May 2018 | IVANO-FRANKIVSK — As Europe?s magnet pulls more Ukrainians west, young entrepreneurs in this historic city in the Carpathian foothills are responding with their own soft power. They are leading a municipal self-improvement movement — Teple Misto, or ?Warm City.?
The goal is retain graduates of the city?s six universities, creating a Cambridge-style synergy between higher education and high tech.
So far it is working.
The movement started here is spawning imitators in cities across Ukraine. And, this city of 230,000 inhabitants is popping up alongside Ukraine?s five largest cities as a top destination for IT outsourcing.
In December, Amsterdam?s KMPG issued a report ranking Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv, as Ukraine?s top two destination for shared service centers or business processes outsourcing operations. Lviv, Ivano?s better known rival in Western Ukraine, has three times this city?s population and is a 2-hour drive closer to Poland.