Cognizant has opened its first location in Latvia’s capital city, Riga. The centre will support clients in transforming business, operating and technology models for the digital era and will employ approximately 300 people.

Clients in the Nordics will now have access to teams of experts with rich industry and technology expertise as they design and implement their digital transformation projects.  The first client working with Cognizant experts in the new center is Tele2, one of Europe’s fastest-growing telecom operators. Over time, Cognizant plans to establish the Riga facility as a Centre of Excellence for telecom customers in Europe. 

“I am pleased about Cognizant’s decision to start operations in Latvia,” said Arvils Ašeradens, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economics of the Republic of Latvia. “The priorities of the Ministry of Economics are technology development and innovation, overall economic productivity and maximum integration into the global value chains. The expansion of global companies such as Cognizant into Latvia advances these developments. The Latvian government’s and my priority is the cooperation with Fortune 500 companies and we are honored to welcome Cognizant to Latvia.”

“Riga is central to a number of our industry-leading clients, and a strong source of IT and digital skills talent,” said Santosh Thomas, President, Global Growth Markets, Cognizant. “It is a good location for Cognizant due to its proximity to Northern Europe, strong academic community, and the possibility to leverage our association with Tele 2, and overall telecom sector expertise, with a broader base of clients. Cognizant has been recognized as a Top Employer across a number of countries in Europe this year, and we are proud to be expanding our presence to Riga and offering a source of high-quality jobs in the area – as well as providing more robust, localized resources to better accommodate our clients’ needs as they transform their businesses for success in the digital economy.”

As part of its new presence in Riga, Cognizant also plans to support education initiatives that will help prepare students for careers in the digital economy. Among the first initiatives will be a monthly program providing opportunities for children age seven to twelve to discover and practice coding in fun and innovative ways.

The new delivery centre was inaugurated in a special event held 11 May 2018. Featured speakers included: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economics Ašeradens; Tarun Anand, Vice President, Telecom, Media and Entertainment Europe of Cognizant; and Fredrik Stenberg, Executive Vice President, Director of Shared Operations, of Tele2.