BUSINESS
Nordic Business
and Culture in Ostrava
Petr Lukasík was born in Ostrava and studied
Information Technologies at VSB - The Technical
University of Ostrava (Vysoká škola báňská –
Technická univerzita Ostrava). He joined Tieto
Czech s.r.o. in 2004 after he had closed down
his own IT company. He has managed the Czech
branch providing Scandinavian clients with complex
IT services since 2011. Nowadays he specializes in
business operations within Digital Experience, such as
data analyses, AI, robotization, and smart prediction.
He is the Honorary Consul of Finland in Ostrava, and
Vice-President of the Nordic Chamber of Commerce
in the Czech Republic. His hobbies include his family,
badminton, skiing, mountains.
Mr Lukasík, Tieto Czech s.r.o. is synonymous for the
so-called Smart Region. What inspired you to locate your
business in Ostrava?
Tieto entered the Czech Republic through acquisition in
2002. Its expansion, however, is related to the establishment
Centre of Excellence which was founded in Ostrava thanks
to the characteristics of this region and its inhabitants.
We had a thorough analysis made which praised the
Moravian-Silesian Region for its high-quality potential in HR,
considering demographic, economic and logistical aspects.
The district of Ostrava is populated with a few million people
and dozens of good quality universities. The location of the
city itself is strategic, very close to Slovakia and Poland.
Relatively short distances to Scandinavia (in geography and
culture) also helped, and has paid back.
We started with fifty people operating in a villa; fifteen years
later we are celebrating our anniversary with the Czech
branch employing 2,600 people in Ostrava, Brno, and
extending to other towns. Thanks to our project “Developer
Anywhere,” we can create microteams anywhere in the
Czech Republic, facilitating the operation of a “Tieto office”
from any place. This can be a great opportunity for parents
who want to spend time primarily with children yet want to
have an attractive job near their home. Or those who hate
commuting which may take up a few hours daily. Last but
not least, this principle is welcome by those who love their
town and home, and do not wish to move for jobs. This is
why Tieto operates in Olomouc, Zlín, and Liberec too.
You come from this region, know this location and its
positives. What is your vision of the future of the city and
region?
I feel the values coming from the confluence of the past,
present and future of our region. For ages this has been
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an industrial centre which now, step by step, is changing its
focus and adapting to the demands of the present world.
The work by our engineers and workmen - e.g. bridges,
transmitter towers, parts of power plants, supersized
crankshafts for large ships, etc. - has marked the world
for about 200 years. The current situation is very similar,
though most of the jobs happen virtually. Tieto helps to
manage wood processing enterprise worldwide, from
South America, Europe to East Asia. Whatever paper
you hold, a newspaper, a magazine or a pizza box,
the probability is over 60% it has been made with the
use of Tieto software. We also help with digitization of
municipal councils. We facilitate the online purchase and
sale of a car, its registration and administration of the
ownership change; we designed an online application
to get a driving licence. Our software connects a phone
call each second. This is where the future of our region
is: to boldly develop the tradition and aim for hi-tech
enterprise with high added value, e. g. biomedicine,
material engineering, or IT.