Telecom. IT: Overall IT industry business figure exceeded 15.5 billion euros in 2023, on the rise by 12.16%

The total business figure of the IT industry exceeded 15.5 billion euros in 2023, on the rise by 12.26% compared to 2022, according to a study launched on Wednesday by the Patron Association of Software Industry and Services (ANIS), made with the support of a research group from the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest.   According to an ANIS press release, this performance points out the resilience of industry, despite a difficult global economic context.   “The industry continues to be characterized by a wide variety of types of activity, technologies and operational models. We have 48,405 companies in the IT&C sector, of which 45,467 in the IT segment and 2,938 in telecommunications,” said the authors of the study.   The main component, software development on command, makes 40.24% of the total business figure and recorded an increase of 19.92% in 2023, contributing to generating a gross VAT of 50.9 billion lei, on the rise by 19.5% against 2022, the study shows.   In the same period, the telecommunications industry reached VAT of 12.4 billion lei, on the rise by 20.4% against 2022. “The overall impact of industry on GDP in 2021 was 14.16%. Direct impact represents the contribution generates strictly from activities of IT&C companies, that is 7.99% of GDP. That includes the development and delivery of software solutions and technological services. Indirect impact refers to the additional demand of goods and services generated in other industries to support IT&C activities. In Romania, this indirect impact represents 2.74% of GDP. Practically, the increase of IT&C activities generates demand for suppliers in other domains, such as logistic, professional services or hardware manufacture. Induced impact comes from the consumption of employees in this sector and annex industries, which contributes with 3.42% of GDP,” the study shows.   The total impact of IT&C sector was 45.3 billion euros, reported to 2023 GDP, which consolidates its position as essential engine of Romanian economy. Also, the study shows that over 880,000 of jobs were directly and indirectly created by the IT&C industry in 2021.   The study points put the importance of fiscal incentives, such as income tax exemption for IT professionals, in order to maintain sector competitiveness. In 2023, fiscal contributions of IT employees were the highest in economy, reaching 55,777 lei per employee.   “The sector was the seconf largest contributor to the budget in terms of paid taxes, with an average of 76,992 lei/employee. The study isolates direct impact in the case of eliminating this facility, that is an estimated drop of 26.7% in the profitability of companies in this sector, considering that all the other conditions of economy remain unchanged, which does not meet a composite effect of the other changes such as price increases with energy and human capital, inflation, evolution of global markets, etc.”, the study shows.   The analysis on the sector impact in Romanian economy is accompanied by a quantity and quality study on the innovation degree in IT&C sector, the barriers and favorable factors for innovation acceleration. The study was made over June-July 2024, on a sample of 1,042 companies which reflect industry structure according to size and activity type.   “Innovation is a main part of IT&C sector in Romania. Data show that, while 78.8% of respondents reported innovation initiatives in the last three years, only 5.7% of them launched their own products in the market. In other words, although there are many initiatives, their conversion from the stage of idea to products effectively launched in the market is limited. Responding companies pointed out a series of structural barriers against innovation, such as the lack of fiscal facilities specific to research-development (R&D) and/or difficult access to existing mechanisms, the lack of innovation centers and scientific parks, as well as compentence of recording intellectual property. Average and large companies allocate up to 12% of their budgets for R&D, thus feeding a continuous cycle of increase and competitive differentiation,”the authors of the study show.   The Employers' Association of Software and Service Industry (ANIS) is the representative association of IT industry in Romania. ANIS has over 150 member companies, it is a promoter of digitization and has represented the interests of the IT industry for 25 years, being a credible dialogue partner which can contribute to creating public policies to facilitate the turning to account of technology for socia-economic development.