Google to open R&D centre in Poland

Web search firm Google will open offices and hire 280 people in Poland over the next two years as part of its drive to expand abroad, the company said on Wednesday.

IT companies such as PC maker Dell , Japan's Sharp <6753.t> and LG.Philips LCD <034220.ls> have flocked to Poland in recent years lured by a young, well-educated and cheap labour force in need of jobs.

California-based Google said it would use its Polish facilities, a research centre in the southern city of Krakow and a "centre of innovation" in south-western Wroclaw, to support its Polish and German clients and advertising products.

"Both cities offered amazing support from the local authorities and have a phenomenal level of graduates at the universities there," Colm Long, director of online sales and operations at Google, told Reuters in a brief interview.

Google officials declined to comment on how much they were planning to invest in central Europe's largest country.

Google has 13 offices in Asia, 22 in Europe and the Middle East, and 17 in the Americas.

Source:business.scotsman.com