ZAGREB, July 15, 2019 – The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Division of the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP) says that ICT should be defined as a strategic industry and that specific incentive measures should be taken to retain its specialists in the country and boost the sector’s competitiveness.
Presenting their demands to the government in the form of “five small measures” and an analysis of the ICT sector over the past ten years, the association’s representatives told a press conference earlier this week that it was highly important for Croatia to keep its digital talent and professionals in the country in the next ten years.
HUP director-general Davor Majetić said that the global economy was digitised and that therefore the results and status of the ICT industry were even more important.
“What 20 years ago was computerisation, with only a few computers in companies, is now digitisation, and in order for it to become a reality, a strong ICT sector is needed. That’s why this industry is also very important for all other sectors,” Majetić said.
He said that in Croatia last year the ICT industry had started the largest number of companies, generated the highest revenues, created the greatest added value and paid the largest amount of taxes and contributions per employee into the state budget, slightly over 4,400 kuna (600 euro), while contributions from other industries ranged from 1,000 kuna (135 euro) to 2,500 kuna (337 euro) per employee.
He went on to say that last year ICT was the second largest exporter after the metal industry and the second largest employer after the food industry, and that in the last ten years it had observed the large increase in employment as personnel costs had risen by 70 percent, from 3.8 billion kuna (513 million euro) in 2008 to 6.5 billion kuna (878 million euro) in 2018.
The head of the HUP’s ICT Division, Boris Drilo, presented growth estimates for the industry until 2025, according to which the ICT sector could have 55,000 employees by then, of whom 28,000 in computer programming, while revenues could reach 45 billion kuna (6 billion euro), of which 12 billion kuna (1.6 billion euro) or 23 percent would account for exports.
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