Got a project in mind? Say yes to Slovakia

Quite small, unassuming, landlocked, modern, still relatively undiscovered yet with massive potential, very smart people, and stunning nature. That’s Slovakia in short.

With that, let’s get into a bit more detail.

Got a project or an investment in mind? Slovakia is your answer

Located in the heart of Europe, quite literally. You will find an actual geographical center of Europe near the town of Kremnica in Central Slovakia.  

Slovakia is with its 5 460 193 inhabitants geographically divided into 8 regions and 79 districts. The size of Slovakia could be compared to New Zealand, Singapore or Denmark, and Finland. The life expectancy isn’t at all bad either. 80 years old for women and 72 for men. 

Slovakia has a great location also in terms of its great proximity to other EU regions of high value. For example our capital city Bratislava is only 45 minutes of comfortable drive away from Vienna in Austria. We are not far from Budapest either. You can reach the Hungarian capital in about 2 hours. 

Our country is located in the CET timezone and belongs to the Eurozone. The official currency is the euro. As mentioned already, the capital city is Bratislava.

Slovakia is a little bit of a hidden gem. Investors often go to well-established markets but if you’d like a Central European location, highly-skilled, university educated, and multilingual people you’ve just found it. 

Our country offers the third lowest labor costs in Europe. On top of that, our labor laws allow for a good amount of flexibility for employers than in other countries within the eurozone. 

If you are wondering what the unemployment rate is like, then you will be pleased to know that Slovakia’s unemployment rate is just below 8% as per statistics from May 2021. This equates to 217 000 currently unemployed people across the country. 

When it comes to the Euro area labor effectiveness index, Slovakia is sitting at 100% and is among the top 6 countries. 

We mentioned the central location but how central is it really? Thanks to its wide and reliable infrastructure, well-established road system, and flight connections to over 260 worldwide destinations from airports located within an hour or two drive from the capital city, it is definitely the right choice if you want to be in the center of the action.  

Not just a car-making country

Our country is often referred to as the “manufacturing hall” of Europe and while this is partially the truth as we are the current European automotive manufacturing superpower, it certainly isn’t all just about the cars here.  

The future of transport lies in technology. That’s a fact. Electric cars need batteries and people will soon need even more alternatives than just electricity on how to get from A to B.

The answer may just lie in technology & flying cars. 

Slovakia has already managed to make headlines on this front too. Slovak Stefan Klein constructed a flying car which has already passed by the Slovak Transport Authority and been given the all go as one of the first to have received formal certification.

And it doesn't end with flying cars. Rather, it is only the beginning. Slovakia has a high-quality education system, particularly tech universities. The Slovak University of Technology is one of the best universities our country has to offer. Not only that, STU is ranked among the top 1000 universities in the world according to the most well-known international university rankings.

Besides STU, we also have multiple other universities. 35 in total to be exact.

These universities are producing highly skilled and multilingual people, who are now running successful companies, such as Sygic or Eset employing hundreds of people just in Slovakia, besides other countries, or running the capital city. Yes, the mayor of Slovakia’s capital Bratislava is an STU alumnus.

Also worth mentioning are companies like Touch4IT, which operates in the space industry in 16 countries already, or Tachyum focussing on processes.  

When we mention languages, 94% of students in Slovakia are learning English and 54% German in secondary schools among other languages of course. So there is a very high chance that you’ll have no problem communicating even though you may not speak Slovak. 

Over the past 20 years, Slovakia experienced a massive boom in the establishment of Shared Service Centres and this number is set to increase into the future. This is thanks to the high-quality standard of the business environment. 

There are over 60 such centers currently successfully established & operating in Slovakia employing over 30 000 people. 

Investors are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing Slovakia. They can find a qualified, multilingual, and highly adaptable workforce & great work ethics. 

Besides this also a very fast, stable and reliable IT infrastructure with high-speed internet & great coverage. Slovakia has also already successfully tested 5G internet network coverage.

This is also one of the reasons why many large, international companies such as AT&T, Dell, Accenture, T-Systems or IBM are setting up not only shared service centers but also their centers of excellence in Slovakia.

Modern but also pretty

Slovakia is a modern country where people like to try, test & use all sorts of technologies. This is particularly apparent in the fact that we are almost a cashless economy and have become an incubator for modern technologies not just in the field of finance but also connectivity, such as the already mentioned 5G network. 

Ok, we have discussed the numbers, facts & figures but people need and want to relax too. Slovakia won’t disappoint you on this front either. 

While the country may be relatively small in size, it is big in terms of natural beauty, mountains, and historic heritage. We have 9 national parks, over 100 castles, and 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites for you to discover in your spare time. And there are stunning mountains, world-class skiing, and wellness resorts too. 

If you are into caves, you’ll love it here too. Slovakia offers over 7000 of them. Pretty cool, right? 

Also worth mentioning that besides Bratislava there are many other smaller but just as pretty towns and cities to discover. Definitely put Košice, Trnava, Trenčín or Skalica on your must-see list. 

Slovakia is definitely not to be overlooked & one to consider when you think of where to place your next project. It may not have been on your radar until now, but hopefully and maybe also thanks to this article you will consider it as the right choice when it comes to starting your next big idea. 

You will find a lot more than just the right people, the right attitude and the right kind of support here.