SPD on the economy

The SPD wants economic and industrial policy to focus more on innovation. Companies, especially mid-sized firms and skilled trades, are to work more closely with universities, and there are to be more start-up centers.

The SPD wants to support new ideas in business. Companies should work more closely with universities. Universities should get more centers for new companies. People who start a company should get help. The topic should already come up in school.

The plans include more start-up centers at universities and support for founders. The program names innovation and digitalization vouchers as funding tools; the Digitalbonus grant is to continue. Funding programs are to be reviewed together with industry and the skilled trades. Economic support is to focus on automotive and mobility, renewables and hydrogen, digitalization, and agriculture and food. Tourism is also to be promoted further, including through an electronic guest registration form. Transformation guides, monitoring and regional advisory boards with unions and employers are to accompany the change.

The SPD wants to turn the state-owned NBank from a development bank into an investment bank and create an innovation fund. The state is to invest alongside companies in infrastructure, research and transformation.

The SPD wants to change NBank. NBank is the state's development bank. In the future it should put money into important future fields itself. For this it should get more money. There should also be a fund for new ideas.

NBank is to be funded so that it can raise more capital on the market. That money is to go into future-oriented fields. A state innovation fund is meant to boost investment further. The program justifies this with the idea of a state that actively shapes change beyond setting rules and regulating. Government and administration are to drive innovation.

The SPD wants jobs lost in combustion-engine production to be replaced by new jobs making electric motors, battery cells and other components. More sites for battery cell production are to become possible.

Many people in Lower Saxony work in the car industry. In the future, cars will run on electricity. The SPD wants new jobs to come from this change. More battery factories should be built. Workers should get further training.

The program cites about 340,000 jobs in the state that depend on the car and backs the VW Act. The strategy dialogue with the IG Metall union and the employers' association NiedersachsenMetall is to become a dialogue platform. The two partners' transformation agency is to organize further training for employees and will get support. Potential is to be built up along the value chain, from chip design to battery cells. The state is also to become a leader in automated and connected driving.

The SPD wants to expand Lower Saxony's seaports and keep them reachable for large ships. Priority goes to deepening the lower Weser up to Brake and the outer Ems.

The SPD wants to expand the ports on the coast. Large ships should be able to reach the ports. For this, the rivers Weser and Ems should become deeper in certain places. New berths for ships should be built in the ports.

The state wants to support the federal government in carrying out both deepening projects quickly. In Emden, the sea lock is to be upgraded and a third berth for large ships built. Cuxhaven is to get more berths for handling offshore wind components, and Wilhelmshaven infrastructure for landing hydrogen. A larger logistics zone is planned at the JadeWeserPort. Planning for a second expansion stage of that port is to continue.

The SPD wants to support city and town centers with funding programs because retail is retreating in many places and leaving vacancies. In the program's view, centers should become greener and livelier and offer more than shops.

Shops are closing in many city centers. The SPD wants to help cities with money. Poor cities should have to pay less themselves. City centers should become greener. There should be more leisure and culture there.

Through the "Resiliente Innenstädte" (resilient city centers) program, more cities are to receive 60 million euros from EU funds. Financially weak municipalities are to be able to take part thanks to a lower co-payment, and funding is to be set up for the medium term. The SPD also wants to promote the exchange of successful examples. City managers are to act as a bridge and be supported by a new Lower Saxony neighborhood initiative based on the state's neighborhood law.

The SPD wants to expand the state's startup initiative and add a growth fund. Founder stipends are to run longer, and more women are to start companies.

The SPD wants more support for young companies. There will be a new fund for this. Stipends for founders should last ten months. More women should start companies.

Founder stipends are to be extended to ten months. Startups focused on climate protection or social innovation are to get dedicated funding. The funding rules are also to be open to nonprofit businesses. Special support goes to research projects the party considers essential for the future competitiveness of Lower Saxony's economy.