Pandemic, digitalization, energy crisis – The middle class of Saxony is currently fighting on many fronts. In Upper Lusatia there are also problems caused by the aging of the population and the gradual abandonment of coal. The new agreements to strengthen the facility have put companies under great pressure, said Steffen Söll, managing director of implant manufacturer SKM GmbH in Boxberg, at the Lausitzforum in Schwarzheide.
In structural reinforcement it was not considered that in Lusatia, with its aging population, people would have to move there. Local employees have now migrated to the new companies. This domino effect must be prevented, asked the entrepreneur of a company of 30 people and urged: “Please think of the Lausitzer Mittelstand!”
Please think of the Lusatian middle class!
International meeting in Schwarzheide
On Wednesday, business associations from Saxony and Brandenburg invited business organizations and companies to the first “Lausitzforum 2038” at the BASF cultural center in Schwarzheide. The aim of the event was to improve the visibility of small and medium-sized enterprises in the process of structural change, explained the president of the Association of entrepreneurs of Brandenburg and Berlin, Burkhardt Greiff.
“Our member companies are extremely concerned because up to now they have found the promised participation of small and medium-sized enterprises to be absolutely inadequate,” says Greiff.
Lausitzforum as a think tank for medium-sized companies
The focus of the Lausitzforum organizers is on companies with 10-50 employees in the sectors of industry, commerce, trade, services and gastronomy. Dietrich Enk, president of the Saxon Entrepreneurs’ Association, warned that jig settlements are like a sponge that could collapse this substructure.
From the point of view of medium-sized enterprises, many of the structural change measures and projects launched so far have ignored the interests and enormous potential of the small regional economy. According to Enk, the Lausitzforum should be used as a platform and “think tank” for medium-sized companies so that the train for structural change does not overtake them.
Attract workers internationally
At the meeting of entrepreneurs on Wednesday, in fact, the representatives of the associations predominated. “I think most midsize companies are currently facing so many problems that they don’t have time to look forward,” Söll said. The entrepreneur supported the establishment of large institutes. But workers should be hired nationally and internationally to prevent “cannibalization in the region”. In addition to large investments, the entrepreneur also wanted small, medium-sized lighthouses in the area, which would be financed with structural change funds.
