According to a market report by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the growth of the software industry has been fueled by two primary factors. First, there is relatively little obsolete software in the country, and second the Czech Republic has many talented engineers to develop software. Many software firms were established through universities and state industries and are now developing software through the use of new technologies. Another reason the industry is developing so rapidly is the enormous demand for software and hardware. The following chart depicts the number of computers in the country in 1995 and the estimated number for 1998.
Statistics Following are estimates of statistics on imports and exports.
Here we see that the Czech Republic began to export some software in 1996, and local production has continued to grow steadily. There are four main methods used to develop software in the Czech republic. Specific examples can be identified in each of these categories. Some foreign software applications such as Microsoft Word are very popular in the Czech Republic, and have therefore been translated for use by Czechs. On the other hand, because of the expertise of Czech software engineers and their relatively low cost, foreign companies are hiring Czech companies or working with universities to develop software according to their specifications.