Cluj-Napoca/Romania, April 25, 2024 – RBJ – According to OVES Enterprise, investments in innovation and new product development could generate a growth of about 30% in the Romanian IT industry in 2024.
“Romanian IT companies should take a risk and invest in R&D teams, use the experience gained after completing and delivering complex projects, and work on their own products. Yes, it is convenient for most IT firms to deliver software solutions for existing clients and then maintain them. However, this approach is no longer feasible – the reality on the ground is different. If they want to grow and develop, IT companies need to make an extra effort to start working on their own products, invest in innovation and software development”, says Mihai Filip, CEO of OVES Enterprise.
According to the OVES Enterprise analysis, state support for local IT companies to access financing, international markets through economic missions, international technology fairs, infrastructure etc., plays a crucial role in restarting the IT industry.
“In Ukraine, after the war started, many IT companies suffered due to a lack of projects. In this context, the state has encouraged market players to work on innovative products, assuring them that it would help attract financing. And that’s what they did. In the USA, the state is trying to persuade major investment funds to reinvest in innovation. They offer more facilities if they invest in such products. And we are talking about new products that are financed and need programmers to be developed”, adds Mihai Filip.
As for the fields that will attract the most investments and innovation projects, the renewable energy, eCommerce, proptech, and embedded chip programming sectors will stand out in the coming period. In the fintech and automotive areas, there is already a slowdown in the pace of development, according to OVES Enterprise specialists.
“I encourage everyone who wants to take this step to start small. Don’t invest large amounts from the beginning, even if you are convinced at that time that the product will have traction. You can start with a small team of 2-3 people, develop the product to the MVP stage, and see what feedback the product receive from the market. If the product doesn’t have traction, apply the ‘fail fast’ rule. However, if the product is moving in the right direction, you need to grow the team and try to advance quickly because there is a risk that someone else might work on a similar product”, adds Mihai Filip.
OVES Enterprise entered a new line of business starting from September last year: drone production. The decision to invest in this area was made a year earlier, with the company now developing both the hardware and software aspects.
OVES Enterprise is currently working on 7 innovative products, and the investment budget announced for 2024 is €2.5 million for the development of its own products and for continuing the process of international expansion, focusing on Software as a Service, Space and Defense, and Cybersecurity sectors.
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OVES Enterprise is a Romanian software development company and drone manufacturer, established in 2015 in Cluj-Napoca. Since 2019, OVES Enterprise strategy has included offering more complex software development services for projects in the automotive, eCommerce, fintech, telecom, and international governmental institutions areas, becoming a technological partner for complex and technologically sophisticated projects. Last year, OVES Enterprise expanded its activities with a new line of business focused on drone production.
Currently, more than half of the company’s turnover is generated by projects outside Romania, integrating new technologies from the fields of artificial intelligence and big data. OVES Enterprise currently employs over 200 people and has offices in Romania, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the USA, and Norway.
