Here's a switch

Instead of stealing Polish computer engineers and programmers, firms like IBM, Google and Motorola are opening research labs in Poland.

According to Marek Zaionc, head of the computer-science department at Krakow's Jagiellonian University, "We have a lot of good young people in these fields, and we're still a lot less expensive than other parts of Europe."

Poland and other Eastern Europeans have dominated international programming
competitions in recent years, attracting the attention of high tech firms.

Tomasz Czajka, a 2004 graduate of Warsaw University, became a national celebrity in Poland after winning three TopCoder competitions in 2004-2005, racking up winnings of more than $100,000.

"When we saw these trends, of people from Eastern Europe winning these contests, we decided to take a closer look," says Kannan Pashupathy, Google's head of international engineering operations. "People have a huge interest in software, and there's a much deeper grounding in mathematics in the curriculum in these
countries."

Cultural, geographic, and economic proximity to Western Europe has given the region an advantage over global competitors like India. Salaries in the region are much higher than in India, but still one-third to half of those in Western Europe.

Krakow, and other cities are a short flight from London, Paris, or Berlin. EU membership makes investing all that much easier for western firms.

Mr. Czajka's celebrated TopCoder victories have made programming particularly attractive to young Poles. "Everyone knows Tomasz Czajka and everyone wants to be like him," says Hibner, who recently won an international math competition. "Last time I was in Warsaw, there was a huge poster of him in the center of the city."