Concrete progress despite the coronavirus pandemic

Even during the coronavirus pandemic, the Economic Development Agency worked persistently to attract new companies from outside Offenbach. For example, MORPHISTO GmbH acquired a property in Schumannstraße with the support of the Economic Development Agency. The future-oriented, high-tech company has 25 employees and was previously based in Frankfurt am Main. In 2020, the business development agency's space management department received more than 200 inquiries from companies looking for a new location. This was due to increased location marketing in recent years and positive communication about relocations and relocations, even though many trade fairs and events that would have been a focus of marketing activities had to be canceled due to the pandemic.

In the area of relocations within Offenbach, the Economic Development Agency helped 20 Offenbach companies with a total of around 2,300 employees to find and move to a new location in the city.

"All of this support works in two directions," says Schwenke. "On the one hand, they secure the location for the companies, and on the other hand, together with positive communication, they are important elements of location marketing." In turn, the city secures jobs in Offenbach and tax revenue. In particular, the business location concept introduced by Schwenke and the building permit round included in it have contributed to a significant acceleration of building permits and have already had a positive impact on relocations. In the building permit round, all relevant stakeholders from the city administration and the Stadtwerke Group work together to develop solutions for commercial construction projects. It is an important part of Schwenke's promise that the city and politicians in Offenbach will support companies as a reliable and service-oriented partner: "I have always said it: some things are seemingly trivial, but are not always self-evident when different offices, authorities and companies work together. And we have worked on this to make things better, if not always perfect."

One key project that was not continued as planned this year due to the pandemic is the marketing of the new commercial space in Kaiserlei. "Because many companies are postponing new investments, we have also decided to postpone the start of the tendering process for these sites until 2021. We want to bring these prime plots onto the market under reasonably stable economic conditions. At the moment, many interested parties lack the basis to make long-term decisions."

However, preparations for the future marketing of the Innovation Campus are at an advanced stage. The city-owned INNO Innovationscampus Offenbach GmbH & Co KG has acquired the former Clariant site and has now started to investigate the contaminated site. "By purchasing the site, the city has paved the way for its development into a modern research and production campus, which can make a significant contribution to broadening Offenbach's economy and creating highly qualified jobs," emphasized Schwenke.

It is therefore also a major success of 2020 that the "Designpark Offenbach" project, which was launched in 2018 and initially planned for three years, will now be continued for two years. Funding has been secured and the strategic partnership between Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG), Offenbach Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), Hessen Trade And Invest (HTAI) and the City of Offenbach will be continued. "How do I have to change my existing products with the means of digitalization? How can they use data and generate data? Almost all companies ask themselves this question. And that's what they should do in the Designpark. The main task now is to develop the foundations for a permanent realization with partners from the business world," says Lord Mayor Schwenke. Existing commitments to cooperate with companies were initially postponed due to coronavirus. "With the extension of the project, however, they will now pick up the ball again," says Schwenke, who remains committed to the central project.

The Expert Council for Economic Development, established for the first time in 2020, also serves this goal - an important component of the "Five guarantees and twenty measures" business location concept launched by Lord Mayor Schwenke. Despite the pandemic, the Lord Mayor was able to recruit 15 extremely well-known representatives of large companies from various sectors and the entire region for the council in personal discussions.

The Economic Development Agency was also able to support start-ups and the skilled trades in 2020 and improve the conditions for business locations. As a result, Offenbach remains one of the leading business start-up locations in Germany. The work of the Economic Development Agency is aimed at positioning Offenbach as an attractive and visible start-up city in the long term. "The skilled trades are and will remain a central economic sector and high-quality employer in the city of Offenbach," explained Jürgen Amberger, who will only be heading the city's business development department until the end of the year due to his upcoming retirement.

The coronavirus crisis has particularly affected the retail sector this year, and therefore the city centers. "Businesses are experiencing a high loss of sales. In response to the lockdown and the reluctance of customers, the city has launched a 3.6 million euro economic stimulus and aid package, implemented further emergency measures, deferred payments and waived fees," said Schwenke. "This has never been seen before in this form and dimension to combat the economic crisis." There was a great need not only for financial help, but also for information. The state ordinances and the regulations specifically tailored to Offenbach to contain the pandemic determined the day-to-day work in companies as well as in business development. "As a city, we responded with a broad information campaign and helped companies get through the crisis with information letters, leaflets, flyers and, of course, direct contact. In doing so, we always kept an eye on what the situation means for employees. Supporting companies through the crisis will continue to be a focus of our work next year."

In order to change and strengthen the city center structures in the long term in addition to immediate measures, work is also being carried out on the implementation of the future concept for the city center. The adoption of the city center future concept by a large majority of the city council in summer 2020 is an important concrete success this year. Feasibility studies are now underway for key projects such as the relocation of the city library. Other sub-projects, such as the creation of a festival program, have been completed. The economic development department will also be given a new position for this in 2021, allowing it to speed up the processes for implementing the measures.

Offenbach's weekly market attracted particular attention this year - partly due to coronavirus. Like grocery stores, it was allowed to open even during lockdown and enjoyed great popularity even under increased hygiene requirements and the obligation to wear masks. Offenbach's city marketing company has already been increasingly promoting the market's offerings for two years, and further marketing measures are planned as part of the economic stimulus package. The market is participating in the Corona voucher campaign with stamp cards, which create an additional incentive to buy fresh and healthy food from the region on Wilhelmsplatz. The market stalls were also supported by waiving stall fees. In 2020, the city council also decided to close the side streets of the market to motorized traffic on a trial basis in order to further increase the attractiveness of Wilhelmsplatz.

In 2020, the focus in the creative industries was also on providing information to overcome the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. For years, networking in the creative industries has been a very important aid for economic development. This has been secured by switching to online formats. The formats met with a positive response and helped to raise the profile of Offenbach's creative industries beyond the region. The creative industries will continue to be strategically strengthened in the long term with the new HfG building in the harbor district.