Krakow on the Rise

Kraków’s emergence as a leading location for technology and business services has been confirmed by the city’s ranking in the 2017 edition of Tholons Services Globalisation Index. This news comes at a time when we are seeing a dramatic volatility in the ranking of cities following the introduction of a more robust methodology aimed at capturing the various impacts of digital disruption.

Kraków has climbed to 8th place globally in the 2017 Index. For the first time, the city has moved ahead of several established players in India and the Philippines. At the same time, Kraków along with Dublin continues to pull away from other cities in Europe.

The 2017 Index records a significant shift in the competitiveness of cities compared with previous years. For the first time since the inaugural report in 2006, Kraków has overtaken two of India’s major services locations, Chennai and Pune, as well as Cebu City in the Philippines. Some of the major climbers in the ranking are the South American cities, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Montevideo; as well as Toronto, Vancouver, San Antonio, Birmingham and Tel Aviv.

The dynamic change in the landscape is attributed to the impact of digital innovation and transformation, with industry leaders and established locations grappling to align their volume based business models to the new realities of mobile, analytics, cloud, social media, cyber security, digital marketing and automation, all of which factors have been given more weighting in the 2017 ranking. For the first time Tholons has introduced digital innovation as a prime gauge in ranking cities, assessing the number of start-ups, start-up diversity, start-up ecosystem, and business catalysts promoting entrepreneurship and collaboration.

The report is a mixed bag for other cities in CEE. Cluj-Napoca, which enters the ranking for the first time, and Sofia are the biggest climbers, whereas Bucharest, Brno, Bratislava and Wrocław have fallen back significantly. Warsaw, Prague and Budapest have consolidated their relatively high positions in the ranking.

​TSGI 2017 is the 12th edition since 2006 and is based on Tholons location assessment framework which uses both primary and secondary research. Data is collected and validated from an extensive network of industry stakeholders including enterprise buyers, service providers, governments, trade bodies and associations. Innovation / Digital, Talent, Skills & Quality, Cost, Risk & Quality of Life, Business Catalyst and Infrastructure are the key metrics used to rate and rank cities.