Lower Silesia – a region open to global cooperation

31 August 2023

*Cezary Przybylski, Marshal of the Lower Silesia Region*

Currently, Lower Silesia is one of the most dynamically developing regions in the European Union, open to global cooperation. Lower Silesia is developing great! The diligence and creativity of Lower Silesians allowed us to raise our rank of the Region to a group of leaders of all EU regions. I always say that the greatest capital of Lower Silesia are its inhabitants. Thanks to the activities of regional authorities, the number of investments is growing, new jobs are created, and modern economy is becoming our showcase. Our success is the skillful combining of support for local entrepreneurs with attracting business partners from around the world for the region.

We are investing ambitiously in the development of railways, road infrastructure, modern health care, education and innovative economy. Our success is based on the synergy and cooperation of local and regional authorities, with science, business and non-governmental organizations while maintaining dialogue with the government.

We are a region that is extremely attractive in terms of investment, we have specialists who can efficiently serve potential investors. We are talking about the Lower Silesian Agency for Economic Cooperation. It is no coincidence that the following global companies have located their activities in Lower Silesia: Amazon, Intel, Google, Nokia, LG or Mercedes. We offer attractive conditions for doing business, and as a multicultural region we are open and highly value contacts and establishing all kinds of relationships.

We pay great attention to the development support of regional entrepreneurs, especially from the MSME sector, which to a large extent creates innovation and is a pillar of the regional economy. We have created our own program called Going Global – Lower Silesian Economic Diplomacy, addressed to the sector of Lower Silesian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which are part of the smart specializations of Lower Silesia. Our goal was to enable them to participate in the most important trade fair events in the world, establish new business contacts, as well as domestic and international economic promotion of the region and increase the level of internationalization of regional enterprises
As part of the first edition of the Going Global project, co-financed from EU funds, the regional government organized 13 economic missions to: Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the USA, Georgia, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Switzerland and Japan. In total, 69 enterprises from the region took part in the missions, who held nearly 400 meetings and talks. Each of the economic missions was directed to a different foreign market and covered different industries. The included the following fairs: EXPO i GITEX organized in Dubai, Home&Decor in Prague, DMEA in Berlin, Electronica in Munich, GamesCom in Cologne, SiliconSaxony in Dresden, Tokio Game Show, FIME in Miami and Sindex in Bern. In addition to the fairs, economic missions to Georgia, Luxembourg and Seoul were also organized. Thanks to these activities of the project, it was possible to discover and acquire new markets for Lower Silesian companies, e.g. of the following industries: food, consulting, education, space, machine production, ICT, mobility, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, medical, industry 4.0.

Thanks to coherent activities, the project brought results not only for entrepreneurs, but also for the region by increasing its recognition both in the country and abroad, facilitating future contacts and activities. The “Going Global” program was very popular and was highly rated by the entrepreneurs themselves. The high score the project received from the Lower Silesian MSMEs proved the significant contribution of the region to the process of internationalization of Lower Silesian enterprises and confirmed the need to plan the next edition of the program, taking into account the preferences of Lower Silesian entrepreneurs. Therefore, when preparing for the next edition of “Going Global”, we conducted a detailed analysis of the expectations and needs of Lower Silesian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, for which the program is dedicated.

Lower Silesia has great potential to play an even greater role in the world of economy in the years to come. The high industrialization rate means that our region is commonly perceived as a stable, safe region that can be a link between the east and west of Europe. We can see it, among others, in the already mentioned investments of global giants, who, by locating their investments in our region, know that we are a reliable partner for them.