Berlin Partner GmbH publishes results for 2010

20.12.2010

Berlin is growing, with support from Berlin Partner

Today, Berlin Partner GmbH reported on its 2010 activities in providing investor services, promoting international business in and generally marketing the German capital.  As the year is drawing to a close, the agency looks back on the assistance it provided to 105 companies in locating to Berlin in 2010 or expanding their existing operations.  All in all, they intend to create 4,540 new jobs and to invest EUR 247 million.  Counting the seven projects that Berlin Partner has successfully serviced jointly with ZAB Brandenburg Economic Development Board in the surrounding Federal Land of Brandenburg, a total of 112 firms with 4,777 jobs will be investing around EUR 298 million.  This means that as compared to 2009, the year of the economic and financial crisis, Berlin Partner more than doubled the number of jobs it helped bring to the city this year – in 2009, 77 businesses located here, with 2,020 jobs.

This year also saw the department “Services for Investors” change its focus along with its change of name to “Investor Services”: it now also lends support to the enterprises already operating in the city, in addition to assisting those newly moving to Berlin.  In close collaboration with the administrations of the various city districts and other service partners, Berlin Partner thus is able to promote the city’s economic development even better.  Its contribution to the overall results is quite impressive: 1,589 new jobs are being created by 42 companies already operating in Berlin.  Seven businesses were granted aid to ensure their continued operation here.  Of the total 596 positions given in these firms, it was possible to safeguard 505.

The mayor of Berlin and Senator for the Economy, Technology and Women, Harald Wolf, summarized the year, “Berlin Partner has implemented the investor services initiated by the Senate of the city in collaboration with numerous partners, and thus has provided exceptional support to many enterprises in Berlin.  By combining the assistance it provides to existing Berlin companies with the services available to investors locating to the city, and by merging the international business department with the services for marketing the city as such, Berlin Partner has become one of the most modern organizations promoting the city’s economy.”

René Gurka, managing director of Berlin Partner GmbH, added that “Berlin Partner boosts growth. We understand our role as that of a promoter and enabler: we create networks, and proactively initiate campaigns to improve the city’s image while nurturing its growing economy. Other than the usual economic promotion agencies, we can count on strong partners in the economy and in academia as well.  This allows us to navigate promising projects into the future such as the newly established Berlin Agency for Electromobility eMO.”

Examples of successful projects in 2010: Mercedes-Benz Bank moved into the Königstadt Carrée at Alexanderplatz, and will be creating up to 700 new jobs there.  When Wyeth, a Pfizer subsidiary, came to Berlin, it brought 200 positions to the city.  The US Sykes Enterprises, providing customer contact management solutions, had 500 vacancies to fill in its operation in the Kreuzberg district of the city.  In bringing its Supply Chain Management Center to Berlin, ThyssenKrupp Elevators will be hiring fifty employees here.  And Florida Eis, a well-known Berlin ice cream manufacturer, created forty new jobs in its new production plant in the district of Spandau.  

All in all, the International Business department organized twelve joint stands at large fairs, among them at the BIO in Chicago as the major global biotechnology convention, and at the trade fair for transport technology InnoTrans in Berlin.  The highlights of the year included the presentation of our city as a location for investors by delegations travelling to the United Arab Emirates on the occasion of the Arab Health Convention in January and to EXPO 2010 in Shanghai in May of this year.  Among other events, the Berlin economic representative office in Brussels organized a forum on “50 Years of Women’s Health” together with Bayer Healthcare.

The image campaign be Berlin garnered considerable attention by covering the Victory Column in Tiergarten with oversized portraits of 204 Berliners committed to civic projects.  It organized the “Berlin Days” in China and London and invited the public in three large German cities to view free, open-air broadcasts of concerts given by the Berliner Philharmoniker.  The industry campaign “future made in berlin” was launched in September with the support of twelve privately owned companies.

The strong commitment of the Berlin business and industrial sectors to promoting the general economy of the city is unique in Europe.  This year, 167 privately owned companies funded the marketing efforts of the German capital with more than EUR 4 million as “Berlin Partners”.  Another 27 such Berlin Partners were from the Berlin research and scientific community.  One of the get-togethers for the Berlin economy with scientists and researchers is the series of events “Business needs Science” hosted by Bayer Schering Pharma AG, the publishing firm Cornelsen Verlag, the Bundesdruckerei supplying high-tech security solutions and the communications services provider Aastra GmbH.  

For further statistics and documentation on the subjects addressed at the press conference,

please log onto this website.