Capitalizing on Silesia

Wrocław, the capital of the Lower Silesia voivodship, is a focus for a wide range of industries. Firms from the finance, motor, electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and white-goods industries, among others, have found a home in or around the city.

The city, with its population of over 600,000, is the second-largest center for financial services in Poland. Around one-third of software and IT services output comes from there, according to the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ). Fitch Ratings, meanwhile, gave the city an A- investment grade this year.

Wrocław was also the city where almost 33 percent of all new companies registered in Poland between 2004 and 2007. In addition, the city has a reputation for attracting foreign capital - almost a third of companies registered in Wrocław are foreign, according to PAIiIZ data.

Notable foreign investors include Volvo, Toyota, Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, Whirlpool, Electrolux and Google.

Location, location, location

One of Wrocław's prime advantages is its geographical location. The city is perfectly suited to serve as a regional logistics hub due to its proximity to a number of major European cities. Berlin (340 km away), Bratislava (390 km), Prague (280 km), Vienna (390 km) and Warsaw (340 km) are practically equidistant from Wrocław.

"The location of our voivodship has, and always will be, an unquestionable advantage when it comes to the localization of investments and access to the European market," Marek Łapiński, marshal of the Lower Silesia voivodship, told WBJ. He added that the voivodship actively took advantage of this and was increasing cooperation with foreign partners, especially since Poland's entry into the Schengen zone.

Participation in the Central European Transport Corridor (CETC) - an initiative to create a "sustainable transports and regional development in a north-south corridor" in Europe - is also important for the voivodship. The CETC agreement was officially signed in 2004 by Sweden, Poland, the CzechRepublic and Slovakia.

Innovative agenda

Due to its location and well-educated workforce, Wrocław and its voivodship are leaders in terms of attracting innovative industries.

"Wrocław, along with the entire Lower Silesia region, is today in the national forefront as far as the attractiveness for locating hi-tech, innovative investment projects is concerned. In fact, Wrocław ... is challenging Warsaw for the leadership position," Paweł Wojciechowski, the president of PAIiIZ, told WBJ.

These factors make the region attractive for knowledge-based industries - not just BPO centers, but also more advanced projects, like one of Google's global innovation centers. 

The strategy to build such a knowledge-based economy in Wrocław and the Lower Silesia region has been a priority for some time and was specifically laid out in the 2020 Development Strategy for Lower Silesia Voivodship report, published in 2005. "Our vision is to turn Lower Silesia into a regional European hub," said Marshal Łapiński.

Knowledge platforms

This strategy can be seen in a number of areas. One major project involves Wrocław's attempts to get involved in the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

Additionally, there are currently at least 10 initiatives in Lower Silesia which aim to foster innovativeness through, science and industrial parks. These include the Lower Silesia Innovation and SciencePark and the WrocławScience-TechnologyMedicalPark.

The voivodship is seeing the emergence of so-called "knowledge platforms" in areas like health and energy. The "Knowledge and Innovation Community for Information and Communication Technologies" ICT cluster and Centre of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology in Wrocław are key examples.

Marshal Łapiński stressed the importance of the Lower Silesian Agency of Economic Cooperation (DAWG), a state-owned company which promotes socio-economic development in the region.

Making the best of it

For all the focus on advanced technologies, relatively few such companies are clamoring to invest. Out of 31 firms interested in investing in the region in 2007, 28 were from the production sector, according to PAIiIZ data.

Manufacturing investments still dominate the region. Poland's economy is still - to a large extent - based on production and assembly activities, and this is typical for Lower Silesia too, Wojciechowski said.

Marshal Łapiński noted that investments in manufacturing remain valuable for the city and the region. "Any new investment creates new workplaces," he said. Łapiński also stressed that there were many areas in the voivodship where production could be started, including a number of industrial parks.

Capital in context

Silesian statistics Wrocław and the Lower Silesia voivodship, in Q1 2008
	Wrocław	Lower Silesia
Population	633,900	2,879,700
Number of registered firms	93,757	308,700
Number of firms with foreign capital	2,861	6,019
Unemployment	4.6%	12.1%
Average monthly wage	zł.3,091.27	zł.2,867.79
Source: Central Statistical Office

Wrocław may be the capital of the Lower Silesia voivodship, but it doesn't always have that much in common with its region. According to Central Statistical Office data, unemployment in Wrocław was a mere 4.6 percent in Q1 2008, while the figure for the voivodship as a whole reached 12.1 percent. The average monthly wage was also considerably higher in Wrocław in that period, reaching zł.3,091.27, compared to a voivodship average of zł.2,867.79.

Marshal Łapiński said that the domination of the Wrocław metropolitan area over the region was natural and was due to the concentration of public administration institutions, higher education centers and commercial companies. He stressed the need for balance, however, and for stimulating socioeconomic development.

Łapiński noted that the voivodship's three special economic zones had helped to boost economically weaker areas of the region.

But the impetus for regional development also needs to be bottom-up, Łapiński said, and cooperation between local governments and the voivodship is crucial to this. There are already several local initiatives started by local governments and universities, and these are a good start. Such initiatives are expected to boost sustainable development and soften the contrast between Wrocław and the rest of the Lower Silesia region.