8-th Annual Survey of the Software Development Export Industry of Russia

07 August 2011

Dear Friends!

We present the results of the 8th annual research of the Russian software development export industry. Like in the last seven years, the report is prepared by RUSSOFT (Nonprofit Partnership of Software Developers, NP RUSSOFT).

NP RUSSOFT is the leading association of Russian exportoriented companies which develop software products and provide software development services. RUSSOFT also includes a number of leading Belarusian and Ukrainian companies and represents a consolidation of about 75 companies.

For the last year, our industry has almost completely recovered after the world financial crisis, reaching the same export growth rates which were observed in 2008. The industry has gained worldwide recognition and its members regularly win the highest ratings of leading world analytical agencies.

In 2011, the respondents expect a 20% growth of export volumes while maintaining the Russian developers’ focused specialization in high-technology developments and products. More rapid growth of software product export in comparison with export of software development services will continue although universities and scientific institutions are more and more actively involved in service delivering.

Nevertheless, it is too early to say that brilliant growth prospects are expected in the industry. The personnel expenses have hit the European level while fiscal regulation instability and poor inflow of fresh university graduates threaten the industry with a decrease in competitiveness.

As always, the research results are based on wide surveying of market players. In 2011, about 160 high-quality questionnaires completed by respondents from export-oriented software development companies were collected allowing an accurate reflection of the overall market situation.

In addition to the analysis of survey results, a lot of information from other sources, including, among others, analytical agency reports, company reports, and mass media publications, was collected. As a result of this collaboration, the material amassed showed a clear picture of the industry circumstances and revealed the main development trends. The leading role in the report preparation was played by Dmitry Zhelvitsky from the Computer World publishing house. Andrey Terekhov, a St. Petersburg State University professor who made high-grade expertise of the report, contributed significant changes to the report final version. We are especially grateful to the PROMT company, which translated the report into English. We also express sincere gratitude to the APKIT Association, which has been providing our research with sponsorship for a number of years.

We are grateful to everyone who took part in the research and, by that, allowed us to create a comprehensive, adequate, and reliable source of information on the software development export industry in Russia.

Editor-in-chief of the 8th edition,
Valentin Makarov
RUSSOFT Association President

8-th Annual Survey of the Software Development Export Industry of Russia
PDF, 11 MB , in English
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