Microsoft's Putinica: IT industry can contribute 7-8% of Romania's GDP, in spite of latest developments

Nearly 220,000 programmers are currently working in the Romanian IT industry, and they can contribute about 8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through innovation, if things go well this year, despite the latest developments, Bogdan Putinica, country manager of Microsoft Romania and the Republic of Moldova, told a specialist conference on Friday.

"We are talking about a community of almost 220,000 programmers, talented engineers working in the IT industry in Romania. These very dedicated people, true talents in the purest sense of the word, bring to Romania, beyond economic progress and technical innovation, 7.8%, almost 8% of the GDP, if things go well this year, despite the latest developments. It is one of Romania's enormous growth vectors. And when I say growth vectors, I am not referring to the car industry or agriculture or telecommunications, although they are part of this, but here we are talking about innovation, research, development, the correct and healthy use of Romanian human capital. These 7 - 8% of the GDP are generated by an industry that is growing three times faster than the average Romanian economy," said Putinica.

In the view of Microsoft's country director, the Cloud and Artificial Intelligence represent the revolution that needs to take place in the industry nationwide.

"Of course we should help and we should do what we can to align macro policies with the realities of the economy. We don't always get that, but that's what we're playing with, with an industry that has a very clear chance in 2025 for reaching 10% of the GDP. It's a reality and a huge result that both you and the rest of your industry colleagues are working for every day. In 2023 it's all about the cloud - from the phone to more advanced technologies. Digital transformation doesn't mean buying a laptop and a printer. The cloud and good digital transformation processes obviously lead to the present moment where we are looking at a real revolution. In 2023, we're talking about a democratisation of access to Artificial Intelligence technology and especially its transformation into something useful. We can use it for something and sure, the present use cases of artificial intelligence should be taken both with a grain of salt and with a bit of realism, because they represent a progress just at the beginning," the expert stressed.

According to the data presented by the Microsoft representative, almost 100% of global companies are interested in Artificial Intelligence and consider this technology important for their economic path. Also, 80% of large companies report that they are already using Artificial Intelligence in one way or another.

Ziarul Financiar is organising the 5th edition of the High-Tech Innovation Summit on Friday, with the theme "Which are the poles of innovation in Romania?."

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