic Development. The amount of tax break is calculated by multiplying investment costs by 40%, 50% or 60% depending on the size of the company (e.g. a �large� company that plans to hire 50 developers and incur 10M PLN as 2-year-employment cost will be granted 4M PLN income tax break). Income tax break From 40% to 60% depending on the size of the company For service sector companies and certain production companies Investment allowed in the location of your choice the Krakow Technology Park issues Decision of Support in Krakow and Ma?opolska Region Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Companies that used this tax incentive in Krakow Companies of all sizes can apply and receive tax breaks if they incur minimum investment costs and declare to meet quality factors related to sustainable economic and social development. The tax break can be granted to services sector companies, including: IT services, research and development in natural and technical sciences, bookkeeping and book control, accounting services (with the exception of tax statements), research and technical analysis services, call center services, architectural and engineering services. Expert view Since 2018, when the Polish Investment Zone was introduced, Krakow Technology Park granted income tax breaks to more than 150 companies. Justyna Czyszek Deputy Director at Krakow Technology Park Among service sector companies, we welcomed well-established brands such as UBS or new-technology-driven entities such as Relativity. We walk investors through the process of applying for this investment incentive and introduce them to the network of our clients. Every company that wants to join our growing business environment in Krakow should definitely consider this tax break and can learn more at kpt.krakow.pl Staying in Krakow Travel As one of the top tourist destinations in Central Europe, Krakow attracts approximately 14 million domestic and foreign tourists each year. Thanks to its cultural wealth, Krakow�s Historic Center has been listed as one of 12 first sites to be entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978. Krakow is also a thriving business center, playing a leading role based on the total number of meetings and events held here. It is one of the most important economic hubs in the country, focusing on professional services for business, new technologies, finance, IT and telecommunications. 161HOTELS with 3* or higher rating Being the most visited Polish city, Krakow offers connections and facilities that make travel easy and enjoyable. There are direct flights to over 50 cities across Europe as well as direct connections to the USA, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Krakow is also conveniently connected with major European air hubs, including multiple daily flights to Munich, Frankfurt, Vienna, Zurich, Oslo, and London. Krakow hotels offer amazing value for the money. With locations both in the old town and near business centers, there is always a nearby facility ready to accommodate business needs. The majority of hotels are brand new or were built within the last 10 years. They are clean and modern, offering a high-quality environment for doing business. Long forgotten are times when Krakow�s cuisine was limited to traditional Polish food. With 500+ restaurants, Krakow has much to offer, and dining can be part of a great experience during a stay in the city. From Michelin or Gault&Millau recommended restaurants to new affordable eateries offering international and fusion tastes from Japanese ramen and Middle East specials to vegan burgers and Argentinian steaks, there�s something to suit everyone�s taste. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Cost of travel Airfares from European capitals start at 100 EUR and from the US start at 500 EUR. A 4-star hotel starts at 200 EUR for a four-day stay. You will not need to spend more than 30 EUR per day on food (this amount will get you an excellent lunch and dinner) and 50 EUR for a 5-day stay for local transport by taxi. 700EUR Estimated total cost of a 5-day trip to Krakow from a European capital including airfare, a stay in a 4* hotel, food and local transport 1.1 K EUR Estimated total cost of a 5- day trip to Krakow from a European capital with coach class airfare, a stay in a 5* hotel and fine dining and drinks every evening Origin Flight time Airfare range* Northern, Southern, Western Europe 1.5�2.5 hours 100�200 EUR Middle East 3.5 hours 200�400 EUR United States � East Coast 11 hours From 500 EUR United States - West Coast 14 hours From 650 EUR *For tickets purchased at least 2 weeks before the planned travel date Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Cost of 4 nights in a hotel (in EUR) 450-1 000 5* rate for 4 nights 200-450 4* rate for 4 nights 150-250 3* rate for 4 nights 50+ Direct connections to European cities from Krakow 18% Average passenger annual growth at Krakow Airport between 2015 and 2019 150EUR Average airfare for a return flight from a European city to Krakow MIN. Taxi ride from the city center to the airport Local expenses 4EUR Cappuccino in the Old Town 5EUR Taxi ride on a business day, 5 km 18EUR Dinner with drinks at a good restaurant in the center 7EUR Basic lunchtime menu 6EUR A cocktail in an Old Town club 80EUR Dinner for two in a city center restaurant, including appetizers, main course, wine and dessert Chapter 4 2021 in review In this chapter, we provide an overview of the key highlights of 2021, including information about new arrivals to the Krakow tech scene, and a look at the key trends that are shaping the market. New IT players in Krakow in 2021 Every year we see more and more new companies who decide to establish their subsidiaries in Poland and build IT teams in Krakow. Also, every year at least 1 000 new IT jobs are added in Krakow as a result of arrival of new companies. In 2021, at least 17 companies decided to set up their software development teams in Krakow (vs. 10 companies in 2020), joining a list of firms that had already have offices in the city. Number of these new organizations were from the Software and Fintech sectors. The list of new IT comers to Krakow in 2021 also included 3 non-Polish unicorns - Bitpanda, BlockFi and Project44. A trend worth mentioning, is that a share of the 2021 new IT players decided to hire engineers in Krakow without setting up an office, preferring to build 100% remote engineering teams in the region and meet in person occasionally. Retail / Germany aldi-nord.de Aldi Nord is a supermarket business that sells a wide range of products, including groceries, home furnishings, and kitchenware. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 250+ Software / USA apptio.com Apptio is a US-based software company that builds a platform which helps enterprises to optimize the cost of cloud. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 80+ Biopharma / UK astrazeneca.com AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Micha? Porzo?y?ski Director of Engineering and Site Lead at Apptio Poland There are two main reasons why Apptio has chosen Krakow as its first EMEA Product Innovation Center. First is the number and reputation of universities present in our city. AGH University of Science and Technology and Jagiellonian University, to name the top two, constantly enrich our local talent pool with amazing people that are ready to pick up difficult software engineering tasks. The second reason is the high diversification of software companies that are already on our market. From smaller start-ups to bigger corporations that employ thousands of people in areas such as fintech and security, the range is impressive. Such diversity guarantees that Apptio can find in Krakow people with the knowledge and experience necessary to build independent teams that can immediately start delivering real business value. 2021 was an amazing time for Apptio Poland. We have closed the year with more than 40 employees that today build, maintain and support key Apptio�s products: ApptioOne, Targetprocess, Cloudability, and our underlying platform. We were able to create end-to-end teams that have taken both engineering and business ownership for specific corporate goals. With recruitment as our number one priority, behind the scenes we were concentrated on setting up the Polish entity: we opened our office on Al. Pokoju, set up all the necessary HR, payroll, and accounting processes, chose the benefits, etc. We were also concentrated on employer branding activities like sponsorship and participation in Devoxx and preparation in cooperation with Women in Technology Poland, a webinar about product management. I am proud and happy that our presence has been noticed by the local media - especially articles published in Wyborcza. With the number of new companies emerging in Krakow every single year, it is very hard to be visible. For 2022 I have two goals for Apptio Poland. We need to grow our existing teams as well as build a couple of new ones to continue the transition of products to Poland. It is not only about bringing new engineers in, but also about opening customer success and sales roles in our Center. I expect that at the end of the year we will be around 80 people strong. The second goal is to mature our organization. Today we have all the basics in place, and we are ready to take the next steps to become a great place to work in the long term. For us, this means keeping the engagement high, building internal mobility processes, making recruitment even smoother, ensuring knowledge flows between teams, looking at our benefits package and making the Apptio brand recognizable among our target talent pool. I like Krakow�s ecosystem and all the competitors that we have in our local market. They constantly challenge us and force us to think about what to improve, what can be done differently. This mindset is crucial if you want to build a top-tier company, and this is exactly Apptio�s goal for the Product Innovation Center in Poland. 110 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Fintech / UK atombank.co.uk Atom Bank is a mobile banking application that offers a range of personal and business banking products. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 30+ Fintech / Austria bitpanda.com Bitpanda is a digital assets platform used to facilitate the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, fractional stocks and metals. Bitpanda is a unicorn company (private company with a valuation over USD 1 billion). Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 100+ Fintech / USA blockfi.com BlockFi is a secured non-bank lender that offers USD loans to crypto-asset owners who collateralize the loan with their crypto-assets. BlockFi is a unicorn company (private company with a valuation over USD 1 billion). Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced SaaS / UK cogniflare.io Cogniflare helps organizations to assess their business requirements, plan, create, secure migrations of applications and data to the cloud. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced Consumer Electronics / UK dyson.com Dyson is a global technology and engineering company that designs iconic products across four main areas: floorcare, environmental control, personal care and professional care. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 70+ Fintech / Dubai, UAE metahero.io Metahero offers a next-generation deflationary utility token coupled with Ultra-HD metascanning technology. Metahero boasts a Krakow-based senior team and private funding from the original co-founder of Codewise. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced Digital Consultancy / Japan monstar-lab.com Monstarlab is a global digital consultancy offering products and services ranging from co-working spaces, robotic process automation, game development, streaming services, HR tech and education programs. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 100+ Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Software / Lithuania nfq.lt NFQ is a software development company that provides solutions in software engineering, product development, process digitalization and business analytics. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 100+ Software / Poland orbify.com Orbify offers professional Earth observation solutions allowing users to create own applications and digital solutions without codes. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced Supply chain / USA project44.com Project44 is a logistics technology company that provides a visibility solution to span the entire shipment workflow. Project44 is a unicorn company (private company with a valuation over USD 1 billion). Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced Software / Finland tietoevry.com TietoEVRY is an IT software and service company providing IT and product engineering services globally to the energy, forestry, banking, and healthcare sectors. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 200+ Software / Poland veloxalpha.com VeloxAlpha is a robotics and software technology company focused on delivering functional solutions to retail and quick service restaurants (QSR). Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: 30 Fintech / UK w1tty.com W1TTY is a financial app that renders scholarship programs, financial products and services for people and businesses. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced Utilities / USA westinghouse.com Westinghouse Electric Company LLC provides nuclear power plant products and services to utilities worldwide. Number of engineering / IT roles in Krakow by end of 2022: details not announced Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view ?ukasz Drewnowski CEO & Co-Founder at VeloxAlpha VeloxAlpha is a robotics and software technology company focused on delivering functional solutions to retail and quick service restaurants (QSR). Our unique combination of advanced robotics solutions and software technology, creates one of a kind highly flexible retail ecosystem that is managed remotely from the cloud. These solutions bring enormous value and growth possibilities in the sectors we cover, not only for our company and our corporate partners that will join us on the long-term business journey but most importantly, for consumers. We chose Krakow to start our business because it is a great place for the initial stage of development of a technology company, where people, talent, their approach to work, and commitment to building the best product really count. The pool of programmers, mathematicians, robotics, and engineers is large enough to build multidisciplinary engineering teams in a short time. In 2021, we set ourselves the goal of building prototypes for the retail industry and receiving the first orders � all of which we managed to achieve. In 2022, our aim is to verify our products with the market by launching several POC installations. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 113 144 Hiring trends The IT job market in Poland has experienced significant changes in 2021, driven mostly by global trends. In this section, we focus on three key angles: the increased demand for software developers, the place of Polish engineers in the global IT market and how renown large companies are becoming a new source of IT jobs in Krakow. IT job market key findings Job ads doubled The number of advertisements for IT positions in Krakow doubled between Q4 2020 and Q4 2021. Salaries of new hires grew by min. 10% Of new hires for IT and software engineering positions in Krakow increased by 10-18% between the start of 2021 and the end of the year. 60% of jobs are remote At least 60% of jobs posted in 2021 offered the option of working remotely (source: inhire.io). With more than a year of pandemic-conditions experience, working remotely had become the norm for most, and this was reflected in position profiles. 73% of IT specialists are passive candidates The majority of IT specialists and software engineers were not actively looking to change jobs (according to a Devire survey from September 2021, only 27% were). This means that hiring organizations need to proactively find and approach candidates, especially for mid-level and senior roles. Java is the most sought after skill Most in-demand role by volume: Java Developer, which correlates with this skill being one of the most prevalent. Most available candidates: Juniors! With the IT and software industry holding more and more appeal, the constant output of graduates of technical disciplines and a continued influx of tech talent from nearby countries, there is currently an abundance of junior candidates on the market. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 IT job ads in Krakow Q4 2020-Q4 2021 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 Q4 2020 Q1 2021 Q2 2021 Q3 2021 Q4 2021 Source: inhire.io, IT Market Snapshot 2020, 2021 Polish engineers as part of the global IT workforce Even before the pandemic, international businesses of all shapes and sizes were waking up to the benefits of hiring remotely and integrating Polish engineers into their global workforce. Today, with digitalized ways of working accepted as the norm and increasing competition for tech talent, companies everywhere are introducing �hire anywhere� policies. �Hire anywhere� essentially means that a company opens a vacancy without stating a preference or requirement for the candidate�s location. This trend, combined with the growing receptiveness in Poland to different forms of employment (e.g. B2B or contractor status), has made it easy and convenient for international companies to hire in Poland, without being physically present in the country. These international companies typically employ or contract Polish tech talent through local partners, like MOTIFE; through a global EOR provider or directly, with last option having number of limitations. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Increased demand for software developers All around the world, the demand for software developers and engineers is growing. There are many reasons for this, among them the pace of digitalization globally. Already an imperative for businesses everywhere, the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic increased the urgency and pace of digitalization � for businesses and their customers. Furthermore, we saw a global trend of more cash being channeled towards new business ideas and start-ups. In North America alone, Crunchbase reported that a total of $329B was raised by start- ups in 2021 � an increase of 90% over the previous year. These trends are global in nature but, due to Krakow being in the global tech industry, the effects are felt here. What do these trends mean for hiring tech talent in Krakow? We�ve observed the following: More offers are being rejected The proportion of offers rejected by candidates has risen from around 15% to over 20%. This is due to candidates receiving more offers than before, including counter offers from current employers. Hiring companies need to keep multiple candidates in the hiring process and be prepared to pivot to second- or third-choice candidates should their first-choice candidate reject their offer. Candidates in Krakow tend to keep their word Despite the rapid growth in salaries and competition for their skills, candidates in Krakow do tend to fulfill their commitment to start work once they have accepted an offer and signed a contract. Time to hire increased Time to hire, understood as the time between a recruitment process commencing and the moment an offer is accepted, has increased from around 4-6 weeks to 4-8 weeks. Due to increased competition for their services, candidates are typically approached by many recruiters at the same time and are participating in more recruitment processes than before. The desire to find the best position, combined with the time taken to negotiate and consider all options, results in the process lasting longer. Companies need to factor longer recruitment lead times into their planning and also be able to move decisively in order to secure preferred candidates. Adjustment of recruitment practices Due to the increased demand and competition for developer talent, hiring companies with rigid recruitment processes and non-negotiable salary bands are at risk of being uncompetitive to candidates. Hiring companies need to be able to move quickly and nimbly with their recruitment efforts to secure the right talent � this might require accelerating or adjusting existing processes and salary bands. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 117 144 Expert view Piotr Sedlak Project Manager / Managing Partner at Sedlak & Sedlak The economic situation in 2021 changed dynamically throughout the pandemic period. Industries that suffered the most over the last two years have slowly been returning to normal since the beginning of 2021. At the same time, an intensifying phenomenon of pay pressure was observed � caused by rising prices of products and services. The pandemic assured many companies about the pros of remote work which widened the Polish labor market even further for the recruitment activities of foreign companies. Specialists in Poland are still cheaper than, for example, new hires in Silicon Valley, so foreign players can successfully reduce their employment costs while paying significantly above the domestic market. The phenomenon of salary inversion may turn out to be a threat for many companies. It occurs when newly hired employees earn more than those who have already worked for at least a year or more. It usually comes from the necessity to offer a higher salary to people we want to recruit for our organization, in particular for positions where several years of experience are required. 118 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow BPO/SSC centers are expanding into software engineering and R&D While Krakow appealed to companies seeking to set up shared service centers or BPO and IT outsourcing service delivery capabilities, the scope of services entrusted to Krakow centers has grown over time with functions like HR, Customer Care, and even Marketing, added to the traditional �offshore� service portfolio. More recently, many of the same companies that started out with Shared Service Centers in Krakow have broadened the scope of their operations to include R&D and software such as HEINEKEN, Herbalife or KION. For companies already established in Krakow, this expansion of scope makes a great deal of sense. After all, they are already present in Krakow so it�s easier and more cost effective to add scope to an existing center than it is to identify and set up shop in a new location. In most cases, the company is already well known as an employer, infrastructure, management and organizational models are already in place. This broadening of scope is also happening in reverse, with companies that started out in Krakow focused on building IT and technical teams now expanding their operations to include business services such as global HR, Finance and Accounting, Procurement and Customer Service. Examples of such companies include Motorola and ABB. There are also cases of companies arriving in Krakow and immediately setting up a full suite of technical and non-technical functions, such as StoneX and OANDA. Working trends Remote work & remote onboarding More than two years after the onset of the pandemic in Europe, companies in Poland are accustomed to remote hiring, onboarding and working. What were previously considered temporary measures have gradually become the norm as organizations complete their transitions to �hybrid work models� or �new normals�. Gray areas relating to telework / remote work provisions Officially, Poland continues to operate under the extraordinary measures introduced to minimize the disruption caused by the onset of the pandemic. The Polish government published a draft bill back in May 2021 that would seek to replace the current telework provision with a new remote work provision, which would be altogether more appropriate for the present reality and needs of employees and businesses. However, at the time of publication, this bill had not yet been implemented and employer-employee relationships continue to be governed by extraordinary measures. While this is the case, there are several gray areas that some employers have struggled to address. Here are some examples of important areas relating to employment and provision of service that are not adequately addressed by the extraordinary provisions at the time of publication (April 2022): Reimbursement of home-office costs Many companies offer to contribute to the cost of equipping a home office, however, this is still done at the hiring company�s discretion and is considered to be a perk. There are also costs such as internet connection and electricity � both vital to remote work � for which there is no mandate for employers to contribute to. Security compliance At offices, security is maintained with access cards, secure networks and much more. Beyond VPNs, authenticator tokens or apps, and passwords, most companies that we spoke to have not yet fully updated or articulated policies for security that are equal to what could be ensured at the office. GDPR compliance With laptops and other work devices distributed and in use in multiple different locations, the risk of personal information being misplaced or exposed is naturally greater. In many cases, too little has been done to ensure employers and employees are aware of the requirements and how to fulfill them while working under these extraordinary measures. Health & Safety, and Insurance When working from the office, employees receive Health & Safety training and companies and buildings are regularly audited to ensure compliance. Similarly, employees are insured when �at work�. All of this changed when homes became the main place of work and work patterns became more fluid. Once the emergency pandemic measures pertaining to remote work are lifted, it is likely that employees will be responsible for ensuring and declaring the safety of their workplace. Workation Many employers are now advertising their openness to workations � the practice of combining elements of leisure and recreation with work. Typically, an employee will travel to a vacation location, continuing to work but also enjoying the benefits of their temporary location. While attractive as a perk, this raises questions about the length of stay away from the city specified in a contract as the place of work (for employment contracts), cybersecurity, definitions of work accidents and how the time away should be treated (e.g. is it business travel, remote work, annual leave, or something else?) Tax and legal implications ofworking in a different country Many forward-thinking companies apply a �hire anywhere� approach to recruitment. However, this can have implications for tax, compliance with local labor laws, and insurance. The situation for professionals on B2B contracts affords more flexibility but, for people on standard employment contracts, options to work from different countries � especially if considering a longer period � are more limited. Note: It is quite possible that the lifting of extraordinary measures and implementation of the new bill could happen soon, in which case, many of the concerns listed above could be resolved by the time of reading. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Positive side effects of remote working When the pandemic first set in, there was a range of emotions and feelings about working from home. Many who had previously clamored for greater flexibility soon missed the structure of going to and being at work, as well as the buzz of a vibrant office. Some claimed they wanted to go back but, when given the option to do so, never did. However, it�s clear that the shift to working from home has brought with it many positive developments. Here are some of the biggest: Greater inclusion People with disabilities or who were deterred from applying for office jobs due to physical or mental conditions are now finding it easier to gain employment. Geo-economic re-balancing People living in remote locations are no longer deterred from applying for jobs by impractical commutes. This is a positive development for employers and employees alike. For employers, it means that there are more candidates to consider. For employees, it means that they don�t need to uproot to find work, or they can live in the location of their dreams, without sacrificing their career development. Similarly, smaller towns and cities don�t suffer so much from the mass exodus of potentially high-earning residents to the big cities. Larger talent pool With distance from home to work no longer being a prohibitive factor to applying for jobs, the number of candidates who could, realistically, apply for IT jobs in Krakow has swelled from approximately 50,000 to more than 300,000. This larger talent pool expands opportunities for companies already present in Krakow and those considering establishing operations there. Part-time work becomes more viable Part-time work was often considered not worthwhile due to the fact that the time taken to prepare for and commute to work would be impractical to manage if working for only 4 hours a day. Now, without the need to commute, part-time work is much more viable, which creates more opportunities for employers and candidates. Improved work-life balance (theoretically) Prior to the pandemic, many people complained about a lack of work-life balance. Now, with less pressure to commute, people have more time to spend with their families and to pursue personal interests. Of course, it�s not so simple � many people find that worklife now encroaches on �home� life much more often and that the lines between the two are blurred. Still, if �return to office� rates are anything to go by, the pros of working from home must outweigh the cons. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 123 144 Dos and don�ts of remote working Provide the option of meeting, without forcing it upon people Although remote or virtual meetings have become the norm, many people value the opportunity to meet �face to face�. Employers and managers should proactively offer this option, without pushing it as compulsory. Organize quarterly events and be prepared to foot the bill With remote working, there is a threat that relationships between employer and employees will weaken and become more distant, which can naturally increase the risk of attrition. Organizing away days or fun, non-work- related activities is a small price to pay to keep employees happy, rejuvenated and connected to their colleagues and the company. Incentivize visits to the office Offering to cover the cost of transport and providing a catered breakfast or lunch is a great way to build positive sentiment towards being �at work�. You should also consider initiating light- hearted fun rituals for those days when more people are at the office. Reinvent the idea of being at the office Nobody wants to go to the office just for the sake of it or, worse still, just to appease a manager. Make your office or workspace experience different and beneficial compared to what employees have at home. If people struggle to focus at home due to distractions, invest in quiet zones. If people struggle with conference-call fatigue, make your meeting rooms places where people want to spend time. Alternatively, encourage people to make their office day a different type of work day, such as a workshop or brainstorming day, a day for Management meetings� something that makes the experience of coming to the office positively different to what they experience when working remotely. Don�t assume that everybody will enjoy casual coffees or after-work drinks over Zoom Or that everybody will appreciate the opportunity to engage in online fun activities or that such activities are the answer to all team-building needs. Offer up such activities, by all means, but don�t forget to communicate the �optional� nature and respect any decisions by employees not to attend. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Many companies are concerned that remote work can impact their culture. Specifically for the new teams, they believe that coming to the office at least 3 days a week is necessary to build the right culture. However, building the right culture requires first and foremost hiring the right people, the people that fit. If the new hires represent the values aligned with the culture of the organization, it is less important how many days they spend together in the office. Micha? Pi?tkowski Co-founder & CEO at MOTIFE At MOTIFE we offer flexible work terms with 20% of team working fully remote, and the rest of the team comes to the office once or twice a week. We believe that as long as the team shares the same values and has a well-defined purpose, the culture of the organization will strive. Tips for succeeding in a remote-first world Communicate progress and purpose Regularly. People naturally need to understand what they�re contributing to and how it�s going. Vibes and news might be easy to spread at the office, but less so when teams are distributed. Take the time to ensure that people know where the company is headed and how the journey is going. Try a mix of different communication channels and see which ones work best for you. Give kudos Positive messages are a great way to keep employees and teams happy and motivated. Recognize achievements regularly to let people know that the team and company is on the right track, and that all efforts are appreciated. Practice giving feedback As a skill, giving feedback has become one of the most important since the pandemic. Employees need to understand what they�re doing well and less well, and they need for it to be communicated in a way that is considered, well structured and fair. This requires time and effort on the part of managers, but it�s essential to the effective operations of a distributed team and so cannot be ignored. Seek feedback regularly and encourage input and ideas Although it�s been more than two years now, people�s feelings and expectations toward remote work continue to evolve. It�s important to seek feedback from your team to understand how people are feeling, if and where they might need more support, and what type of communication and forms of engagement they might need more or less of. It�s shortsighted for managers to think they have all the answers and seeking feedback contributes to a happier, more inclusive workplace. Every organization is different and so frequency and format of feedback will vary, however, it�s important to communicate that feedback is welcome and that employees know how to share it. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Tax changes in Poland from 2022 A new system of income tax in Poland, known as the Polski ?ad (loosely translated and referred to in English as the Polish Deal) was introduced in 2022. This new system represents a significant change to the way workers of all kinds and all levels of salary are taxed. Summary of key changes in Polish tax laws as of January 2022 � The 32% tax rate threshold is applicable to income over 120 000 PLN per year (previously: 85 528 PLN) for all progressive tax payers. � The tax-free amount of 30 000 PLN was introduced for all progressive tax scale payers. � The health insurance contributions are no longer deductible. � The health insurance contribution changed for sole entrepreneurs from a flat contribution to a variable contribution based on income (4.9% for line tax payers, 9% for progressive tax payers). � Corrections and new tax breaks will be implemented later in 2022, although details were not yet confirmed at the time of publication (April 2022). Key takeaways for IT specialists � IT specialists on B2B contracts generally prefer the Lump Sum tax model (Ryczalt) due to its favorable 8.5% and 12% rates. � IP Box can be attractive for IT specialists who are on B2B contracts and want to stay on the line tax model. � Tax-Deductible Costs for IT professionals, aka �Creative Tax� continues to be attractive and can increase an employee�s net income by as much as 13% (previously: 17%) � Tax changes for IT specialists on B2B contracts are very favorable if they have little or no expenses to include in their costs. By moving to the Lump Sum model, IT specialists can increase their net income by 5-6%. Many employees on conventional employment contracts have seen their net incomes decrease by 5% as a result of the Polski ?ad. � These changes to taxation brought about by the Polski ?ad push people to look for new employers that provide them with the freedom to choose the form of employment. Office market trends In cooperation with Cushman & Wakefield The Covid-19 pandemic has placed the office market in the epicenter of changes caused by switching to the remote work mode. However, with the increasing vaccination rates, organizations implement plans for employees to return to their offices. The Return to Offices report published in September 2021 by Cushman & Wakefield analyzes how companies are preparing to return to their offices. The study carried out using the CAWI method in June 2021 saw the participation of 132 decision-makers responsible for office space management (CEOs, Administrative Directors, Operations Directors, Office Managers). Office space stock In 2021, Krakow maintained its position as the largest office market in regional cities. Over the past 12 months, eight buildings with a total area of 60 700 m2 were delivered for use, due to which the total office space stock in the city reached 1.6 million m2. Moreover, the response of new office space supply in Krakow to the pandemic outbreak was delayed, thanks to which the implementation of projects under construction was not suspended, and the Lease costs Base rates for the best space remained stable and ranged from 13.50 to 15.00 EUR / m2 / month, depending on the location. Despite the negative impact of the pandemic on tenants� activity and the increased availability of office space, rent rates did not change due to the limited supply in the central business area. Since the fourth quarter of 2021, less pressure from tenants to lower effective rents has been observed. It results from a disturbance in supply chains and the continued high activity in the construction sector, which have contributed to the increase in costs of vast majority of projects planned for delivery in 2020-2021 were completed on schedule. Nevertheless, the slowdown in investment activity and the increasing office space availability resulted in a reduction in the number of new projects launched in Krakow in 2021. At present, the space of approximately 135 000 m2 is under construction to be delivered in 2022-2023. office adaptation. In comparison to previous years, the current prices of office adaptation work calculated with the building shell as the starting point increased by 25% on average. It directly translates into the level of incentives offered by the owners, affecting the achievable level of effective rent for office space. Nevertheless, projects located in areas with a higher level of vacant spaces may offer a higher level of incentives such as an extended period of rent exemption or increased office fit-out subsidies, which will result in a decrease in the effective office lease cost. Flexible office space After a temporary decline in activity on the flex market in 2020 caused by the pandemic, a returning interest in this form of office space rental could be seen among tenants in 2021. Over the past 12 months, the supply of flexible space in Krakow increased by approx. 6% compared to 2020 since some tenants, as a result of the pandemic, began looking for flexible solutions for renting office space, such as co-working spaces, serviced offices, or hybrid offices. Flexible office spaces in the �space as a service� formula provide a fully equipped shared office space and offer a range of administrative and maintenance services. Simultaneously, they offer flexible lease periods from days to months. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Sublease In 2020, a significant increase in sublease offers could be seen in Krakow. This is the result of the pandemic and the related uncertainty as to the future form of office space. In 2021 alone, sublease offers in Krakow amounted to 28 000 m2 and declined by nearly 25 000 m2 compared to 2020. Demand for office space As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, tenants� activity on the Krakow office market decreased by nearly 40% in 2020 compared to the record-breaking 2019. However, over the past 12 months, a gradual recovery in transaction activities could be seen despite the continuing economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of 2021, the total lease volume reached 156 000 m2 and was higher by over 1% than in 2020. It is expected that the upward trend in the demand for office space in Krakow observed since the beginning of 2021 will be maintained in 2022. Further market development will be driven, to a large extent, by the modern business service sector. According to the ABSL�s data, employment in this sector increased in Poland by nearly 4% compared to the previous year, with approximately 82 100 employees located in Krakow, who account for 23% of total employment in this sector in Poland. Demand for office space in Krakow broken down by transaction type (in m�) 300 000 250 000 200 000 150 000 100 000 50 000 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Owner Occupier Source: Cushman & Wakefield, 2022 Expansion Renewal New Prelet Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Availability of office space The decline in tenants� activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the relatively high level of new office space supply led to a significant increase in the availability of office space in the past 24 months. The vacancy rate amounted to 16.1% in the late 2021 and increased by 2.1 pp compared to the same period in 2020. In the opinion of Cushman & Wakefield, the high availability of office space is a short-term phenomenon, which will be affected by a reduction in the number of new projects planned for delivery in 2022-2023 and a gradual recovery in transactional activities. In the opinion of Cushman & Wakefield, the vacancy rate will return to the compression path over the next 12 months. On the other hand, the absorption rate of office space will affect developers� decisions on launching new projects planned for delivery in 2024-2025. Vacancy rate (in %), absorption and annual supply (in m�) in Krakow office market 200 000 180 000 160 000 140 000 120 000 100 000 80 000 60 000 40 000 20 000 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% Source: Cushman & Wakefield, 2022 Work model Annual supply (m2) Net absorption (m2) Vacancy rate (%) As many as 45% of the respondents indicated that they would ultimately implement a hybrid work model that combined work performed in an office with homeworking. The model that assumed 3 days of remote work (38%) and the total flexibility (27%) was mentioned as the most popular form of hybrid work. The traditional work model was chosen by nearly 25% of the respondents, where 63% accepted remote work only in exceptional situations. More than 30% of all the respondents have not made a decision yet on the model of their organization�s return to office, which translates into the lack of specific actions as regards the further use of office space and is primarily dictated by the uncertainty as to the further course of the pandemic. What is significant, none of the respondents indicated they were to abandon their office space permanently. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Has your company already determined for how many days your employees are to return ultimately to the office once the pandemic is over? 30% Not determined yet 25% Traditional work model 45% Hybrid work model Source: Cushman & Wakefield, 2022 Changes in office space Nearly one-third of all the respondents have introduced changes to the operation of their office space during the pandemic (11%) or plan to introduce the same within the next 12 months (20%). Thirty percent of all the respondents have not decided yet on adapting their office space to the new reality. The lack of unambiguous information about the end of the pandemic prompts some companies to apply the �wait & see� strategy with respect to the further use of office space. Fewer than 30% of the respondents declared that they would not introduce any changes, which may result from the stage of the lease contract, or the lack of capital expenditure usually provided by the owner to fit out or modernize the space Do you plan to make any changes in the office space within the next 12 months? 9% I don�t know 30% Not decided yet Source: Cushman & Wakefield, 2022 31% Yes 30% No Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Expert view Greater flexibility is the new reality in organizations� operations. Dominika Kowalska Associate | Workplace Strategy & Change Management at Cushman & Wakefield In March this year, two years will have passed since many companies employing white collars switched to the remote mode. Some of those companies have already developed a hybrid work policy that combines homeworking with working in an office; some of them continue to work entirely remotely because services provided by their employees are so critical to their business that they cannot afford mass quarantines, sick leaves, and thus empty runs. For this reason, a hybrid work model will become the predominant model in many companies. Numerous studies show that employees are equally efficient when dividing their time between working in an office and homeworking, and the employees themselves declare they take more satisfaction from their work and are simply happier. Furthermore, Polish offices have struggled with the overcrowding problem for many years; nothing was done with the problem because it was seen as a sign of the company�s growth and success. When viewed from the side, hybrid work can be the very solution that will finally introduce the flexibility so much talked about in the context of solutions for business and the work model itself, which cannot be fully implemented without employee mobility. Implementation of a hybrid work model in an organization also allows for more dispersed work. Consequently, it is a very attractive form of work for innovative organizations, especially in the IT sector. Thanks to this work model, these organizations can work with the most talented individuals located not only within a city or a country but within a much larger geographic region. 132 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 133 144 Start-ups ecosystem Polish start-ups update In the 2021 edition of this publication, we reported that considering the global economic slowdown, start-ups had done relatively well. After the second year of the pandemic, this statement still holds true in the city of Krakow, and more generally in the Polish start-ups� ecosystem. Indeed, the COVID-19 crisis has had either a positive impact or none on the development of start-ups, with 59% of Polish start-ups generating more revenue than a year ago. Finally, to mention, 2021 was a record year in terms of financing rounds, as stated by the think-tank Startup Poland, in their Polish Startups Report 2021. Is the pandemic still affecting Polish start-ups? 23% of Polish start-ups surveyed by Startup Poland in 2021 declared a negative impact on their business. This is however less than in 2020, when it negatively impacted 39% of start-ups, mainly due to difficulties in acquiring new customers and a drop in sales Pandemic impact on Polish start-ups in 2021 23% negative impact 37% positive impact 40% neither positive nor negative impact Source: Startup Poland, Polish Startups Report 2021, survey conducted on 229 respondents Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Are Polish start-ups� recruitment activities impacted by the pandemic? Nearly half of start-ups surveyed (48%) declared that their headcount remained unchanged in 2021 (no hires, no layoffs), which can be interpreted as a sign of stability in times of crisis, but also, as immobility in a more prosperous time. This is a significant change in comparison to the previous year (63%). Only 8% of start-ups indicated a negative impact of the pandemic on employment where they had to lay off employees. 19% Hiring 22% Uncertain 48% Unchanged Headcount changes in Polish start-ups in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic Source: Startup Poland, Polish Startups Report 2021, survey conducted on 229 respondents Are Polish start-ups generating revenue? 59% of Polish start-ups generated more revenue in 2021 than in the previous year, which is close to 20 percentage points more than during the last survey conducted in 2020. Polish start-up generating revenue in 2021 9% Lower revenue than previous year 17% Much higher revenue than previous year 32% No revenue generated yet 42% Higher revenue generated than previous year Source: Startup Poland, Polish Startups Report 2021, survey conducted on 229 respondents Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Focus on Krakow start-ups Revenue Taking a closer look at Krakow and the revenue generated by Krakow start-ups, 23% of start-ups do not have paying customers yet according to OMGKRK�s Krakow Startups Report on a survey conducted in 2021 on 140 start-ups operating in the city. Further statistics note that 17 companies (13%) declared a 300% annual revenue growth in 2021. 13% 100-299% revenue growth Annual revenue growth of Krakow start-ups in 2021 13% >300% revenue growth 15% 50-99% revenue growth 23% No paying customers yet 36% <49% revenue growth Source: OMGKRK, Krakow Startups Report 2022 survey conducted on 140 respondents Top challenges of Krakow start-ups OMGKRK survey revealed the 3 top challenges faced by Krakow startups in 2021: recruitment, pitching/ investor relationships, and marketing. However, these challenges vary depending on the start-ups� development stage. Here is an overview of the respective challenges for the 4 stages defined by OMGKRK in their Krakow Startups Report. Discovery Phase Validation Phase Growth Stage Mature Phase 3 Top challenges 3 Top challenges 3 Top challenges 3 Top challenges � Business strategy, business modeling 63,1% � Pitching / Talking to investors 57,9% � Legal, admin or accounting 47,3% � Pitching / Talking to investors 45% � Marketing 45% � Sales 41,1% � Recruitment 59% � Expansion / Internationalization 40% � Marketing 36,3% � Recruitment 81,2% � Marketing 43,7% � Expansion / Internationalization 31,2% Source: OMGKRK, Krakow Startups Report 2022 survey conducted on 140 respondents Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Focus Mature start-ups in Krakow � Almost all companies in this group are registered as limited liability companies, except Synerise (established as a Joint- In their Krakow Startups Report, OMGKRK has established a list of mature companies in Krakow, consisting of Autenti, Bidroom, Bitpanda, Elmodis, Kitopi, Azimo, Kontakt.io, Synerise, ReliaSol, Grenton, SILVAIR, Pomelody, Lekta AI, Sinterit, Revolut, FLYR and Brainly. Selected Key Characteristics of mature companies: � Half of the mature companies are local subsidiaries of foreign companies, so only 7 Krakow-born startups (Autenti, Brainly, Elmodis, Kontakt.io, Silvair, Grenton, Lekta AI, Pomelody and Sinterit) have been classified to this category. stock company). What is interesting is that nearly 60% of these companies are managed by a CEO, who is a 1-st-time founder. Only 2 of the teams have mixed- gender founders, while a significant majority of companies are being managed by male founders. � 53% of the companies received A round financing, while the remaining group of companies received mainly C round financing. 76,5% of companies received total funding higher than 5M EUR. Krakow IT Market Report 2022 137 144 Financing Value of VC investment in Poland by quarter (in EUR M) Value (EUR M) 450 400 350 130 300 250 200 66 150 100 50 0 26 Q1 19 80 47 Q2 19 94 Q3 19 47 Q4 19 58 Q1 20 37 Q2 20 74 87 Q3 20 126 94 Q4 20 53 Q1 21 150 Q2 21 127 Q3 21 275 Q4 21 Source: PFR Ventures, Polish VC market outlook 2021 Excl. outliers Outliers *Megarounds that distort the statistical picture. A megaround is considered to be a transaction that exceeds 10% of the value of all investments in a given period. 2021 was a record year in terms of VC investments in the Polish market, with a total of EUR 801M. Although investments fell dramatically in Q1 2021, by the following quarter it had already returned to the level of Q4 2020 reaching EUR 200M+. Q4 2021 saw a groundbreaking record with a total value of EUR 405M and 4 of the Top 5 rounds in 2021. Top 5 rounds of VC investments in Poland in 2021 Docplanner (Medtech) Uncapped (Fintech) Ramp (Fintech) Packhelp (E-commerce) Infermedica (Medtech) EUR 130M [estimated] Series F EUR 66M Series B EUR 47M Series A EUR 40M Series B EUR 26M Series B Q4 2021 Q2 2021 Q4 2021 Q4 2021 Q4 2021 Source: PFR Ventures, Polish VC market outlook 2021 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Looking back at the Krakow start-up ecosystem, the highest round ever recorded remains Brainly�s Series D ($80M) in Q4 2020. According to OMGKRK Krakow Startups Report, 43,5% of Krakow start-ups have not applied for external sources of funding. Out of those that have received the financing, most funds have been obtained either in Pre-seed or Seed rounds. Only a few companies secured rounds beyond Series A. Krakow start-ups investment rounds 3.6% Series C 1.4% Series B 13% Series A 18.8% Seed Brainly Series D Revolut Series E 43.5% No angel/VC funding 18.1% Pre-seed Source: OMGKRK, Krakow Startups Report 2022 survey conducted on 140 respondents 140 144 Krakow IT Market Report 2022 About MOTIFE What we do We are a consulting company that helps international tech businesses scale up with talent from Poland. We specialize in setting up and managing long-term tech teams. Our clients are companies from Europe, North America, and Middle East. We provide an end-to-end service: we help evaluate nearshoring options, then recruit a team, set up an office and support local operations. Our focus is on minimizing risk, reducing complexity, and accelerating time-to-value. Our in-house recruitment team works closely with a client to find the best talent with the right fit for the organization. We focus on fostering a strong relation with both hiring managers and with candidates in process. Recruitment Outsourcing and EOR We offer an option to host the newly recruited engineers on our payroll. We make sure the team feels like they are equal members of the international team. Setup and operations management Alternatively, the engineers can be employed by client�s new legal entity in Poland that we establish and run. By hiding the complexity and continuously educating the client�s team, we minimize an overhead associated with owning a subsidiary in Poland. Need to scale up your engineering team? Get in touch: hello@motife.com Krakow IT Market Report 2022 Learn more at motife.com Blog Client stories Job offers Krakow IT Market Report 2022 AUTHORS MOTIFE ul. Krupnicza 3 31-123 Krakow Poland motife.com PROJECT COORDINATORS Nicolas Cormier, Micha? Pi?tkowski PHOTOS Unsplash, MOTIFE, Max@Yolk, Istock, Depositphotos SPECIAL THANKS TO Jerzy Muzyk, Katarzyna Wysocka and Dominika Urba?ska (Municipality of Krakow), Andrew Hallam (ASPIRE), Przemys?aw Zakrzewski (ABB), Jacek Przybylski and ?ukasz D?browski (Cisco), Kamil Dowlaszewicz and Anna Dziedzic-Kurek (EPAM), Krzysztof Ras (Bitpanda), Robert Liziniewicz (Backbase), Rajesh Bysani and Kuba Piwnik (Brainly), Bill Wilkins (Karhoo), Marcin Welner and Mei Lim (Kitopi), Maciej Grzyb (Forte Digital), Justyna Pawlak-Mihu?ka and Katarzyna Fedewicz (MBA IT, UEK), Dominika Walec (OMGKRK), Dawid Krawczyk and Magdalena Martynowska (TechnipFMC), Piotr Sedlak, Ph.D. and Szymon Adamczyk (Sedlak & Sedlak), John Nash and Marie-C�cile Huet (Nicholson Search and Selection), Dominika Kowalska, Dariusz Madej and Jan Szulborski (Cushman & Wakefield), Max Burgess (Yolk Community & Workspace), Justyna Czyszek (Krakow Technology Park), Micha? Porzo?y?ski (Apptio), ?ukasz Drewnowski and Anna Micek (VeloxAlpha), Marek Wi?niewski (Comarch), Katarzyna Hajduk (HSBC), Katarzyna Kwiatek (Brown Brothers Harriman), Tomasz Manugiewicz (Grand Parade), Micha? G?szczyk and Sylwia Zaj?c (inhire.io), Andrew Samu (DisruptionBanking), Konrad Kuczek, Monika Wojkowska, Jakub Szufnarowski, James Blackhouse, Kris Grzegorczyk, MOTIFE Team. Share your thoughts, suggestions or questions by writing to hello@motife.com All names, logos and brands are property of their respective owners. ISBN 978-83-964901-0-0 motife.com Follow us on social media: Copyright � 2022 MOTIFE Sp. z o.o. Copying without written permission prohibited.