Five counties in close cooperation - with a challenge extended to businesses, too.

The competition of locations for investments and skilled workers, for economic power and prosperity is not just going on between cities and communities any longer, but between whole regions. “Together we are strong” – that dictum now applies to the intensified cooperation across community and county borders in South Westphalia, too. At all levels in the five counties Maerkischer Kreis, Olpe, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Soest and Hochsauerlandkreis.“South Westphalia” is being established as a brand:

>>> Südwestfalen

The structural program of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, REGIONALE, offers a chance to do this. What is this about? A two-step contest for the REGIONALE 2013 and the REGIONALE 2016 has been announced. Its topics are the areas of activity of a modern structural policy:

Sustainable city and regional development,

Innovation, knowledge and education,

Strengthening of the entrepreneurial basis and the job market,

Economically oriented infrastructure and mobility,

Landscaping, protection of nature and environment,

Health, family-friendly infrastructure.

South Westphalia has reached the second step in the application procedure. We shall now have to fill the areas of activity defined so far with life: “Nature recreation region”, “innovation region” and “generations region”.

For the area of the innovation region the economic development agencies of the counties involved, the Arnsberg, Hagen and Siegen chambers of industry and commerce as well as the South Westphalia Chamber of Crafts, together with the renowned consulting firm PROGNOS, have worked out the development concept “Innovation region South Westphalia – fields of competence, project approaches, and perspectives”.

This future atlas for South Westphalia that describes recommendations for activities and first project ideas, is an important part of the application for the REGIONALE. At the same time South Westphalia has positioned itself for the current contests in the framework of the new NRW goal 2 program (ERDF) 2007-2013. The PROGNOS paper can be found here, further information on the subject of South Westphalia and REGIONALE can be found at http://www.suedwestfalen-regionale.de/.

Additionally the GWS is active in the automotive network South Westphalia. Relevant information: http://www.automotive-sw.de/