Bite For Bite 10
The Technological Albania That Europe Doesn’t Expect
Dear readers,
In recent weeks, through this newsletter, we have started to reflect on how to better tell our story and act as a more unified system. This topic quickly went beyond our own bounda-ries: Albania Economia Magazine dedicated an interview to the Albanian ICT & BPO sec-tor, The Technological Albania That Europe Doesn’t Expect, bringing our story to the at-tention of a wider audience.
This narrative is built on solid foundations. Today, the ICT & BPO sector in Albania counts more than 40,000 professionals, over 3,000 active companies, and holds a leading posi-tion in Central and Eastern Europe for computer science graduates per capita. A grow-ing share of university students is choosing STEM pathways, feeding a pool of skills that is rapidly absorbed by export-oriented companies integrated into international value chains. We are no longer talking only about potential, but about a measurable contribution to the region’s technological competitiveness.
In my role as Coordinator of the ICT & BPO Groups for the Italian Chamber of Com-merce in Albania and Confindustria Albania, I have the opportunity to observe this trans-formation from a privileged perspective. Webinars dedicated to IT opportunities between Italy and Albania, operational meetings with member companies, and gatherings such as the recent one hosted at Armundia Factory with the ICT & BPO section leaders of Con-findustria, are moments where companies discuss real projects, share needs, and build re-lationships that go beyond individual contracts. This is where the concept of “ecosystem” takes on concrete meaning.
In the coming months, the next step is clear: to evolve this wealth of expertise into an increasingly coordinated and externally readable value proposition, capable of presenting Albanian ICT & BPO as a single, reliable partner for European markets. This means consistently enhancing what we already do today – from smart mobility, where collaborations such as the one with MAIOR demonstrate our ability to work on architectures, testing, and complex processes, to services for the insurance, financial, and business services sectors, where Albanian teams work daily on data governance, software development, and the management of critical processes.
Europe is facing a structural shortage of digital skills and needs stable partners that are close, reliable, and easily integrable into its organizational models. Our sector responds to this need with several distinctive strengths: a young and qualified workforce, a strong orien-tation toward technical disciplines, and a natural alignment with European languages, standards, and ways of working. These are the elements on which we must continue to build: problem-solving capability, long-term reliability, and shared responsibility for results.
Let us work together to build a core of excellence that makes Albanian ICT & BPO rec-ognizable and authoritative across European markets. Those who share this vision are welcome to contact me directly – for an exchange of views, a meeting, or to take part in up-coming webinars, panels, and working groups promoted together with CCIA and Confindus-tria Albania. The concrete cases and experiences we bring into these spaces will be the foundation for strengthening a shared narrative and giving substance to that crucial step: from outsourcing to co-design.
As the holiday season approaches, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone at Armundia Factory and to all those, inside and outside the company, who contribute every day to the growth of this ecosystem.
I wish you all a peaceful holiday season and a 2026 full of shared projects and tangible results.
Together,
Stavri Pici