The Software Industry – an Opportunity That Bosnia and Herzegovina Must Take Advantage of Irrefutable Arguments on Supporting the Development of the Software Industry in B&H
The software industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina grows day by day, but the true potential of this field was presented at “The First Conference on the Development of the Software Industry in B&H”. According to the preliminary data of the BIT Alliance Association, a software engineer’s annual revenue is between 80,000 and 120,000 BAM.
“All of B&H employs about 3,000 engineers and annually educates 100 to 150 software engineers. However, compared to its needs and potential, this is very low. With 25,000 software engineers, the B&H software industry would earn more than 2 billion BAM of revenue, which is 10 percent of GDP growth.” – said Haris Memic, the President of BIT Alliance.
Armin Talić, General Director of BIT Alliance, said that the key issue facing the software industry is the lack of qualified personnel.
“When we talk about professional staff it is necessary for educational institutions to increase enrollment quotas, adapt curricula that correspond to the market’s true needs, so newly educated personnel would be adequately prepared for jobs that already exist,” Talić added.
Furthermore, institutional support is needed for the development of the software industry in B&H. The aim of the conference is for Bosnian authorities to hear arguments that describe the potential, but also the problems, faced by the software industry in B&H, so that everyone can contribute to the improvement of the business environment in the country.
“When I, as a minister, elaborate on something, I do it with the power of argument. There are many arguments here and I would like to see a person who will not support them,” said the Minister of Communications and Transport in B&H, Ismir Jusko. He added that the Ministry of Communications and Transport in B&H has submitted the Information Society Development Policy, which is an integral part of the software industry’s development, to the Council of Ministers for adoption. The next step would be strategy development.
A positive example came from Sarajevo Canton. In its Development Strategy (for 2017-2020 period) there are elements that support the development of the software industry. It has been adopted in September of 2016. Elmedin Konaković, Sarajevo Canton’s Prime Minister, added that only the blind do not see the opportunity that this industry represents for our country.
“Things like this wake up sleeping political subjects and point to a realistic opportunity for the faster development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is one fast train on which there is still room and where we can find our ticket for the global market. For that, we have all of the resources and potentials, and it seems to me that there’s a lack of institutional support on governmental levels” stated Konaković.
The first conference on the development of the software industry in B&H was held in the Parliament of B&H, organised by the Ministry of Communications and Transport of B&H and BIT Alliance. Approximately 450 participants attended the conference, among which were representatives of ministries and governmental institutions from all levels in B&H, software industry representatives, educational institutions, the NGO sector and the media.
