ways, localisation of foreign IT companies, if they wish to be successful in the Serbian IT market (source: survey Development of the Information Technology Industry). Exports of computer services – Computer services are used globally as an indicator for international comparison between countries and their respective levels of technological development. Serbia’s domestic IT services market has been growing at an annual rate slightly higher than 10%, while on the other hand exports of computer services have grown at a rate of more than 30% per annum. This improves Serbia international image, from a country of cheap labour to a country with high-quality human capital (source: survey Development of the Information Technology Industry). Exports of computer services from 2010 to 2020 1400 1270 1200 1326 1016 1000 760 800 590 600 455 400 200 127 166 225 296 344 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Exports According to WTO figures, global exports of computer services between 2014 and 2017 increased at an annual rate of 10%, reaching EUR 300 billion in 2017. In 2014 Serbia ranked 40th, while 2016 figures ranked it 38th, and estimates for 2017 indicate it progressed further by one or two places. In comparison with the neighbouring countries, measured by the value of exports of computer services, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria rank higher, while all other neighbouring countries rank below Serbia. Serbia accounts for approx. 0.3% of global IT services exports and there is room for further growth; however, this will require IT experts, who are in short supply. For example, to reach EUR 2 billion in IT services exports, assuming the existing operating model, the sector will need to hire 30,000 additional IT experts (source: survey Development of the Information Technology Industry). Start-ups: state of play and outlook – As regards start-ups, it can be said that the “startup virus” is beginning to spread across Serbia, as evident from the fact that 188 programming companies had been registered in 2015, while 2017 already saw a significantly higher number of start-ups (253), followed by 281 in 2018; thus, it can be expected with a high degree of certainty that 2019 will set an all-time record with more than 300 programming start-ups. A majority of new companies are oriented towards the global market. However, starting a business is not all plain sailing, as evident from the fact that, out of the 749 programming companies formed from 2016 and 2018, 311 still have no employees and no income. In terms of conditions for growth, an even 37