SPD on the economy

The SPD wants to build a joint economic and labor market region with Brandenburg. The two states are to coordinate on the local business tax, on collective wage compliance and on location policy so that fair conditions apply across the metropolitan region.

Berlin and Brandenburg should work together more closely on the economy. Both states should agree on taxes for companies. They should also use the same rules for fair pay. They want to plan new sites for businesses together.

A binding dialogue with Brandenburg on taxes and location issues is planned. The SPD is aiming for a coordinated approach to the local business tax rate, the same rules on collective wage compliance and local content, and a joint location policy. New commercial and industrial sites are to be planned jointly for the whole capital region. Transport links between Berlin and Brandenburg are also to be improved.

The SPD wants to give targeted support to future industries and cutting-edge technologies and bring Berlin to the top of Europe's innovation locations. To do so, technology sites such as Tegel and Siemensstadt are to be expanded and science and business linked more closely.

The SPD wants many new ideas and products to come from Berlin. It wants to support modern industries. These include health, AI and climate protection. Places like Tegel and Siemensstadt should grow. Universities and companies should work together more closely.

The platform names future fields including health and life sciences, AI, rail technology, autonomous mobility, climate protection, games, financial services, defense and resilience, drones, aerospace and technology for digital government. With Brandenburg, the joint innovation strategy is to be developed further and a biotechnology strategy drawn up. The Urban Tech Republic in Tegel, Siemensstadt Square, CleanTech Marzahn, the former Tempelhof airport site and the ICC are to be expanded or realized. The SPD wants to focus more on university spin-offs and fund the real-world lab strategy, with an emphasis on products made in Berlin.

The SPD wants to give more support to new businesses, especially those founded by women, by people with a migration background and in future industries. Women are to get easier access to funding and venture capital. The party wants startups to create jobs covered by collective agreements.

The SPD wants more people in Berlin to start a company. Women should get money for this more easily. People with roots abroad should also get more help. Advice should be offered in several languages. Self-employed people should get low-cost workspaces.

Startup advice is to be expanded in several languages and with digital tools, and migrant entrepreneurship is to become more visible. For solo self-employed people, the SPD plans more affordable public co-working spaces in the districts. The Berlin Startup Agenda is to be updated, with a stronger focus on the pre-founding phase, on growth and on cooperation with universities, research and companies. The platform describes founding a business as a form of social advancement and wants to promote women in leadership positions.

The SPD wants to give more support to Berlin's creative industries, from fashion and design to games. Clubs are to get their own venue funding for the first time, and esports funding is to be added to the existing games funding.

Berlin has many creative companies. The SPD wants to support them. Clubs are to get their own funding for the first time. Esports should also get money. Esports means competing in video games. Fashion week should stay important.

Fashion Week is to be strengthened as an internationally visible event oriented toward sustainability, and a House of Fashion is to be created as a hub for the industry. A yearly conference is planned for the design sector. For clubs, the SPD wants to carry out recommendations from the nighttime economy strategy to secure them for the long term. In esports, the E-Sports-Team Berlin and grassroots clubs are to get lasting support, and city spaces are to be opened for gaming events, with particular attention to health and prevention.

The SPD commits to industry in Berlin and wants to actively guide its shift to reliable, affordable and carbon-neutral production. Industry, skilled trades, the digital economy and research are to be linked more closely so that production in the region can scale up.

More than 100,000 people work in Berlin's industry. The SPD wants to keep these jobs. Factories should become climate-friendly and still work at affordable cost. Companies, trades and research should work together more closely. On some business sites, homes for skilled workers should also be built.

The platform names mobility, energy technology, and pharma and medical technology as the core of industrial policy, plus fields such as semiconductors, robotics, AI and aerospace. The SKIP steering group is to be used more, with equal participation by politicians, business and unions and regular talks with large industrial companies. Commercial land is to be secured under the Urban Development Plan for the Economy 2040. Because the housing shortage makes it harder to find skilled workers, selected commercial sites are also to allow housing and social facilities for skilled workers and apprentices.

The SPD wants to make it easier for small and midsize companies to win public contracts and to better equip business development offices in the districts. The agency Berlin Partner is to be strengthened and is to simplify the recruitment of skilled workers from abroad.

The SPD wants to help small and midsize companies. Public contracts should be easier to get. The districts should have more staff to advise companies. Berlin should be able to bring in skilled workers from abroad more easily. There should be less red tape for this.

At the federal level, the SPD wants to push for more GRW funds for regional economic development and for reliable continuation of that funding. For midsize companies, it names planning certainty, stronger grids and competitive energy prices as goals. District business development offices are to get more staff and money, and networks of business owners and retailers are to be secured for the long term. Berlin Partner is to be the central contact for local firms and a guide for new arrivals, and the Business Immigration Service is to grow. The city's migrant communities are to help with recruitment, and dedicated programs are planned for women in business and entrepreneurship.

The SPD wants to preserve retail, restaurants and culture in all parts of the city and make shopping streets more attractive. Business improvement districts are to be possible in every borough, and retailers are to get bridging aid when construction sites cut into their sales.

The SPD wants to keep shops, restaurants and culture in the neighborhoods. Shopping streets should become nicer. Shop owners and residents should be able to form groups. Shops often lose customers near construction sites. Then they should get money as help.

The recommendations of Berlin's Zentrengipfel (city centers summit) are to be carried out, and the summit itself is to remain as a standing platform for local actors, districts and state politics. In the business improvement districts, businesses, restaurants, culture, residents and property owners are to work together. The districts are to set up management teams for sites of wider regional importance that draw up action plans and tap funding from district, state, federal and EU sources. The SPD wants to provide enough money for bridging aid during construction. The new state restaurant licensing law is to be implemented to ease the burden on businesses and the administration.

The SPD wants to protect businesses in neighborhoods from being pushed out. It is pressing at the federal level for laws that allow affordable commercial rents and wants to build three more city-owned commercial centers by the end of the next term.

Many businesses can hardly afford the rent for their space. The SPD wants to protect them. The federal government should make rules for affordable business rents. Berlin should build three new city-owned commercial centers. Businesses can rent space there at low cost.

The mix of trade, services and culture in the neighborhoods is to be preserved. Affordable space is to be created on land under city control, and the commercial centers are to move forward with a fixed timeline and sufficient funding. The SPD wants to keep skilled trades and urban production in the city and attract new businesses. Service industries are also to receive additional investment.

The SPD wants to build up Berlin as a fair trade capital and align public purchasing more closely with fair criteria. It also wants to promote business models oriented toward the common good and a circular economy in which products are used for a long time.

The SPD wants to strengthen fair trade in Berlin. The state itself should buy more fair products. Products should last a long time. People should repair or recycle them. The SPD wants to help companies do this.

The basis is a fair trade action plan. Structures for fair public purchasing are to grow, and solidarity-based and common-good-oriented forms of business are to receive support. Companies are to get help with circular business practices, in which materials stay in use as long as possible, for example through repair and recycling. Business development policy is to follow Berlin's development policy guidelines.

The SPD wants to expand the existing internationalization concept into a comprehensive strategy. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular are to get support for activities abroad, and trade ties with emerging markets are to be deepened.

The SPD wants Berlin companies to do more business abroad. There will be a big plan for this. Small and medium-sized companies will get the most help. Berlin will have more offices in other countries.

The plan includes more representative offices abroad, an expansion of existing foreign offices, and a larger program for international business cooperation. Economic ties with India, Mexico, Brazil, and countries in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa are to be intensified. Links with Ukraine and within the EU, especially with Poland, are to become closer. Berlin is also to become more attractive for foreign companies and skilled workers. The platform speaks of fair and sustainable trade.

The SPD wants to bring more major events to Berlin because they generate revenue and jobs. To that end, the trade fair grounds are to be modernized and the ICC converted, together with private partners, into a center for culture, creative industries, and major events.

The SPD wants more big events in Berlin. They bring money and jobs. The trade fair grounds will be modernized. The ICC is a large congress building. It will be used again.

The trade fair grounds are to be adapted to the needs of international event formats. The SPD wants to support the convention business more strongly through strategic investments and a further developed convention fund. Private partners from the international concept competition are to be involved in the ICC. Jobs are also to be created at the site, particularly in the digital economy.

The SPD sees tourism as a key pillar of the economy and wants to make it more sustainable and more evenly spread across the city. More of the City Tax revenue is to go toward tourism that is compatible with city life.

The SPD wants to support tourism in Berlin. Visitors should spread out across the whole city. Tourism should harm the environment less. Money from the overnight-stay tax will be used for this.

City Tax revenue is to be used more for city-compatible tourism in line with the Tourism Concept 2018+. The SPD aims to strengthen the industry as an employer and increase acceptance among residents. The water tourism concept is to be implemented, with a citywide campaign promoting Berlin's waterways. Passenger shipping is to continue shifting to low-carbon propulsion with better charging infrastructure.

The SPD wants water, the power grid and district heating to stay in state hands and plans to write a privatization brake into Berlin's constitution. State-owned companies are to be economically strong and serve the common good.

Water, the power grid and district heating belong to the state of Berlin. It should stay that way. The SPD wants to write this into the constitution. Then they cannot simply be sold.

State-owned companies are to get enough equity for major investments. The SPD wants to tie additional funding to clear and measurable targets. The companies are also to be models of good working conditions.