The biggest investors in the region include: Volkswagen, Man, Delphi Automotive Systems, Alcatel, Philips, Matsushita, Exide, Pratt & Whitney, Beiesdorf, Bridgestone, GlaxoSmithKline, Pernod Ricard, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Nestle SA, Saab, SKF Aktiebolaget Therab Raben and Allied Irish Bank. The number of national businesses operating here indicates also the level of economic activity in Wielkopolska – about 349,000 enterprises which employ more than 1.3 million people. They are mainly companies with foreign capital and strong potential, located around Poznań and larger towns in the region, in the areas where new investments have been made. Dominating role is played by small and medium enterprises which aptly keep up with the competition from bigger companies.

Investments
Wielkopolska is without question an attractive region for investments. The international rating agency, the Fitch Ratings Agency, has recently raised the national long-term rating for Wielkopolska Region from AA to AA+. It means that the rating’s long-term future is stable. It is mainly due to Poland’s EU accession which has increased the financial credibility and investment attractiveness of the region.
Wielkopolska's high economic position has been confirmed by winning the first place in the “Rzeczpospolita’s” national daily newspaper ranking which rated the dynamics of development of Polish regions in 2007. Nine indicators were used to determine the best Polish regions: number of inhabitants, number of unemployed people, wage increase, employment rate, number of new housing completed, industrial and building production, retail sales, number of enterprises and investment outlays.
In its summary “The best places to invest”, Forbes writes: “The capital of Wielkopolska draws foreign funds without any publicity”. The report indicates that we are among most invested regions in Poland. The number of foreign investments (BIZ) located in Wielkopolska constitutes about 10 percent of all investments of this type in the country placing us on third position. The flow of direct foreign investments has created so far nearly 5,000 enterprises with foreign capital.
The excellent results are confirmed by KPMG surveys which measured the investment attractiveness of the region and were conducted among local businessmen and managers. Among Wielkopolska's strong points they mentioned: entrepreneurship, rich commercial and business traditions, well educated workforce, attractive business environment, research and development backgrounds, convenient location and good transport connections.
More than 100 foreign investors invested more than 1 million USD in Poznań. More than one third of the invested capital comes from Ger- many, one tenth from the United States, France and Great Britain respectively, and every 16th dollar comes from Japan.
Investors are most interested in the production sector (two thirds of the outlays), services (one seventh) and commerce (one seventh). Within the production sector most resources have been invested in the automotive sector (half of the outlays), food (more than one fifth) and pharmaceutical (one seventh).
The financial sector and the recently growing share of the trade sector have also been significant for investors. The dominating element which has an increasing influence on business competitiveness in the last several years is innovation. It relates to all areas of daily life as well as to service and production activities.
In order to keep up with the changing times, Wielkopolska Region has radically changed its image during the last few years and is now focusing on innovation. Advanced technologies are developing dynamically basing on a well qualified personnel of research and development and scientific institutions, especially in such areas as IT, automotive industry and highly specialised services.

i-Wielkopolska
One of the projects reflecting the commitment of the Wielkopolska's Local Government in building of the Innovative Wielkopolska is the Marshal’s Award “i-Wielkopolska – Innovators for Wielkopolska”. The aim of the competition is to build a culture of innovation in the region, through the promotion of the most innovative economic activities. The laureates will not only gain the high esteem, but also receive tangible prizes – a promotional package including free participation in official visits abroad, together with the region’s authorities, ensuring them with the promotional and business meetings, as well as a generous financial prize. The following companies have been nominated for this year’s awards: in the “Innovative Invention” category: Alma – which is operating in the service sector associated with the implementation of the comprehensive IT systems in the businesses and institutions specialising in IT system integration, communication and automation, and Solaris – producer of modern city buses, trolleybuses, intercity, tourist and special buses. In the “Micro-future” category, the nominees were: Centrum Badań DNA (the DNA Research Centre) established by Polish scientists whose objective is to introduce and provide modern technologies in DNA testing and at the same time introduce a new quality to medical and veterinary practice and modern diagnosis available to everyone, and Zak³ad Techniki Mikroprocesorowej (Microprocessing Technique Company) – which designs and produces electronic systems based on microprocessors (both separate devices and those used with PC computers). The competition winners chosen by the jury will also take part in the Poland-Israel Business Forum in Tel Aviv (Israel), along with Marek Woźniak, Marshal of the Wielkopolska Region itself. Throughout the realisation of the longlasting projects the Wielkopolska's Local Government is also building a regional innovation system, where promotion of innovative culture, creativity and entrepreneurship among interested businesses is an important element creating conditions for economic development of the region.

Marshal’s Office of the Wielkopolska Region
18 Niepodległości Ave., 61-713 Poznań
Tel. (+48 61) 854 17 99, fax (+48 61) 852 60 07
e-mail: info@umww.pl
www.umww.pl
www.i-wielkopolska.pl