Hi-Tech Park Celebrates its 10th Anniversary!
10 years ago – on June 1, 2006 – first companies were registered as the Hi-Tech Park residents.
Today, 152 companies with about 25,000 engineers are HTP residents. Approximately 3,000 new professionals are hired by the Hi-Tech Park annually. These are not just figures – these people are the main driver of the development of the Belarus’ IT industry. In the future, they will determine the economy of the country. Thanks to their work, Belarus’ exports of computer software has increased by more than 46 times for the 10 years and amounted to almost USD 800 million in 2015. And it is an impressive achievement. This is the money earned due to the intelligence of Belarusian programmers and people who organize and support their work.
Mostly young people have made the Hi-Tech Park as we see it today. They are open-minded and willing to get new knowledge and learn new languages which is a great basis for advanced IT companies to grow. Undoubtedly, heads of the companies have played a crucial part.
Valery Tsepkalo, Director of Belarus Hi-Tech Park:
"I am proud of our directors – young, energetic, educated, and creative. I am proud of our software engineers constantly developing and improving their professional skills. The success of the Hi-Tech Park has become possible only due to them. Due to their talents and efforts, a new industry has emerged and matured in Belarus – software development."
With accumulating knowledge and experience, Belarusian IT companies have grown qualitatively and become prominent players on the international scene.
Custom software development has come a long way for the 10 years – from simple outsourcing to full software development life cycle when HTP residents do not just create software according to customer’s specifications but support the whole process – starting with design and finishing with implementation. Five out of 10 world’s largest companies (according to Forbes Lists) are among HTP customers.
Today, HTP companies are actively engaged in IT consulting, IT audit and system analysis together with providing services of integrated process management for information systems development and implementation.
EPAM Systems, IBA, Itransition, Exadel, ScienceSoft, Game Stream, iTechArt Group, Artezio, ISsoft Solutions, System Technologies, SoftClub and many other HTP resident-companies are well-known throughout the world.
Simultaneously, IT companies have been accumulating expertise in particular areas of specialization. Leading HTP residents established their own competence centers where employees can learn the world and Belarusian best practices and improve their skills for solving creative and complicated tasks.
Another important activity of the Hi-Tech Park is ICT and software development and implementation for industrial enterprises and other organizations of Belarus. Today, HTP residents provide 80 percent of information technology solutions demanded by the economy of the country. HTP products and services for the domestic market have high R&D intensity and are up to the world standards.
With competences of Belarusian IT professionals improving, more and more foreign investors turn their attention to our country. Belarus has become an attractive location for major international technology companies to open their development centers. Currently, development centers of such global tech giants as InterActiveCorp, Rakuten, SK Hynix, IHS, Playtech, Yandex, etc. are among HTP residents.
Striking software products are increasingly appearing in portfolios of HTP companies, thus marking a new stage in the development of the Hi-Tech Park. Over 900 million people in 160 countries are using mobile apps developed in Belarus, while such brands as Apalon, MSQRD and many others are creating a new image of IT Belarus. And now instead of having a hard time explaining where Belarus is located on the map, we may just answer a foreigner that Belarus is home to Viber and World of Tanks.
The Hi-Tech Park is actively developing, and this creative process of innovation helps Belarus to act as an equal partner with the most successful countries on the global market.
