While you might associate Lviv as one of Ukraine’s techcities, not many people are aware that this bustling city took less than twodecades to become one of the largest tech hubs in Ukraine, along with Kyiv,Kharkiv, and Dnipro
Lviv has embedded the importance of technology throughoutthe city, in fact, it’s the only city that officially declared the techindustry as one of the principal elements for competitive strategy. The techsector in Lviv accounts for 14.4% GRP, between $280 and $300 million. This isdue to the 200 tech companies employing 20,000 tech workers. On top of that,more than 4,000 tech students graduate annually. Let’s take a closer look atwhat makes Lviv such an IT success story.
Lviv Outsourcing
Of the 200 tech companies, 20 are product companies and international R&D offices. 90% of the companies supply software development outsourcing services with some big-name international brands like Siemens, Oracle, and Gameloft. 58% of outsourcing is with the North American market, 35% in Europe, and 10% local and international production companies.
Higher Education
Studies have an excellent choice of establishments to choose from one of seven locations in Lviv offering technical and engineering training. Lviv Polytechnic National University leads the way in innovative learning, with specialization in IoT and Data Science. Aside from this, there are smaller institutes like LITS and SkillUp that provide fantastic programs including UI/UX and graphic design, QA engineering, project management, and other fields of expertise.
The Active Tech Community
When not working hard at their computers, the tech communityare out and about socializing. These IT groups help put Lviv on the map. LvivIT Cluster has a community of 63 companies and 8,000 tech workers. They supportlocal educational projects, carry out research, and promote Lviv on a local andinternational basis. One of the projects was an IT complex with a residentialarea, IT park, business center, university campus, a hotel, even akindergarten. Other groups are PLLUG Community, focusing on programming andsoftware and hardware development, GDG Lviv, those keen on Google technologies,and Lviv StartUp Club.
Tech Events
Hosting tech events allows the tech experts in Lviv to showoff their progress. There are many popular events, let’s take a quick look atthree of the biggest:
LVIV IT Arena- each autumn, around 2,500 developers,designers, managers, company owners, startup founders, and business analystscome together for one of the most distinguished IT events in Ukraine.
GDG DevFest Ukraine- this is the biggest Googletechnologies conference in Central Europe. The next event has a number ofinternational speakers lined up and expected to attract over 1,000 attendeesfrom around 20 countries.
GameDev Conference- for gamers, developers, etc.,this is the largest gaming conference in Western Ukraine.
Lviv Workspaces
Not everyone is keen to rent out an office, despite theexcellent business centers available in Lviv. If you are looking to cut back onyour expenses, the coworking spaces offer the ideal infrastructure forindividuals and teams. They are clean, bright, and spacious. Here are some ofthe most popular:
- Startup Depot
- coMMuna
- iHUBLviv
- Ok Factory
The Perfect Geographical Location
Finally, as well as the high level of specialists and comparatively low salaries and the cost of living in Lviv, you will also be able to benefit from a business culture very similar to western countries. It is also ideal for travel to other European countries, 100km at you are at the border of Poland. The time zone in Lviv is similar to many other zones which enables communication and flights to Germany, Austria, Italy, Israel taking anywhere from just 1 to 3 hours, and plenty of international flights too.