One year of the economic agenda
Part 1: 10 points, many goals - Wolfsburg as a location, city center development as a factor
Setting an important course for the future and working together to maintain Wolfsburg as a business location - that was the basic idea behind the 10-point plan for Wolfsburg's economy presented by Lord Mayor Dennis Weilmann and Head of Economic Affairs Jens Hofschröer around a year ago. Now it can be said: We have made good progress on many projects, but there is still a lot to do. In the first year, the focus was primarily on inner city development - including the major projects of redesigning the ZOB, Medical Office, BRAWO Arkaden and Lupus.
"It is about nothing less than maintaining our business location and thus securing Wolfsburg as a place to live and work for us and future generations. As the city administration, we want to be an active shaper that both drives forward sustainable projects and provides important impetus. We have experienced an intensive first year of our economic agenda, in which we have set many building blocks in motion for Wolfsburg as a sustainable business location. Now we need to keep at it in order to press ahead with further implementation with courage and confidence," says Lord Mayor Dennis Weilmann, drawing an initial interim balance.
"In economically challenging times, it is once again clear that success can only be achieved together. Our 10-point plan is therefore not intended as a rigid catalog of measures, but as an integrative economic agenda that sees Wolfsburg as a networked and resilient ecosystem. In the first year, we have already provided a reliable framework and set a clear course that we are convinced of and want to continue on together as a city society," adds Jens Hofschröer, City Councillor for Digital and Economic Affairs and WMG Managing Director.
Wolfsburg as a location - inner city development as a factor
In the first year of the economic agenda, the focus was primarily on the development of the city center. This included immediate measures - such as the 3x3 basketball court at Nordkopf - as well as major projects such as the fundamental decision to redesign the ZOB, the plans for Lupus am Nordkopf and the almost completed Medical Office. The demolition work for the BRAWO arcades marked the start of what is probably the biggest urban development change for the middle Porschestraße and the foundation stone for the new building was laid in mid-January. Also worth mentioning are the approved plans to redesign Kleistpark and Rathausplatz, which will be implemented from 2026 and create green oases with a high quality of stay in the middle of the city center.
The individual areas of the 10-point plan are closely interlinked. This can be seen, for example, in the guidelines for promoting start-ups. Which strengthens the city center and at the same time expands Wolfsburg as a location for innovation. In addition, the funding approval from the NBank for the Wolfsburg Startup Center was obtained shortly before Christmas. The premiere of the Science BarCamp in November was also the first step towards a science network.
We are also working on a joint campus of TU Braunschweig, Ostfalia and the OpenHybrid Lab Factory (OHLF) as a central beacon for Wolfsburg as a science location. In the second year of the economic agenda, there will also be a pop-up store on the topic of science and exchange in the city center.
All information on the economic agenda and the 10-point plan can be found at wolfsburg.de/wirtschaftsagenda.
Outlook: In Part 2 of One Year of the Economic Agenda, we take a look at Wolfsburg as an automotive location and our plans to make it more resilient.