Ten wishes of the economy
Offenburg. The economy has seen easier times. The shoe is currently pinching in several places. Excessive regulations and bureaucracy are making it just as difficult for companies in the region to operate as the shortage of skilled workers and high energy prices. In Offenburg, there are also complaints about the lack of commercial space for the further development of companies. What needs to be improved to keep the economy going and, ideally, to get it going even more? We asked Dominik Fehringer, Managing Director of Nectanet (formerly Wirtschaftsregion Ortenau), what ten wishes he has for the year 2024 from a business perspective.
- Reducing bureaucracy
The wish list begins unsurprisingly: the veil of bureaucracy that has descended over the country must be lifted. Politicians and administrators at all levels are called upon to act in the spirit of this encouraging quote from a wise philosopher: “The veil that clouds your eyes will be lifted by the hands that weave it.” The ball is therefore in the hands of responsible politicians.
- Relieving the burden on start-ups
The desire to ease the burden on start-ups is along the same lines. There are plenty of good proposals, including easier access to capital, simpler entry opportunities for foreign specialists, generally available start-up grants and generally less restrictive regulations. Politicians should recognize start-ups as the driving economic force of the future.
- Dialogue instead of confrontation
Politics and business must remain in constructive dialog. I hope that those who have already left this virtuous path will pull themselves together. Decent interaction between all people is the basis of a functioning democracy.
- Infrastructure and energy supply
I would like to see us modernize our country at a different pace. Whether for rail, hydrogen and energy networks, fiber optics and 5G – ten times the speed would be very close to what the economy wants and with a proper energy policy, Germany could be secured as an industrial location.
- Digitization of public administration
When writing wish lists, it is said that people have already tried to place particularly large wishes in the middle so that the Christ Child (or other fulfillment assistants at the beginning of the year) might make an almost unfulfillable wish come true out of sheer inattention when reading over it. I will leave it at that and hope that we will learn from other countries when it comes to digitalization and that the narrowest shoulders in the federalist cascade will no longer have to bear the greatest burden.
- Educational equity and educational aspirations
The truth is that we need every child for our future! One of my great hopes is that Germany will once again become a leader in education and science. This not only makes the economy happy, but also the whole country.
- Enabling qualified immigration
Findings: With a complicated set of regulations, only a few qualified specialists can be attracted to work in Germany. The resulting wish: pragmatism beats pedantry.
- More peace in the world
The much-cited desire for “world peace” in predominantly American-style beauty contests has long since ceased to be a comedy. Trade flourishes in peace, not to mention all the other benefits of good cooperation.
- Together instead of alone
I hope that we don’t forget how to work together and for each other. Swarm intelligence always has the upper hand, even if some people’s own intelligence seems to be unbeatable.
- Sense of reality
Wish lists are silly parallel worlds of a hypothetical universe. But since only actions count and not wishes, in the end there is only one request: do more for the economy, because everything we do in this direction is good for us all.
An article by the Mittelbadische Presse / Christian Wagner.
https://mittelbadische.de/