Google has the largest Development Center for EMEA “wearables” in Romania

Romania is now hosting the largest Google development center for wearables in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), while Bucharest is on the map of innovation centers for technologies of the American giant, according to a company press release sent on the occasion of the anniversary of 15 years of activity in the local market.   According to the source, since November 2010 to the present day, the local Google team has hired 400 people who carry out their activity in two offices.   „Activities of the local office have constantly diversified, and now Google has in Bucharest a real innovation center, with devoted digital advertising consulting teams, research and development for wearables, Cloud and Android. In the 15 years of activity in Romania, Google has extended its local projects, from making Romania's beauties and cultural heritage digitally accessible to backing digital education and online safety of students, promoting local entrepreneurs and encouraging economic growth. The present focus is artifical intelligence, all recent products being based on AI. Moreover, Google Romania focuses on encouraging AI use and supports education initiatives in the field of artificial intelligence,”the press release mentions.   At present, Romania is the largest Google development center for wearables in EMEA, while Bucharest is on the map of innovation centers for company techologies, while local development solutions and services are included in smart watches and Pixel phones used in the world.   “Several engineering teams whose activity covers domains like Google Wearables Helath Experiences and Fitbit Consumer Services, are working in Bucharest next to Google Research and Google Cloud infrastructure solutions. Engineer teams in Romania are developing functions concerning health and personal safety, fitness and body, used by Pixel product users in the world. This autumn, the local engineering team from Google has extended innovation by including functions developed by a health and fitness trainer based on artificial intelligence,” company representatives point out.   Over the 15 years of activity in Romania, the technology company has carried out educational programs like: “Google for Startups”, with constant IMM suppport ; as of 2012, Google.org has offered grants of 6 million dollars to NGOs in Romania, to develop social programs in the field of education.   Moreover, as of 2023, Google Romania, next to the National Administration Institute, has carried out traning programs for public administration employees in the field of artificial intelligence. “About 8,500 public workers in Romania and Republic of Moldova participated in training sessions for AI to boost productivity and safety notions online and cyber security. Google Romania will continue these programs, in order to reach a high number of public workers,” according to the mentioned statement.   At the same time, since the launch of the Romanian version in 2013 to the present, YouTube has become one of the most important channels of Romanian creativitym while the number of content creators has grown constantly.   In numbers, more than 13 million Romanians (18 and over) are watching videos on YouTube, while a person in Romania is watching an average of 50 minutes daily. On the society and culture segment, company data show that, since the launch of the local office, the promotion of the natural, cultural and historic patrimony of Romania has been constantly on the Google agenda. Projects of digitization and publication of Google Maps Street View and Google Arts & Culture include Romanian beauties and patrimony aspects to a world digital audience.   The first important step in this direction was made in 2012, when Google covered the whole country with parnoramic pictures.   Since then, Street View vehicles have periodically returned to Romania – the latest was this year- to update images from Romania. Moreover, special projects were developed by the local Google office to add to Street View several Romanian landmarks. In 2015, Salina Turda was opened to virtual visitors on Street View. In 2018, in collaboration with World Wide Fund (WWF), Google Romania included the Danube Delta with over 1500 km of canals and roads on Street View. Since 2023, most of Via Transilvanica, the long distance road crossing Romania, can be digitally explored on Google Street View.   By means of Google Arts & Culture, the first Romanian collections were launched on the platform in 2024, when three of the most popular museums (Brukenthal National Museum, Romanian Peasant National Museum and ASTRA National Museum Complex), as well as other patrimony associations in Romania published their collections. In the years to come, many other cultural partners in Romania added their virtual collections on the platform: from the Romanian peasant shirt, included in an exhibition devoted to fashion and style to Peles Castle or Parliament Palace.