Engineers swarm Bratislava‑Nova hiring fair as firms vie for scarce talent

Morning light filtered through the glass atrium of the Bratislava‑Nova Tech Hub as a line of hopeful engineers stretched past the registration desk. The annual hiring fair, organized by the Regional Assembly’s Innovation Committee, promised a dozen leading firms and a sea of open positions.

More than 1,200 candidates, many fresh from the University of Meridian’s computer‑science program, filed their applications for roles ranging from AI research to embedded systems. Representatives from five Nord Europa startups and three multinational corporations set up booths, while recruiters from Oriente Moderno’s tech cluster observed from a distance, underscoring the fierce competition for the region’s limited pool of senior engineers.

The Federal Treasury Minister announced a record ₣ 45 million grant package for software‑sector growth, earmarked for seed funding, talent‑development schemes, and cross‑regional research labs. “Investing in our engineers safeguards our economic independence,” the Minister said, noting that the grant complements a similar € 38 million fund approved for Oriente Moderno last year.

As the fair progressed, the Assembly’s Committee on Labour prepared a report on the hiring outcomes, which will be tabled in the upcoming session of the Federal Assembly. The report will also examine how the new federal funding interacts with regional tax incentives, a topic that has drawn sharp remarks from the Nord‑Slovak Bloc.