8/11/2008

Current ‘Zukunft Deutschland 2020’ Study rates Upper Palatinate as one of the top locations in Germany

MUNICH Further confirmation for the economic area of the Upper Palatinate: The current Study ‘Zukunft Deutschland 2020’ refers to the Upper Palatinate as a ‘high-flyer region’. "It is mainly the creative individuals and innovative companies that should take the credit for making the Upper Palatinate one of the top locations in Germany. However, a major factor contributing to this remarkable development was also the consistent structural and regional policy pursued by the State Government with the focus on Eastern Bavaria. For years, 70 % of the available regional support funding has flowed into the three Eastern Bavarian administrative districts", explained Bavaria’s State Secretary of Economic Affairs, Markus Sackmann. 

Over the last 10 years, the State of Bavaria had invested a total of nearly € 300 million of grants in the industrial economy as well as in the development of infrastructure in the Upper Palatinate. With just under 1,000 support projects, 8,400 new jobs have been created. Sackmann: "Thanks to Bavaria’s regionally based structural and economic policy, the Upper Palatinate is one of the top 13 locations in Germany. We intend to consistently maintain this course. The budget freeze on regional business development aid that was recently lifted by the Cabinet means that we now have more funds of over € 20 million at our disposal."

Besides the Upper Palatinate, the Study also lists Munich and Nuremberg as top locations in Germany. "This once again confirms that, all in all, the State of Bavaria is excellently placed when it comes to competition among locations. At the same time, the successes scored by the Upper Palatinate show that not only our metropolitan regions, but also rural areas are fit for the future. We believe in our goal of equal living and working conditions throughout Bavaria. With the ‘Rural Bavaria’ action program and the ‘Committee of State Secretaries for Rural Areas in Bavaria’ (Staatssekretärausschuss Ländlicher Raum in Bayern) we are paving the way for all the regions of Bavaria to hold their own as powerful locations", underscored the Economics State Secretary, who is chairing the Committee of State Secretaries.

In this context, the Committee of State Secretaries had drawn up a monitoring concept for the development of rural areas in Bavaria. Sackmann said: "The individual fields of action of the program will be given concrete targets and measurable tasks. To this end, the various technical departments have established close links with each other and coordinated their activities. As the next step, we will select certain regions as examples and implement the various approaches and possibilities of the action program, concentrating on current regional and thematic challenges. The actual measures will be selected by local players." In the next few meetings, the Committee of State Secretaries will also draw up concrete proposals and measures for medical care, schools in rural areas and the ‘Revitalization of town and village centers’.

The Study conducted by the Zukunftsinstitut in Kelkheim describes 13 examples of top locations, which have successfully faced up to change. Each in their own individual way, they demonstrate what has to be done to become a top-class future-oriented region. Besides such classic factors as GDP and unemployment statistics, the analysis also considers the most important trends governing the life of the people in the 21st century, including Social Innovation, Education / Technical Excellence and Sociodemography. The complete Study can be ordered under www.zukunftsinstitut.de

Source: Invest in Bavaria

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