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SACHSEN
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GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY
Sachsen is situated in the eastern part Germany, bordering with Poland to the east and the Czech Republic to the south. The Elbe is Sachsen's longest river and a crucial waterway link between the Czech Republic and the North Sea port of Hamburg. Sachsen has a land area of 18,413 km² and a population of 4.3 million, with a density of 234 inhabitants per square kilometre. The capital city is Dresden.
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INFRASTRUCTURES
The region has modern infrastructures. Motorways and railroads link the region with the rest of Germany and abroad. Indeed, Sachsen provides an important link to eastern and southern Europe, both via rail and road. National and international flights operate from the airports of Dresden and Leipzig/Halle, and Berlin's airports are also close by. There are several flights a day from Dresden and Leipzig/Halle to the major national and European airports.
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ECONOMY
The region generates 3.6% of Germany's GDP. Sachsen's economy is dominated by the services sector. 69% of the labour force is employed in services, generating almost 70% of real gross value added. In economic terms, agriculture, forestry and fishing are of fairly minor significance to Sachsen's economy. Traditional branches of regional industry are mechanical engineering and vehicle construction, metalworking, electrical engineering, electronics and the food industry. Also very important are the finance, leasing and business services sector contributing for 26% to real gross value added. Saxony's GDP is about EUR 80 billion, (Saxony contributes 32.4% toward the GDP of the eastern German states minus Berlin). Per capita GDP is EUR 17,774 (2003), higher than in any other state in the former East Germany.
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LABOUR MARKET
There are 1.900.000 employees in the region (75% of the population). The unemployment rate is 18,3% of the active population (the female one is 18,50%). The employment rate is 46.40% (male employment rate is 55.50%, female 42.60%). The percentage of total employment in services sector is 69%, while 2.5% work in agriculture, and the rest in the industrial sector.
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DATA RELATED TO REGIONAL STRUCTURAL FUNDS MECHANISMS
Parts of the region belong to EU objective 1 for the period 2000-2006.
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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The region spends 2.53% of its GDP in Research and Development ( 0.65% of Government investments and 0.62% of University investments).
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DATA RELATED TO REGIONAL PROGRAMME OF INNOVATIVE ACTIONS
The regional programme of innovative actions for the Sachsen region has a total budget of € 3 million (EU - € 2.4 million, public - € 0.31, private - € 0.29 million. The programme focused on increasing and strengthening the competitiveness of the economy in Sachsen. Given the differences in development of the specific sub-regions in Sachsen and their potentials, three approaches with different strategic themes were implemented.
The programme of innovative actions focused on supporting the development of productivity and competitiveness in 5 selected less-favoured regions (LFRs), within the boundaries of the Objective 1, in the region of Sachsen (Saxony). The activities aimed at designing regional strategies of development, testing their effectiveness in pilot projects and spreading the results throughout Saxony, Germany and other regions of the European Union. A wide regional consensus from the planning phase until the later stage of the projects guaranteed sustainable development of the project. The three regional approaches with different strategic themes were as follows:
- 1.The region Erzgebirge had the following strategic theme: "regional identity and sustainable development". The emphasis was put on raising the innovative technological level of small enterprises in the traditional industries and trades, and thereby developing modern, experience-oriented, ecologically sustainable tourism by using the traditional cultural potential and new forms of local services.
- 2.The regions Riesa-Grossenheim and Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien had the following strategic theme: "regional economy based on knowledge and technological innovation". The emphasis for this action was put on strengthening co-operation networks between small and medium-sized enterprises, institutions of higher education, research and technology centres as well as institutions for professional and continuous education in order to raise competitiveness.
- 3.The regions Suedraum Leipzig and Torgau-Oschatz-Doebeln concentrated on the strategic theme "e-EuropeRegio: the information society at the service of regional development". The emphasis was put on developing an innovation strategy for the region in order to use the most recent information and communication technology and encourage the establishment of partnerships to implement it.
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