„The Airport Region is an attractive business location and offers good opportunities for further settlements, value creation and employment.“

Jens Warnken, President of the Cottbus Chamber of Industry and Commerce

What advantages does the Airport Region offer for your company?

The Airport Region is an attractive business location and offers good opportunities for further settlements, value creation and employment.

In addition to modern infrastructure, urban proximity and exceptionally close networking between business and science, the connection to Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport is an important argument for companies wishing to locate in the Airport Region.

Industrial and commercial locations are located in the immediate vicinity of the motorway and railway and also have a connection to the European waterway network with the inland port in Königs Wusterhausen. From a logistical point of view, this results in very good networking opportunities.

For which sectors is the Airport Region particularly interesting?

The region is the focus of the service industry and of highly innovative start-ups in the technology sector. Important service providers in the aerospace and logistics sectors, but above all the real estate sector and medium-sized companies with international networks and a high degree of innovation have contributed to the successful growth in the region.

The portfolio of the companies is diverse and ranges from a broad supplier industry for aviation-related industries, services related to maintenance and simulation, component and system manufacturing, IT and engineering solutions, metal processing, plant engineering and construction to transportation and logistics.

For many years, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce has been a strong advocate for the location and the companies active there. What has got off to a good start, where are there problems and do we need to act more strongly?

The environment and the regional economy have benefited enormously from residential and commercial locations. High numbers of newcomers, a stable labor market and countless construction projects are characteristic. The Airport City is also becoming increasingly attractive thanks to new company locations and modern office properties with networking opportunities and accompanying services.

Overall, planning and approval processes must be accelerated further. In the area of commercial and industrial settlement, the region needs a future-oriented area policy, which must be coordinated and implemented dynamically and consistently by the State and the administration.

However, the best possible networking of all modes of transport is also important. Excellent public transport connections by bus and train can further promote the dynamic-positive economic development in the Airport Region. The bottlenecks in the traffic infrastructure in the vicinity of the airport, which were published in the Chamber of Industry and Commerce traffic study, must therefore be eliminated. This also includes the extension of the U7 to the airport or even more attractive bus routes to the commercial areas. The expansion of long-distance connections, long-distance bus lines, but also additional long-haul flights are important for the attractiveness of BER and the business and science location.

What do you wish for the Airport Region?

I would like to see the State, local authorities, Chambers of commerce, the Employment agency, investors and project developers working together in an even more coordinated manner to provide the Airport Region with the best possible conditions for working and living and to make optimum use of growth impulses.

The challenges of dynamic growth must be met together and at the same pace as real developments are taking place.

One step toward joint projects with the municipalities is the planned development fund for the Airport Region, which is to be launched next year and can, for example, promote the expansion of the bike path network and the climate protection network.

And of course I hope for further successes of the settlement team in national and international marketing and sustainable location decisions like Tesla and Co. for this booming future region, so that the entire State can benefit from the developments there.

We would like to thank Jens Warnken for the interview!