NRW.INVEST

NRW.INVEST is the economic development agency of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). It deals with the acquisition of and support for foreign investors and the international marketing for NRW as a business location.^[1] As One-Stop-Agency for foreign investors, NRW.INVEST supports mainly international companies with their investment projects and settlements in NRW throughout the entire settlement process.^[2][3] NRW.INVEST maintains two subsidiaries in Japan and the USA as well as six representative offices in China, India, Korea and Turkey. The sole shareholder of NRW.INVEST is the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In 2010 the state economic development agency NRW.INVEST celebrated its 50th anniversary. When it was founded in 1960, the former “Rheinisch-Westfälische Industrieförderungsgesellschaft” was commissioned by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to recruit new industries to succeed the crisis-stricken mining industry.^[4]

The Mission

As business location North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is in direct competition with the major European metropolitan regions Greater London, Île-de-France, and West-Nederland as well as other strong business locations worldwide.^[6][7] Acknowledging the importance of foreign investments in times of globalization, NRW.INVEST aims to boost the location of foreign companies in NRW.^[8]

Activities / Service

To promote NRW internationally as the business location in Europe, NRW.INVEST offers foreign investors an extensive service through all stages of the investment. In these concerns NRW.INVEST cooperates closely with the Federal State government and the regional institutions for economic development in NRW.
NRW.INVEST is set up in specialized country and industry teams that are experienced in all aspects of the location business.^[9] The teams located at NRW.INVEST’s headquarters in Düsseldorf, the capital of NRW, and the teams on site at the representative offices and subsidiaries provide comprehensive information about NRW as an investment location, describe important aspects of the state's economic structure and industry clusters, and give answers to tax-related and legal questions.^[10]
Besides general information, NRW.INVEST provides potential investors with tailor-made information depending on their specific needs. On request, in-house experts analyze investors’ investment plans and find the right location for company settlements in NRW.
The database Germansite is an additional service for investors searching for a business location in NRW. Detailed geo-information of over 1,000 vacant commercial sites in NRW is available to the user, including the contact data of the respective contact person.^[11][12][13]
NRW.INVEST supports investors in practical issues such as visa applications as well as the entire licensing procedure that comes with a business set-up in NRW.^[14] The agency acts as a guide to the appropriate authorities and a mediator between the investor and the responsible institutions.
Investing in a new location does not stop after the initial set-up of the business. Further administrative processes are ongoing; a good share of the foreign companies in NRW start expanding and growing. Therefore NRW.INVEST also offers aftercare services. With various series of events and a broad range of support and consulting services NRW.INVEST maintains continuous contact with investors in the State to ensure that they feel at home in North Rhine-Westphalia and can grow successfully here.^[15] In specific cases the team in Düsseldorf offers solution-oriented services by attending to investors’ questions and concerns regarding expansion investments, growth finance or administrative procedures.
Being a global organization NRW.INVEST cooperates with many international institutions. The agency is a member of organizations like the German-French Chamber of Industry and Commerce,^[16] the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany,^[17] the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany,^[18] ChemCologne,^[19] Chemsite,^[20] the German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce,^[21] and the Turkish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.^[22]

Activities Abroad

Maintaining its head office in Düsseldorf, two subsidiaries, and six representative offices, NRW.INVEST is an international organization. The local staff at the subsidiaries and representative offices actively approach foreign companies in those areas where NRW is highly successful and attractive for foreign investments.^[23] They provide investors with first-hand information, practical advice for establishing business in NRW, and the necessary contacts. The offices abroad therefore often serve as the first link in the service chain of NRW.INVEST.
For the past two years NRW.INVEST has increased its activities abroad, particularly in the growth markets India and Turkey. The increasing inclusion of these nations in the world's economy is expected to bring about a significant rise in foreign investment. For this reason, the agency opened branch offices in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Pune in the middle of 2007^[24] and set up a representation in Istanbul in January 2008.^[25][26][27] The importance of the NRW.INVEST foreign offices is demonstrated by the example of Japan. Thanks to the representation in Tokyo and the intensive acquisition measures conducted there, NRW has developed into an important location for Japanese companies. More than 500 Japanese firms are now located in the state, earning Düsseldorf the nickname “Little Tokyo”.^[28][29][30] NRW.INVEST maintains further representative offices in Nanjing, Shanghai^[31], Beijing and Seoul. Another subsidiary is based in Chicago.

Foreign Direct Investments in NRW

Volume of foreign direct investments in Germany in 2009 (EUR bn), Source: Deutsche Bundesbank 5/2011, position: end of 2009

North Rhine-Westphalia attracts companies from both Germany and abroad, with 19 of the 50 largest German companies based in Germany's most westerly federal state. These include leading German corporations such as E.ON (energy), Deutsche Telekom (telecommunications), Deutsche Post World Net (logistics), Metro AG (food trade), ThyssenKrupp (automotive supplier), RWE (energy) and Rewe Gruppe (trade). The state can rightly claim the most foreign direct investments (FDI) anywhere in Germany.^[32] With 28.4 percent (184.6 billion euros) North Rhine-Westphalia recorded by far the highest direct investment share in Germany of all 16 federal states in 2009.^[33]
Around 13,100 foreign companies from the most important investment countries control their German or European operations from bases in North Rhine-Westphalia. This means that almost a quarter of the foreign companies in Germany are domiciled in North Rhine-Westphalia. These include many international global players such as BP, 3M, Ericsson, Ford, LG Electronics, QVC, Toyota, and Vodafone. The companies employ a total of over 680,000 people.

References

1. ^ Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy, Construction, Habitation and Traffic of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia | Investing in NRW
2. ^ Wirtschaftsblatt - Investoren-Guide mit neuem Gesicht Magazine for regional economic affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia on NRW.INVEST's realignment and main tasks.
3. ^ American Chamber of Commerce | Regional Economic Development Agencies
4. ^ 1960-2010 NRW.INVEST 50 years dedicated to the business location North-Rhine Westphalia
5. ^ Media:NRW-Invest rgb.png
6. ^ Welt am Sonntag - Das Ausland entdeckt den Standort NRW Welt am Sonntag Main Article on NRW's growing importance as business location for foreign investors and NRW.INVEST's contribution, May 25th, 2008.
7. ^ Wirtschaftswoche - NRW auf dem Weg zur globalen Drehscheibe WirtschaftsWoche, the largest economy magazine in Germany, appearing weekly. Main Article on NRW's growing importance as international hub and business location, June 6th, 2008.
8. ^ China Radio International | CRI Online Transcript and Original audio data of radio broadcast on potential for Chinese investments in logistics in NRW, June 25th, 2008.
9. ^ NRW.INVEST - Publications: Industry Expertise in NRW: Atlas of the Future 2008 In order to know North Rhine-Westphalia's strengths, NRW.INVEST has undertaken an analysis of the individual industries in the state.
10. ^ Sonnenberg Law Firm | Useful Contacts
11. ^ ExpoReal | Exhibitor Data Base NRW.INVEST exhibiting Germansite at the Expo Real, International Commercial Property Exposition.
12. ^ AGIT | Annual Report 2007 AGIT, the Aachen Agency for Innovation and Technology Transfer describing the advantages of the Germansite commercial sites database in their annual report 2007, page 6.
13. ^ Handwerksblatt | Gewerbeflächen in NRW online suchen Handwerksblatt, online portal and print magazine for craft and trade, publication on the establishment of Germansite, Septmenber 2007
14. ^ TOBB | The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchangers of Turkey PDF-File of the official magazine from TD-IHK (Turkish-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry) reporting about the 1st German-Turkish Economy Dialogue, which was hosted by NRW.INVEST. This conference dealt with how to simplify visa applications for Turkish business travellers, August 2007: page 5.
15. ^ Dortmund Airport | Nordische Firmen zu Gast am Airport
16. ^ AHK - Deutsch-Französische Industrie- und Handelskammer | Mitglieder
17. ^ American Chamber of Commerce in Germany | Location Germany
18. ^ British Chamber of Commerce in Germany | Members
19. ^ ChemCologne | Links ChemCologne is an association that sets out to develop the region's attractiveness and competitiveness for the chemical industry in NRW.
20. ^ ChemSite | Members The ChemSite Initiative offers investors from the chemical and related industries a comprehensive range of services at seven high-tech sites in the Ruhr region.
21. ^ German-British chamber of Industry and Commerce | Members' Directory^{[dead link]}
22. ^ Türkisch-Deutsche Industrie- und Handelskammer | Mitgliederliste
23. ^ Invest in Oulu, Finland | Business Opportunities for Finnish ICT companies in Germany
24. ^ Express India - Germany’s richest state to set up India headquarters in Pune
25. ^ Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia | Press Official press release of the Ministry on the official opening of NRW.INVEST Turkey.
26. ^ New Europe Online
27. ^ BTEU BTEU - Association Turkish European Entrepreneurs, Article on the official opening of NRW.INVEST Turkey.
28. ^ The City of Düsseldorf
29. ^ "Hanover Fair highlights Japanese robots and sumo". Trend Capital. 2008-04-18. http://en.trend.az/capital/empty/1179100.html. Retrieved 2009-12-24. 
30. ^ Japanese Düsseldorf | Düsseldorf Travel Guide
31. ^ DEW21| Publications^{[dead link]}DEW 21, Article of NRW.INVEST opening Shanghai representation office.
32. ^ Rivergate | Federal States of Germany^{[dead link]}
33. ^ New European Economy | FDI

External links

NRW portal

• NRW.INVEST website
• NRW.INVEST China
• NRW.INVEST Japan
• NRW.INVEST Turkey
• NRW.INVEST USA
• Germansite - database for geo-information of commercial sites in NRW
• Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy, Construction, Habitation and Traffic of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia