ANIS: The Romanian technology industry will be propelled by innovation in the future. We need to create real bridges between IT corporations and startups.

The Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry (ANIS) organized on Thursday, April 27, 2023, at Commons Unirii, in Bucharest, “StartUp Bridge”, a first edition with physical presence of the events of the ANIS MeetUp series.

Almost 100 participants took the opportunity to debate for almost three hours how to develop the links between IT corporations that are members of the Association and the ecosystem of technological startups, how companies at the beginning of the road can benefit from global experience and technologies cutting-edge, but also what development programs they have access to. Experiences of beneficial interactions between startups and corporations were also shared, as examples of good practices that can have a positive long-term impact on the development of the Romanian IT industry.

“The Romanian technology industry will be propelled in the future by innovation, by companies that develop their own technologies with a global impact. Supporting these startups with mentorship programs, preferential access to certain technologies and with financing, including by large corporations present in Romania, is what ANIS promotes at the Association level. Currently, 65% of the IT market is present in ANIS. There are many corporations in the Association, but there is also room for many startups”, said Matei Dumitrescu, member of the ANIS Board of Directors, in turn investor and organizer of several acceleration programs for startups.

ANIS members participated in the discussions:
• Ana-Maria Bărbută – Microsoft Romania
• Bogdan Axinia – eMag
• Andrei Dumbravă – Atos IT Solutions & Services

Among Romania’s impact startups, the teams from Bright Spaces (one of the best-funded proptech companies, winner of the “StartUp of the Year” award at the “IT Industry Excellence Awards” 2023) presented their latest projects , present in several European countries), UrbanAir (urban mobility aggregator with a presence in more than 130 cities around the globe) and Atlas (telemedicine platform that attracted an investment of half a million euros in 2022 from eMag Ventures) .

“Microsoft is committed to supporting Romania’s burgeoning startup ecosystem to help unlock the potential of a new generation of entrepreneurs and promote innovation. Programs like the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub and the ISV Success program can support them on this journey. Digital technologies, cloud, AI, big data, modern networks and the digitization of every experience and every business process will be the key to achieving this growth,” said Ana-Maria Bărbuță, Microsoft -Small and Medium Business Lead.

“We are glad that we managed to bring together the two important segments of the Romanian IT industry – large companies and startups – at the same table, to debate real problems of start-up companies but also the programs that corporations make available to them, such as and the conditions for accessing them. By promoting such connections we hope to act as an amplifier for the healthy, organic development of the software and services industry, with an emphasis on innovation and courage”, said Corina Vasile, executive director of ANIS.

Microsoft Romania was the main partner of the event. The event was also organized with the support of the Institute for Excellence in Entrepreneurship (IdEA) team.

About ANIS
25 years of activity in Romania. Established in 1998, ANIS represents the interests of Romanian IT companies and supports the development of the local software and services industry, the growth of both companies involved in outsourcing projects and those that generate intellectual property, through the creation of products.

Over 170 members. Within ANIS are represented both companies with Romanian or foreign capital, small or multinational, with headquarters in all the major IT centers in the country, which ensures the association representativeness at the national level. ANIS members generate a significant number of highly qualified jobs in society.
With a representation of over 65% of the total revenues generated by the IT industry at the national level and approximately 42% of the total IT industry employees in Romania, ANIS is increasing its economic footprint at the local level year by year. For more information, visit the Association’s page – www.anis.ro.