Grüne on the economy

The Greens want to make Baden-Württemberg Germany's leading location for new businesses and new technologies. Lead candidate Cem Özdemir says he will make entrepreneurship a top-level priority so that the state's high spending on innovation pays off more.

The Greens want more new companies in the state. Baden-Württemberg should be the top place for this in Germany. Cem Özdemir wants to take care of this himself as head of government. New ideas should also earn money in the state.

The platform lists artificial intelligence, robotics, environmental technology, hydrogen, quantum technology and aerospace as fields of the future. The goal is technological leadership in these areas. According to the platform, no other European region invests as much in innovation, yet others often reap the profits. Success is to be measured more by the number of new businesses, start-ups and scale-ups. A growth agenda is meant to support small and mid-sized companies, skilled trades and retail as the foundation of the economy.

The Greens want to maintain and renew the state's infrastructure. They plan further repairs to transport routes, faster broadband rollout and investment in the power system, because the platform says a strong economy depends on it.

The Greens want to repair roads, bridges and rail lines. Fast internet should be built out more quickly. There should also be more power lines and storage. The party says the economy needs this.

The focus is on mobility and transport, digitalization and energy. Broadband expansion is to speed up considerably. For a reliable, clean and affordable energy supply, the party wants to invest in power lines, storage technology and smart control. As a guiding principle, the platform says the state should build infrastructure, not bureaucracy.

The Greens want to support approaches such as the Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie (economy for the common good) at state level and promote cooperatives. The aim is to win more companies over to sustainable and socially minded business.

The Greens want to support companies that think about the environment and society. Cooperatives should also get help. In a cooperative, the members decide together. The party says profit is not the only thing that counts there.

According to the platform, more and more businesses want to take responsibility for the environment, their workforce and society alongside commercial success. Cooperatives are to be promoted mainly in skilled trades, farming and the food sector, and in care and health services. The platform argues that democratic decision-making there puts resilience and sustainability ahead of pure profit.

The Greens want to develop a technology strategy through 2035 and start a deep-tech research program backed by its own fund. Research findings should turn into products faster and secure jobs.

The Greens want a plan for new technology up to the year 2035. There should be a research program with its own money. Ideas from the lab should become products faster. This should keep good jobs.

The platform names biotechnology, robotics, quantum computing, hydrogen and artificial intelligence among the key fields. According to the platform, deep-tech developments require extensive research and long lead times, which is why a fund is to back the research program. The transfer from science to application is to speed up. Government, science and business are to work together so that new technology creates additional employment rather than costing jobs.

The Greens want to set up spaces where new ideas can be tried out with fewer hurdles. They intend to use the protected test environments supported by the EU to bring innovations to market faster.

The Greens want to create places for trying things out. Companies and researchers can test new ideas there. There should be fewer obstacles. The EU supports such test places.

According to the platform, innovation often arises where different disciplines and industries meet. Real-world labs are meant to offer room for unconventional solutions. The party points to the EU's so-called regulatory sandboxes, in which new developments are tested for a limited time under near-real conditions.

The Greens want to further strengthen the health industry as a pillar of the state's economy. To do so, the state agency BIOPRO is to be expanded and the university hospitals in Heidelberg and Mannheim are to be merged.

The Greens want to strengthen the health industry. A state agency called BIOPRO should get more tasks. The university hospitals in Heidelberg and Mannheim should join together. This should improve research and care.

BIOPRO is to become the driving force for the entire life sciences field. The Health and Life Science Alliance innovation campus is to be strengthened. Merging the two university hospitals is meant to turn the region into a center for research, connected data and health care. The platform also sees new jobs in the growing service sector, especially in upgraded care professions.

The Greens want to further develop the state's strategy for attracting companies. Enough land should be available for businesses while using land sparingly.

The Greens want companies to find enough space in the state. This applies to new companies, trades and industry. The state should use land sparingly.

The state's strategy for attracting businesses is to be updated. Land is to be provided in a more targeted way and with low consumption. The platform names founders, skilled trades and industry as those who need room to grow.

The Greens want to strengthen the state's foreign trade policy, expand partnerships and reduce one-sided dependencies. In Brussels, the party wants to push for more room for the state to support economic transformation in a targeted way.

The Greens want more cooperation with other countries. The state should not depend on single partners. This should help companies find new customers. At the EU, the party wants the state to be allowed to support companies better.

Existing partnerships are to be expanded and new ones formed, especially on technology and energy. The aim is new markets and keeping value creation in the state. Through the state's representation in Brussels, the party wants to gain more freedom to fund the transformation. This is meant to let companies keep investing in new technologies.

The Greens want to make the state less dependent on raw material imports. They rely on domestic extraction, recycling of materials and continuing the state strategy for a sustainable bioeconomy.

The Greens want the state to need fewer raw materials from abroad. Raw materials should also be sourced in the state. Valuable materials should be used again and again. This is called a circular economy.

The platform sees dependencies, for example on rare earths, as a risk for the export-oriented state. The bioeconomy is meant to link regional value chains and use biological processes and green technology. Materials are to be used in several successive stages. The existing state strategy on a sustainable bioeconomy will continue.

The Greens advocate supply chains that are transparent and crisis-proof and that respect human rights as well as environmental and social standards. The European supply chain law is to be implemented in a practical way with little red tape.

The Greens want secure supply chains. A supply chain is the path of a product from raw material to customer. Human rights and environmental rules should apply along the way. The EU law on this should be easy to follow.

The platform warns that supply chains can leave the export-heavy state open to pressure, as raw material and production chains increasingly become arenas for power struggles. The party relies on functioning international institutions, cooperation and fair trade partnerships. The EU supply chain law is to be applied with legal certainty and little bureaucracy so that sustainable business becomes a competitive advantage.

The Greens want the car of the future to be developed and built in Baden-Württemberg and are betting on electric drive. A future pact with industry, unions and research is to set goals and funding and secure jobs.

The Greens want to keep the car industry in the state. The car of the future should be built here. The party is counting on electric cars. There should be more charging stations and cheap charging power. Government, companies and unions should make a pact for this.

The pact is meant to promote innovation, employment and sustainability. Charging infrastructure is to grow, charging power is to be cheap, and bidirectional charging, where the car can also feed power back, is to be made possible. Instead of debates about target years, the platform calls for reliable rules for manufacturers, suppliers and trades in the shift away from fossil combustion engines. Jobs are to be kept through training, the transformation of suppliers and cooperation with unions and employers. The party also wants to push for fair competitive conditions and offset unfair advantages of foreign rivals.

The Greens want to expand battery manufacturing in the state and in Europe and back a joint European industrial project to that end. The party also pushes for new semiconductor and chip plants in Germany and the EU.

The Greens want car batteries to be built in Europe. They support an EU plan for this. Computer chips should also be made in Germany and Europe. This should make Europe less dependent on other countries.

The platform calls the battery the core of the future car and points to state-backed competition from China. The European project requires financing commitments, raw material agreements and reliable rules, it says. In the state, production is to be given targeted incentives, from research and manufacturing to recycling. A shared data space is meant to let companies exchange data securely, and the Mobility of the Future innovation campus is to be expanded.

The Greens want to turn environmental and climate technology into one of the state's fastest-growing industries. They plan a GreenTech alliance that supports start-ups and mid-sized firms, especially in hydrogen technology, along with a shared umbrella brand.

The Greens want to give more support to green technology firms. They plan a new alliance for this. It helps young firms and mid-sized firms. A shared brand should make these firms known abroad.

The planned alliance is meant to help start-ups and mid-sized companies develop and scale up hydrogen technologies. The party also wants to strengthen the urban and industrial bioeconomy and support biorefineries as they enter the market. A research cooperation network would back sustainable businesses. The umbrella brand "GreenTech BW" is intended to raise the sector's international profile. The GreenTech platform at the state agency Umwelttechnik BW would become the central point of contact.

The Greens want to lower the barriers to starting a business. A single point of contact would bundle advice, funding and registration so that a company can be founded within one day.

The Greens want to make it easier to start a business. There should be one office for everything. It gives advice, funding and handles the registration. Starting a business should take only 24 hours.

The one-stop shop would be set up together with the federal government, other states and municipalities, beginning as a pilot in two regions. Women, people with a migration background and people with disabilities are to receive particular support. In the pilot regions, the party wants to test a seed budget for female founders and temporary childcare subsidies. In selected regions, cooperation between schools, universities and companies would also be funded to establish entrepreneurship as a career option.

The Greens want to give young companies more state support in both the early and the growth stage. The early-stage program would be enlarged, and a new program with its own fund would support expansion and international growth.

The Greens want to give young firms more money. An existing program for the early phase should grow. A new program helps firms get bigger. The state should also buy from young firms itself.

The "Start-up BW PreSeed" program would be expanded so that founders bear less risk and technology-heavy ventures with long lead times can get off the ground. Funding terms and applications are to be lean and flexible. A new "Scale-up BW" program is planned, with a master class and a fund providing additional venture capital. In public procurement, the state would act more often as an anchor customer for innovative start-ups. A partnership program would bring start-ups and mid-sized companies together.

The Greens want to relieve small and mid-sized companies of administrative burdens and reorganize the state's funding programs. According to the platform, businesses should be able to put their energy into products and jobs rather than paperwork.

The Greens want less paperwork for businesses. Rules that are not needed should go. Permits should come faster. Funding should be easier to find and apply for.

Reporting and documentation duties would be bundled wherever the law allows. Permits are to be sped up through transparent procedures and binding processing standards. A single digital funding database and a shared platform for government services would make programs easier to access. The party wants funding tied more closely to results such as innovation, competitiveness and climate protection. Small firms would also get help introducing artificial intelligence, with staff involved in the process.

The Greens want master craftsman training to be free of charge and the Meisterprämie (master craftsman bonus) to be raised. They also want to make founding and taking over craft businesses more attractive, since the platform says demographic change threatens many firms.

The Greens want to strengthen skilled trades. Training to become a master craftsman should be free. The bonus for new masters should go up. People who start or take over a business should get help for longer.

The start-up bonus for master craftsmen would be extended to 48 months and also ease takeovers of existing businesses. The party wants to secure low-cost loans for founding and succession. The matching program that connects businesses with potential successors would continue and be developed further, with special support for women. Access to equity capital is to become easier. The "Horizont Handwerk" initiative would keep funding skilled-labor measures, digitalization, the ecological transition and training.

The Greens want to help brick-and-mortar retail hold its ground against growing online shopping. Town centers are to become more attractive, and stores would get help with digital sales.

The Greens want to help shops in towns and villages. Town centers should become nicer and greener. Shops should get help with selling online. Online sellers should also be able to sell in town.

The party wants to improve town centers with more greenery and easily accessible public spaces. Physical stores would receive targeted support to set up or expand digital sales channels. Online-only retailers would be able to offer their goods locally through pop-up stores or temporary retail space. The platform cites rising costs, online competition and declining foot traffic as reasons.

The Greens want to make tourism in the state more sustainable and more digital. They point to the climate crisis and heavy visitor numbers at popular sites and see hospitality as the core of sustainable tourism.

The Greens want to strengthen tourism in the state. It should be good for nature and the climate. Digital offers should make visits more exciting. Restaurants and inns should get support, especially in rural areas.

The party wants to expand regional cooperation among tourism businesses, producers and cultural institutions, as well as sustainable transport concepts. Digital formats such as city tours or augmented reality would be funded, partly to spread out visitor flows. Municipalities would get help linking their tourism data. Restaurants would continue to be supported in adopting climate-friendly concepts with regional and organic products and fair working conditions. The party also wants to strengthen accessible tourism and promote large protected areas as nature destinations.

The Greens want to bring ideas from research to market more quickly. A fast-track procedure is planned for especially important products such as medicines, and research funding for key technologies is to grow.

The Greens want new ideas from research to reach people faster. Important products like medicines should get a fast procedure. The state should give more money for research on key technologies.

The fast-track procedure is to be made possible through experimentation clauses, meaning exemptions that allow new approaches to be tested. Funding for key technologies is meant to prepare projects early for federal and EU programs such as SPRIND. Cooperation with non-university institutions such as the Fraunhofer and Max Planck institutes is to be intensified. The innovation campus on sustainability is to become the center of climate research, and the alliance in Heidelberg and Mannheim will get a biotechnology cluster.

The Greens want to give more support to spin-offs and start-ups and simplify the founding process. For technology-oriented start-ups, support is to be targeted at women, people with a migration background and people from families without university experience.

The Greens want more people to start companies. Starting a company should become easier. Women and people with a migration background should get special help. People whose parents did not go to college should also get help.

The NXTGN platform is to become a powerful start-up factory. The INSPIRE BW hubs are to grow into regional start-up centers. Transferring knowledge into practice is to be written into the state higher education act as an official duty. Start-ups should also get easier access to the results of publicly funded research.

The Greens want to maintain and expand the state's position as a hub of the bicycle industry. To that end, training for bicycle trades is to improve and a university chair for bicycle engineering is to be founded.

Baden-Württemberg has many bicycle companies. The Greens want to make this industry stronger. There should be better training for bicycle jobs. A university should do research on bicycle technology. E-bikes should also get more support.

Among other things, a second site is to be set up for training in bicycle trades. The planned engineering chair focused on bicycle technology would, according to the platform, be the first in Germany. The bicycle sector and the e-bike are to be included in the clusters that promote electric mobility.

The Greens want to amend the Ladenöffnungsgesetz (shop opening hours act) so that automated, unstaffed mini supermarkets can also open on Sundays. In addition, municipalities are to get help with digitalization, and telemedicine services are to be funded.

Small shops without staff should be allowed to open on Sundays. The Greens want to change a law for this. This helps people in rural areas buy groceries. Doctors should also be able to help by video.

The platform sees major opportunities in digitalization for rural areas, for example for local retail and for saving trips. Good digital infrastructure is seen as a precondition for rural regions to remain attractive business locations. Start-ups and mid-sized companies are to be better connected. The decentralized expansion of renewable energy from biomass, wind, sun, water and geothermal sources is meant to bring jobs and added value across the state.