SPD on the economy

The SPD wants to keep all economic sectors in Hamburg and attract new ones. More land is to be transferred to the investment agency Hamburg Invest, and existing commercial land is to be preserved.

The SPD wants to keep companies in Hamburg. New companies should come too. That takes space. The city should keep land for business and provide more.

The program names industry, services, established firms and start-ups alike as part of the local economy. Land policy is meant to keep new industrial and commercial sites possible within city limits. Hamburg Invest, as a one-stop agency for companies settling in the city, is to receive additional land.

The SPD wants to keep funding the port with public money and modernize its infrastructure. A strategy for attracting businesses is meant to bring jobs and value creation to Hamburg rather than focusing only on container counts.

The SPD wants to keep putting public money into the port. The port should get modern facilities. Companies should set up in the port. This should create jobs.

The guiding document is the port development plan published in 2023. Named projects are Steinwerder Süd, the western expansion, a turning basin off the Waltershofer Hafen and new road bridges. Container shipping is to remain the main pillar of cargo handling. At the federal level, the SPD wants cleanup of the upper Elbe to be demanded from neighboring countries and financially supported, because the program says the pollutants come from there.

The SPD sees lengthy planning and permitting procedures as one of the biggest obstacles for industry. A “Resilient Industry” task force is to review procedures for ways to speed them up, and the Masterplan Industrie is to be developed further.

Industrial companies wait a long time for permits. The SPD wants to change that. A working group should check what can go faster. Industry should stay in Hamburg.

The acceleration pact with the federal government is to be implemented consistently. The task force was agreed with employers and unions in the Masterplan Industrie. The SPD wants to continue this plan with the chamber of commerce, the industry association and unions. It argues that pushing companies out of the city would cause higher CO2 emissions elsewhere, and wants to keep promoting energy-saving and resource-saving measures in product cycles and waste.

The SPD wants to enable more trade workshops in multi-story commercial buildings so that businesses can stay in the city. It also wants to support digitization in the skilled trades and qualify women for leadership roles.

Tradespeople need space in the city. The SPD wants multi-story buildings for workshops. It also wants to help trades go digital. More women should become bosses in the trades.

The basis is the Masterplan Handwerk agreed between the Senate and the Chamber of Skilled Crafts. According to the program, five such workshop buildings already exist. The Mittelstand-Digital-Zentrum Hamburg is to continue. Projects in master craftsman training that prepare women for leadership positions are to be made permanent.

The SPD wants to expand the city's four innovation parks and sharpen their profiles. Plans include a center for quantum technology, an additional aviation research site and an innovation district in Harburg.

Hamburg has special places for research and new companies. The SPD wants to expand them. They deal with green technology, medicine, aircraft and ships. A center for quantum computers is also planned.

A “Quantum Technology Hub” is to be founded at the DESY Innovation Factory with universities and private partners to train specialists and provide research infrastructure. ZAL 3 is to add another aviation research site, and suppliers are to be offered land. In Bergedorf, facilities of the HAW university are to be joined with the Körber Technologie Campus into an innovation park. In Harburg, the “Tech City Harburg” with the Technical University is to support founders and provide office, lab and production space. The SPD wants to continue its cluster policy, including the new food cluster.

The SPD wants to bring funding programs for start-ups and innovation together under a subsidiary of the city's development bank IFB. Start-up support at universities is to become clearer, and location marketing is meant to attract talent and venture capital.

The SPD wants to help new companies. Support should be found in one place. Founders should get advice and money more easily. Hamburg should also promote itself abroad.

The programs are to sit with Innovationsstarter GmbH, a subsidiary of the Investitions- und Förderbank. Start-up support at universities and research institutions is to become easier to access and include the skilled trades. The financing network of banks, investors and the IFB is to be strengthened, with advice from a single source. For nonprofit ventures, the SPD wants to build on the social entrepreneurship strategy and expand the network.

The SPD wants to extend the culture and tourism levy and use it to fund additional projects in culture, media and sports across all districts. It also wants to strengthen tourism in the districts, the convention business and working conditions in hospitality.

Hotel guests in Hamburg pay a levy. The SPD wants to extend this levy. It wants to use the money for culture, media and sports. Tourism in the districts should grow too.

A digital platform called “Smart Hamburg” is planned, with real-time information, recommendations and booking options. The “Open Mouth Festival” is to be developed further, for example with an interactive culinary map of the city. Convention funding is to be made permanent, and a “Green Meetings Hamburg” certificate for sustainable events is to be created with Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH. For hotels and restaurants, the SPD wants fair working conditions and new training formats for career changers.

The SPD wants to support companies in the climate-friendly transformation with funding schemes. At the same time, targets already agreed are not to be tightened further so that investments remain plannable.

Changing to a climate-friendly economy costs money. The SPD wants to help companies with public funding. Climate targets should not become even stricter. That way, companies can plan safely.

The program notes that not all companies can bear the costs of the climate-friendly transformation on their own. It cites the federal government's climate protection contracts (Klimaschutzverträge) as an example of suitable funding. The SPD also calls for a commitment to industry and stable rules without tightening targets already agreed. Every investment decision should be possible within a reliable framework.

The SPD wants to revise the city's innovation strategy and put creative, agile approaches to innovation on equal footing with technological research. Existing creative-industry institutions are to be strengthened and used strategically.

Many people in Hamburg work in creative jobs. The SPD wants to make more use of their ideas. The city will rewrite its plan for innovation. Creative ideas should count as much as technical research.

The platform points to more than 100,000 people working in creative businesses. The Kreativ Gesellschaft, the German Creative Economy Summit, and the Cross Innovation Hub are to be strengthened and used in a targeted way. The goal is to make Hamburg a "city of the future" where new possibilities can be experienced early.