Slovenia’s vision for bringing the key players in workforce development including business and industry, economic development, education, and the public workforce system has facilitated the fast development of the country's ICT sector and gives a credit to human capital and well-developed ICT infrastructure is a result of an early commitment to making it one of national development priorities.

If innovation is a yardstick for economic prosperity is, then the medals awarded to Slovenian innovators at the international exhibitions for ideas, inventions and new products guarantee steady growth of home-grown science-based companies. In the sector, there are over 20,000 employees in nearly 2,500 companies and although users of ICT services understand the role they play in their success, no sector of the Slovenian economy has been unscathed by the recent economic crisis.

Estimated gross annual labour costs in ICT for 2012

(Total cost per employee in €)  

The need for a pool of young talent highly qualified in computer science was included in the university curriculum some thirty years ago and since then courses in IT and informatics have become highly popular with students enrolling either in the University of Ljubljana or Maribor. Over the past few years, their number has surged and already reached 5,000 students. Secondary education programmes for computer science, electrical engineering and telecommunications have attracted nearly 7,000 attendees.

To benefit from the EU development policy, Slovenian experts and their foreign partners participate in target-oriented technology platforms within the European and national research programmes and a good grasp of foreign languages is mandatory for R & D activities. According to international rankings, 91% of Slovenians can communicate in at least one world language with the English and German being most widespread and 71% of population is able to communicate in at least two world languages. The widespread knowledge of  the languages spoken in the Western Balkans comes in handy when Slovenian ICT companies outsource experts there.

Detailed information on human resources...

Productivity in industry and services, 2010

Related GDP (PPP) per person employed (in €) 

A central geopolitical position at the cross-roads of trade and transport routes gives Slovenia a cutting edge and explains its historical, cultural and economic profile – the key elements of the country’s economic performance.

The role played by the ICT to Slovenia’s export mix is extremely important. ICT-related export figures have risen sharply. Between 2000 and 2010, the average annual export growth rate was 40%. Exporters of telecommunications services account for 25.5% of overall industry exports followed by providers of IT services. Mobitel and Si.mobil are the leaders in the field of telecommunications and Telekom Slovenije remains Slovenia’s leading exporter of telecommunication services.

Slovenian companies are enhancing their presence in foreign markets through outward direct investment. This trend is widely followed by ICT companies, particularly when investing in the emerging markets of the south-eastern Europe where after the market surge of almost 50% in 2008, there was a drop of some 24% in 2009 and 6% in 2010. Capital ties are also used to get a foothold in the markets of CIS countries.

Thanks to its position and decades of fostering economic links with its neighbours, Slovenia is in a pole position to serve the markets in the region. The number of international companies setting up their regional hubs in Slovenia is rising attracted by the expertise of local managers, sales force and field engineers and their in-depth knowledge of the regional markets. They speak the language, they are familiar with legislation, they know their way around, and what’s most important there are no cross-cultural barriers for them.

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Comparison of key information society indicators, 2010 

In addition more highways and railroads as the backbone of so-called hard infrastructure,

there is soft infrastructure, in the form of more transparent institutions and deeper reforms.  Slovenia’s political, institutional and legal environment comprises legislation, regulation, and legal systems as the prerequisites of freedom of transacting, security of property rights, and

transparency of government and legal processes. The availability of efficient infrastructure

services is an important determinant of the pace of market development and output growth

and facilitates raising capital for further infrastructure assets.

The most advanced countries in ICT are from Northern Europe but Slovenia comes second in the group of new EU Member States boasting high level of access to ICT infrastructure, including fixed and mobile telephony, Internet and broadband. In terms of ICT access, use and skills, households with a computer and Internet, and computer literacy levels, as well as the ICT capabilities of Slovenian companies and security issues are enviable.  Among new EU Member States, only Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus boast widespread XDSL services and Slovenia’s ADSL coverage is expected to reach 100% by the end of 2013.

Slovenia’s companies and institutions are committed to improving information infrastructure, developing exportable products with high value added, developing sellable new knowledge and technologies, and to raising the quality of innovation environment with transfer of knowledge into the industry. The progress of the knowledge-based society made so far makes  everyday life easier by adding new services such as  e-government, e-knowledge and soon e-health, and the inclusion of small and medium enterprises into demanding projects

Productivity/value added per employee, 2010