Grüne on the economy

The Greens want to keep developing Science City Bahrenfeld and make it Hamburg's first special innovation zone. Obstructive rules are to be identified and reduced there so that research and companies can cooperate more easily. Its centerpiece is to be the PETRA IV X-ray microscope, which the federal government should continue to co-fund.

A district for science is being built in Bahrenfeld. It is called Science City. Special rules should apply there so new ideas can grow more easily. A very powerful X-ray microscope is to be built there. The federal government should help.

Planning of the district is to continue with public participation; construction and energy supply are meant to set an example for climate protection. The zone is to serve as a model for others, for instance in Bergedorf, Oberbillwerder, the port or Harburg. The DESYUM is planned as the central visitor center. The platform sees PETRA IV as a locational asset for Hamburg and Germany and as a national task.

The Greens want to make it easier for researchers to found companies out of universities. To do so, existing innovation structures are to be pooled, a central advisory office created and a transfer fund set up.

Researchers should find it easier to start their own company. A central office should help with legal and paperwork questions. The best ideas get money from a fund. Experienced founders should advise new founders.

Existing innovation structures are to be merged and made more user-friendly. A central support office is to handle legal and administrative questions. A transfer fund is to finance the best start-up ideas from science. A networking platform, a mentoring network and further special innovation zones are also planned.

The Greens want to create a new, regular forum between the leadership of the Senate, the authorities and Hamburg's business community. Its main purpose is to coordinate the economy's path to climate neutrality, which the city wants to support with infrastructure and lower energy costs.

The Senate and Hamburg's companies should meet regularly. They should talk about big tasks together. Protecting the climate is one of them. The Greens also want energy to become cheaper for companies.

The findings of an OECD study on climate neutrality by 2040, commissioned by the business community, are to be matched against the city's climate plan and sector targets and turned into measures. Other topics of the dialogue are the skilled-labor shortage, cutting red tape, faster permits and digitalization. The Greens want to keep pushing for lower energy costs for business. Dual vocational training is also to be strengthened.

The Greens want to organize the city's innovation support systematically and remove duplicate structures. A central point of contact, the House of Innovation, is to bring all players together. In the platform's view, the city has so far lacked a strategic innovation policy.

Hamburg has many offices that support new ideas. Some do the same thing. The Greens want to tidy this up. There should be one central place. It is called the House of Innovation.

Funding conditions are to be improved and efforts focused on the city's strengths and key technologies. Redundant structures are to give way to a transparent support system. The House of Innovation is to be created in a partnership process with all local players. Innovation support from the wider metropolitan region is also to be integrated there.

The Greens propose a future foundation jointly backed by the city and business. Private capital and a municipal contribution are meant to secure lasting funding for promising technologies and research infrastructure.

The Greens want to set up a new foundation. The city and companies both put money in. The foundation uses the money to support new technology and research. That way funding should be available for the long term.

The foundation's assets are to consist of private capital and a share from the city. Forward-looking technologies and the research infrastructure they need are to be funded. Setting up special innovation zones is also to be part of the foundation's purpose. The platform justifies the proposal with the need for innovation in the climate-neutral and digital transition.

The Greens want a start-up strategy for Hamburg that is linked to the innovation strategy. Advice, funding programs and growth funds are to be financed permanently, and more private equity capital mobilized. Women founders are to receive targeted support because, according to the platform, they remain underrepresented.

The Greens want to support new companies in Hamburg better. Advice and funding programs should get money for the long term. Private investors should put more money into new companies. Women who start a company should get special help.

Advice and coaching at the Startup Port are to be funded long-term and staffed with permanent positions. The growth funds InnoVentureFonds and HamburgInnoGrowth are to be secured, the investor network strengthened and financing rounds supported to enable co-investment. A large start-up event is meant to raise the location's profile. For women founders, the Hamburg Investors Network is to focus on access to venture capital, and the Female Founders program is to be developed further.

The Greens want to continue and expand Hamburg's strategy for social enterprises on a permanent basis. The InnoImpact grant program is to keep running, and public contracts are to be awarded more strongly on social and environmental criteria.

Some companies mainly want to solve problems in society. They are called social enterprises. The Greens want to keep supporting them. The city should pay more attention to social and environmental issues when it buys things.

The social entrepreneurship strategy is to be made permanent and expanded, as is the Hamburg Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship as a source of ideas. Links between the administration and social innovators are to be improved. The Greens also back a financing instrument that helps spread social innovations with proven impact. Business models based on regenerative principles are to be supported as well.

The Greens want to review and realign the city's economic development policy. The industry clusters are to follow an overall strategy, involve start-ups more and network with each other. Renewable future technologies are to get priority when attracting companies.

The city supports companies in different ways. The Greens want to check whether this works well. The support should follow a clear plan. Companies with renewable energy technology should get land quickly.

Together with chambers, associations and the metropolitan region, the city is to examine whether clusters that merely mirror industry associations make sense. Goals and measures of cluster work are to be judged against a comprehensive strategy and adjusted where needed. Land is to be designated at short notice for renewable future technologies. The city's various marketing activities are also to be evaluated for effectiveness and overlap.

The Greens want to strengthen Hamburg as an aviation hub and gear it toward fossil-free flying. Research on new propulsion is to be funded, and the aircraft industry supplied with hydrogen, sustainable fuels and green electricity. The city is to support, demand and accelerate the path to climate-neutral aviation.

Many people in Hamburg work in aircraft building. The Greens want to strengthen this industry. In the future, planes should fly without oil. More research should be done for that. The companies should get enough hydrogen and clean electricity.

An innovation and funding strategy is to advance propulsion such as fuel cells; the platform regards the Center of Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL) as a pioneer. The aircraft industry is to be connected to the hydrogen network. For the Finkenwerder site, faster permits for buildings and better public transit are planned. Degree programs in green aviation are to be expanded.

The Greens want to strengthen Hamburg's port economically as a universal port and demand significantly more federal money for it. They also want new business models beyond container handling and closer cooperation among northern German ports.

The Greens want to make Hamburg's port stronger. The federal government should give much more money. The port should do more than move containers. Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony should work together better.

According to the platform, other ports have better conditions for pure container throughput, so value creation and skilled jobs should be secured through new business models. The Port Development Plan 2040 is to be backed by a deeper analysis of the port's potential. The party wants to identify specific projects the federal government should pay for, pointing to the National Port Strategy. Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony should cooperate, which the platform says requires more willingness to compromise on all sides. Closer cooperation with the North Range ports, the major continental North Sea ports, is planned on climate neutrality and on fair competition rules at EU level.

The Greens want to use port land more intensively, cluster industries geographically and free up unused sites for innovation and, in individual cases, urban development. Under the guiding idea "the port is the city," the port should also become more accessible, including on foot, by bike and by ferry.

A lot of land in the port is not used well. The Greens want to use this land better. Some land should go to new companies and research. People should be able to visit the port more easily. Bike paths and ferries should get better.

The plan is a concept for more intensive land use, including the industry clustering set out in the Port Development Plan; hazardous facilities should sit in the inner port, farther from homes. The boundaries of the port area are to be reviewed and possibly changed. In the eastern port, land should be made available for logistics innovation, research and start-ups. Historically significant buildings are to be protected from demolition through heritage protection and revised lease terms. Site allocation and leases are to be weighted by innovation, climate protection, economical land use and value creation. The port cycling master plan should be implemented faster, HADAG ferry lines strengthened and individual companies opened to visitors.

The Greens favor private companies taking part in terminal operations so that investment flows into digitalization and automation. The platform treats modern terminals as a precondition for a climate-neutral and economically viable port.

Terminals are the places where ships are loaded and unloaded. The Greens think it is good when private companies take part. These companies should invest in modern technology. The federal government should pay for a bigger turning area for ships.

For access to the Waltershof harbor, the Greens want the federal government to pay for a larger turning basin for very large ships. The platform sees the related western expansion as a business risk, given existing overcapacity, that the future terminal operator should bear. For Steinwerder-Süd, a climate-neutral use with access to the waterways is planned.

The Greens want to continue the Masterplan Handwerk 2030 together with the Chamber of Skilled Crafts and support the building of multi-story trade yards. Recruiting and training skilled workers for climate-related trades from abroad is to become easier.

Skilled trades are important for Hamburg, for example for heating and solar roofs. The Greens want to keep supporting them. They want to fund workshop buildings with several floors. Skilled workers from abroad should be able to come more easily.

The platform sees skilled trades as key to the heating transition, solar expansion and housing construction and names the shortage of skilled workers as a particular problem. The round table on climate-related trades is to continue. The strategy for trade and commercial yards is meant to create space for mid-sized businesses, slow displacement and improve local supply of trade services. When main roads and commercial districts are redesigned, the interests of local trade businesses are to be taken into account.

The Greens want to review reporting, documentation and proof requirements for companies and introduce the once-only principle. They also plan a single procurement system and continued funding programs for the digitalization of small businesses.

Companies have to fill out many forms. The Greens want to reduce that. Companies should have to give information to the authorities only once. There should be one shared system for public contracts. Small businesses should keep getting help with going digital.

Under the once-only principle, companies do not have to resubmit data the administration already holds, provided they consent. The core administration is to use a procurement management system that other public contracting bodies in the city can also use, so bidders can submit offers more easily and competition increases. The "Hamburg Digital" program is to become permanent, and advisory services are to outlast the end of the federal "Mittelstand Digital" program. An innovation funding approach for small and mid-sized businesses modeled on Lower Saxony is also to be tested.

The Greens want to anchor city tourism as a cross-cutting task of urban development and regulate hotel growth. Visitor flows are to be spread more evenly across the city and individual neighborhoods relieved.

Many visitors come to Hamburg. Some neighborhoods get very crowded because of that. The Greens want to steer where new hotels are built. Visitors should also go to other neighborhoods and the surrounding region. Tourism should also benefit the people of Hamburg.

With federal help, a tool for steering hotel development in big cities is to be created; the districts are to be supported with hotel development plans. In the party's view, purely market-driven growth in a small area can harm neighborhoods. Hotels should obtain ecological certification, an umbrella sustainability label for Hamburg is to be examined, and Hamburg Tourismus GmbH's sustainability strategy should be updated regularly. District-level tourism structures, less-visited neighborhoods and the surrounding metropolitan region are to be developed more. The trade fair should open up more to its neighborhood.