ACTION PLAN SAXONY REGIONAL ACTIONS TO INNOVATE 10/25/2018 OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES (RATIO) Based upon analysis and developed out of the project RATIO the following actions are recommended. They are located within the three areas of Digitalization, Innovation and TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER from higher education and Skills shortage in STEM subjects . action plan Saxony action plan Saxony REGIONAL ACTIONS TO INNOVATE OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES ( R A T I O ) Content BACKGROUND – SHORT CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SAXON ECONOMY ...................................... 2 DIGITALIZATION ................................................................................................................................... 4 Situational analysis ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 Recommended Actions ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Action 1: Make FÖMISAX transparent .................................................................................................................. 6 Action 2: Innovation Link Portal .............................................................................................................................. 9 Action 3: E -Commerce micro grant ...................................................................................................................... 12 INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FROM HIGHER EDUCATION ..................................... 14 Analysis and Background ......................................................................................................................................... 14 Recommended Actions .............................................................................................................................................. 20 Further Actions ......................................................................................................................................................... 25 SKILLS SHORTAGE IN STEM SUBJECTS ................................................................................................ 27 Analysis and Background ......................................................................................................................................... 27 Recommended Actions .............................................................................................................................................. 35 Action 4: Training and Development ................................................................................................................... 35 page 1 action plan Saxony BACKGROUND – SHORT CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SAXON ECONOMY Saxony is considered one of the strongest economic states in East Germany. This can be seen in the increase in gross domestic product of 61% in the years 2000 to 2017 (by 28% in the years 2010 to 2017), whereby the gross domestic product is also the highest among the new federal states. 1 Thefollowing section provides a brief overview of the situation in Saxony with regard to various economic indicators and classifies the results into a West and East as well as an all -German context. Furthermore, regional characteristics within Saxony are shown. Saxony's gross value added was 85.5 billion euros in 2010, compared to 109.7 billion euros in 2017 2. Thus, an increase of 28.3% was recorded. The change for East Germany in this period is 24.9%, for West Germany 26.6%. 3 The gross value added per employee was for Saxony in 2010 43.301 euros and 2017 53.409 euros. With 263 euros, Saxony is thus slightly below the average value added per person employed in 2017 in Eastern Germany (53,672 euros per person in employment), and also below those for western Germany (68,676 euros per employed person) and Germany (66,403 euros per employed person) (cf. VGRdL). Looking at the rates of change in gross value added per person in employment for the years 2010 and 2017, Saxony is also below the average here compared to a growth of 6.2% (East Germany: 7.2%, West Germany: 7.4% and Germany 7.3%) (see VGRdL). The unemployment rate in Saxony was 11.8% in 2010 and 6.7% in 2017. 4 In total, 43.2% fewer persons were unemployed in 2017 than in 2010. Saxony, thus, has the strongest decline in the number of unemployed persons in comparison to East Germany ( -36.7%) and West Germany ( -19.7%) as well as the entire Federal Republic ( -26%). The unemployment rate in 2017 is still below the Eastern German value (7.6%), but above the unemployment rate in West Germany (5.3%) and Germany (5.7%). In 2010, 1.98 million people were in employment in Saxony, which increased by 4% to 2.05 million by 2017. Thus, Saxony was again better than the entire East German region (1.7%) but remains under the developments for West Germany (8.7%) and the whole of Germany (8%) (see VGRdL). For Saxony, the balance of trade registration and deregistration in 2010 is 3,539, in 2017 it is -1,750. 5 In 2010 this corresponds to a balance of trade registrations and deregistrations of 1.7 per 1,000 employed persons and in 2017 a balance of trade registrations and deregistrations of -0.8 per 1,000 gainfully employed persons. In Germany the balance is 149,174 in 2010 and 39,462 in 2017. The balance per 1,000 employed persons is twice as high for Germany in 2010 with a value of 3.6 per 1,000 employees as it is for Saxony. In 2017 it is 0.9 per 1,000 employed persons for Germany. Looking at the indicators related to the counties and municipalities of Saxony, it is noticeable that in the district of Central Saxony the total gross value added could be increased by only 1.3% in 2010 and 2014, in the City of Leipzig the change is 27.6%. Also, the gross value added per employee in the industry without construction industry is for the city of Leipzig (85,101 euros per worker), but also for the county of Leipzig (82,653 euros per worker) to highlight, because these are in 2014 almost at (West) German level (West Germany: 86,535, Germany: 83,680). In terms of the chamber districts, it is 1 Vgl. Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnungen der Länder (VGRdL), Statistische Ämter der Länder: https://www.statistik - bw.de/VGRdL/tbls/?lang=de -DE; zuletzt geprüft am 18.09.2018. 2 Vgl. Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen: https://www.statistik.sachsen.de/html/866.htm; zuletzt geprüft am 18.09.2018. 3 Vgl. Statistisches Bundesamt: https://www.destatis.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/Indikatoren/LangeReihen/Arbeitsmarkt/lrarb001.html, zuletzt geprüft am 18.09.2018. 4 Vgl. Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen: https://www.statistik.sachsen.de/html/866.htm; zuletzt geprüft am 18.09.2018. 5 Vgl. Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen: https://www.statistik.sachsen.de/html/715.htm; zuletzt geprüft am 19.09.2018. page 2 action plan Saxony noticeable that the Leipzig chamber district has the strongest rate of change in terms of gross value added in all sectors, including the non -regional industries such as manufacturing (including construction). The highest unemployment rate was recorded in the chamber District Leipzig in 2010 (13.1%), in the chamber district Dresden (10.6%) and Chemnitz (10.3%) it was slightly lower. Although the chamber district Leipzig still has the highest unemployment rate of 8.2% in 2016, the proportion of the district of Dresden (7.6%) is at a similar level, the Chemnitz district (6.4%) remains below it. However, the unemployment rate in the chamber District Leipzig fell the most. The absolute number of unemployed in this period, compared to the other chamber districts, was reduced the most in the district of Chemnitz: In 2014 30.4% fewer people were unemployed than in 2010. With regard to the employment figures for the Chemnitz district, however, there is also a decline trend: Here, too, fewer persons were employed in 2014 than in 2010. This means that although the number of unemployed persons in the Chemnitz district was the strongest, no increase in the number of persons in employment could be achieved at the same time. In the two other chamber districts this trend does not appear. This could mean that unemployment was reduced in the chamber districts of Leipzig and Dresden by the creation of new jobs. In the district of Chemnitz, reasons of a spatial (e.g. withdrawal) or natural population development (e.g. age) may play a role. The industry sector of crafts plays a special role in the regions. Its position in the economy can be classified according to the proportion of companies and employees. For Germany as a whole, some 590,000 of the approx. 3.6 million companies are craft trades in 2014, which corresponds to 16.1% of all companies. In the new federal states, the proportion is significantly higher at 19.3%, in Saxony the proportion is on average even at 22.7%. The counties, in which more than every 4th company constituted a craft business, i.e. accounted for more than 25%, are: Erzgebirgskreis (28.8%), Vogtlandkreis (27.3%), Bautzen (27%), followed by Görlitz and Sächsische Schweiz -Osterzgebirge (26.7% each), Mittelsachsen (25.8%) and Zwickau (25.3%). The share of handcrafts to social security contributions is slightly lower. In Germany, 13.4% of all employees work in a craft business, in Saxony, this is 19.4% of all employees – every fifth employee subject to social insurance in Saxony works in the trades. Looking at the districts, the Erzgebirgskreis (20.1%) is at the top again, followed by Leipzig (18.9%)