Nordic Business and Culture in Ostrava

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 24 ǀ POSITIV 3/2019 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.