30 investment projects generating more than 3000 jobs – these are the key numbers for Pomeranian business in 2021. The overall number includes 15 new investments, 6 projects implemented under the “Invest in Pomerania 2020” grant competition, and 9 major reinvestments. These showcase the trust that our investors place in us to help them grow, which further highlights the business attractiveness of the region.
The investments were varied, from manufacturing, energy storage systems to new language processes and cutting edge tech. Office and storage space grew, transport infrastructure expanded and Pomerania proudly and rightfully proclaimed that pandemic or not, it was open for business. The scale of reinvestment in the year just ended is evidenced by the decisions of such players as AMS, Amazon, EPAM Systems, Northvolt, QLOC, Sii Poland, Telus International, and Wipro, who have significantly expanded their activities and have even bigger plans for the future.
– Although 2021 was a difficult year, the Business Services and industrial sectors in Pomerania have not only proved resilient but also exceeded all expectations. The pandemic has forced many companies to deploy new services more quickly or expand existing ones. We are glad to be part of the development of our partners. Telling their success story is a reward – says Marcin Grzegory, Deputy Director, Invest in Pomerania.
For the purpose of this article, reinvestments are defined as the implementation of major projects and a significant rise in headcount at companies, supported by Invest in Pomerania, already present in the region.
How to measure the scale of reinvestment in Pomerania last year? The simplest indicators are the increase in the number of employees and projects. We spoke to the reps of the companies to find out more about what drove their growth and more importantly what their plans for the future are.
Figures say it all
More than a thousand of new employees joined the teams of investors reinvesting in the region in 2021, and their plans for the next few years are even greater.
Northvolt has been operating in Pomerania since 2018. Just last year, nearly 80 new people joined the Tricity team. The decision taken a year ago to expand the plant in Pomorskie means that 500 new jobs will be created here in the coming years, in one of the more promising sectors of the industry. In 2021, Northvolt announced its plans to invest $200 million in the construction of its own production facility and research and development centre in Gdańsk. The completion of this largest energy storage factory in Europe is planned for the end of 2022. Right now they are developing pilot products for industrial applications, and testing various processes and improved production lines for the new plant. The dynamic development of Northvolt in Gdańsk is evidenced by the fact that in the last year it produced almost six times more battery modules than in 2020. These batteries are designed for mobile energy storage, electric excavators or specialised mining machines.
EPAM Systems Poland, specialising in software engineering, is now developing more dynamically than ever. In 2021 alone, more than 1850 people joined EPAM in Poland. The Tricity team is currently 1050+ people strong. Such an immense development potential makes the company constantly looking for talented IT specialists. Planning further development, EPAM Systems is looking for specialists in such areas as Cloud, including GCP, Azure, AWS, as well as technologies such as Java, JS, .NET and Python. The company also offers opportunities for people who want to start their career in IT and plans to launch DevOps and Java learning programs for them soon.
Despite the pandemic, Sii Poland, a provider of IT, engineering, digital and BPO services, shows constant increase in demand for its services and the need to expand their scope. The office in Gdańsk has become one of the largest centres out of 14 branches located in Poland. In 2021, the Tricity team grew by almost 300 people and now has over 1300 employees. The creation of many new jobs in Sii Poland is the result of the quantity and quality of projects currently underway in Gdańsk, and the acquisition of new clients and development of cooperation with long-term partners, such as ABB. Sii uses all available technologies on the market, in particular Java, .Net, C, C++, React, Angular, Python, Dynamics 365, SAP, Salesforce, etc.
AMS, specialising in outsourcing recruitment processes, expanded its business in the Tricity six years ago. In the second half of 2021, the company hired almost 100 new employees and now has a 300-person team serving more than 20 global customers. In 2021, AMS created a range of new jobs, from basic jobs requiring only a good knowledge of the language, including full training, to more specialised positions for recruiters, business intelligence specialists, analysts and full stack developers. This is the result of the decision to further develop the branch in Gdańsk on many levels.
The Tricity branch of Wipro IT Services Poland was established in 2015. Currently, the company employs more than 400 people. Even the pandemic crisis has not stopped the upward trend. In 2021, Wipro added several new companies to its client portfolio and consequently hired about 100 new employees. However, the market needs indicate that this is only the beginning.
2021 was a turning point in TELUS International’s history of delivering next-generation digital solutions to international and innovative companies. After years of activity in the Tricity, Telus opened a new operations centre together with Facebook. The development plans confirm the plans to employ 500 people in the centre by 2023.
After three years in Tricity, the board of QLOC – one of the 7 Polish companies offering the highest quality services for the gaming industry worldwide according to the Game Industry of Poland 2020 report of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development – decided to expand the office by more than 1000 m2 and increase the number of employees in the quality assurance and development departments.
When asked why Tricity, the answer from the companies was simple, because of the deep and varied pool of talented graduates and professionals from not only Pomernia but all over the world. We at Invest in Pomerania, establish direct links between Pomeranian employers and potential employees from across the world via Jobs@Pomerania and Live more. Pomerania.
Guarantee for the future
Reinvestments are key for showcasing the investment competitiveness of the region because each of these reinvestments is a story of trust in the region and the efforts of the local authorities to enable sustainable growth. Each of these is an ambassador that not only tells but demonstrates the business attractiveness of the region. This year, even more investors are putting their reinvestment plans into action, and each of these will bring their own skill requirements and generate more jobs. Here’s to 2022 the year that Pomerania further establishes itself as a global destination of choice.
