Łódź – Information Technology Centre

Łódź – a business hub and dynamically developing city consistently implements the program of cooperation between companies from Łódź and universities. The wide access to educated staff is provided by 68,000 students, including over 6,000 of computer science students, enrolled in 23 universities and over 30,000 graduates, the majority of whom speaks fluently at least one foreign language.

The needs of entrepreneurs are becoming an integral part of the development of higher education institutions. They allow to determine the expectations of a contemporary employer and thus to increase the attractiveness of graduates on the labour market. Therefore, the largest state universities from Łódź – the University of Łódź and the Technical University of Łódź (TUŁ) – continue to expand their offer by opening new field of studies, e.g. information in the digital environment or financial market which are offered since this academic year. To meet the changing needs of the economic environment, the University of Łódź provides also a study programme under the name of InfoGeoLog which is to educate young people in “future fields” such as computer science, geo-information and information technology in logistics. Opening of the new institution-wide unit of the Technical University of Łódź, i.e. the Information Technology Centre, with up-to-date ICT technologies (Information and Communication Technologies), new space and innovative approach to education, was one of the most important events in the past year. Twenty one highly-specialised didactic laboratories related to widely understood computer science are located in the building with an area of over 4,500 sq m. Scientists and entrepreneurs who are experts in their field participated in the establishment of each laboratory. The most significant ones include mobile, network, industrial and multimedia laboratories. The Centre supports education related to design and use of information technologies in various technical fields implemented by the Technical University of Łódź in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Computer Science and Automatic Control and in the Faculty of Technical Physics, Information Technology and Applied Mathematics. Representatives of the companies participate in the classes and as part of the courses students may pass exams and receive certificates recognised throughout the world (e.g. CISCO Academy, Juniper, etc.). The Information Technology Centre of the TUŁ supports higher education related to development and use of innovative high-tech technologies in various fields of engineering science. It mainly focuses on the computer engineering, i.e. software, artificial intelligence, media processing, computer graphics and animation, imaging, computer networks, computer modelling and simulation, computer architecture, etc. The directions of ITC development were mainly selected after the analysis of the development of technologies implemented on the market. In addition, the quality of education is ensured by the ICT Central Poland Cluster. Entities interested in development of information and communication technologies and techniques actively cooperate under this initiative. Currently, the cluster brings together 23 participants, i.a. the following companies: Accenture, AMG.net, Comarch, Cybercom, Ericpol, Fujitsu, GFT, Infosys, and TomTom.

The City of Łódź also actively encourages young people to plan their future with the city and to create its positive image conducive to professional development. For many years, the city has been conducting the programme “Young people in Łódź” which is the only one in Poland. Particular initiatives of the programme are carried out in cooperation with the largest higher education institutions in Łódź and leading employers, over 120 of whom have already joined the programme. These projects i.a. comprise the website with traineeships and internships, a scholarship programme, free of charge training courses, “Meet employers from Łódź” initiative, presentation of the employment opportunities, hiring process and a competition “Young people in Łódź – I have an idea for a business”. Students gain necessary knowledge and skills which allow them to take up employment in international and culturally diversified companies.

Another interesting initiative involves a competition entitled „Młodzi w Łodzi – JĘZYKOWZIĘCI” (“Young people in Łódź – the Language-captivated”) in which one may receive a funding for classes of one of nine foreign languages lasting for two semesters which are most sought after by Łódź employers from BPO sector and at the same time less popular among students and graduates. The languages include: Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Portuguese and Swedish. There are nearly 90 participants in each edition of the competition. They are students and graduates of the universities in Łódź. The four previous editions brought benefits in form of a language course to nearly 300 persons.

In order to help in finding job candidates, the Investor Assistance and International Cooperation Office of the Municipal Office of the City of Łódź undertakes activities which support recruitment processes in companies while implementing the project “Łódź creates workplaces”. It i.a. provides city banners where posters informing about the vacancy in companies from Łódź may be put up. Łódź is one of the leaders in employment growth among the largest shared services centres. According to estimates, the number of employees in this sector amounts to approx. 16,000 and currently there are 66 such centres. The city specialises primarily in providing accounting and financial services. The Strategy for Integrated Development of Łódź 2020+ explicitly specified the pursuit of the city for the development of the economy in the Łódź agglomeration based on knowledge, innovation and creative industries which uses the potential of science and entrepreneurship in Łódź. It sets out the measures for joint acquisition of investors from preferred and most promising industries, in which the branches key for Łódź will include – apart from logistics and transport – BPO, AGD and IT sectors, activities related to fairs and exhibitions, tourism and mainly activities related to business, science and education.

It is worth to carefully look at the changes occurring in Łódź whose positive effects may already be noticed every day.

City of Łódź