Happy Birthday Invest in Bavaria

It has been 15 years since our "founding father", the Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. Otto Wiesheu, decided together with Bertram Brossardit: Bavaria needs an "invest in" company – an extremely innovative idea at the time. As a result, Invest in Bavaria was one of the first state companies in Germany and the name speaks for itself: "Invest in Bavaria" – you invest in Bavaria, we will support you with your efforts.

The main tasks have remained constant for over 15 years: location marketing for the business location of Bavaria on a global scale, investors' acquisition, with the key focus of our business being placed on customer-focused and service-orientated investor support. Further downstream in the logical chain, we work on portfolio management with our clients, in particular with our foreign investors. The aim is to help them build an even stronger connection with Bavaria and to earn a sound reputation for Bavaria in the respective countries of origin.

There was and still is the underlying political task of creating workplaces in Bavaria. And the outcome is quite impressive: Since 1999, we have successfully supported a total of 1,150 investment projects. As a result, around 36,000 new direct jobs have sprung up across Bavaria according to company data. This is equivalent to around 45 each week. The objective to create new jobs still continues to this day but has to be interpreted differently in times when there is a demand for specialists. This depends on the regional dimension and the added value associated with the investment.

The strategies and specific work characteristics have changed dramatically over the last 15 years because, in this instance, it not only comes down to understanding the signs of the times but also being one step ahead whenever possible. Just to name a few examples: In earlier times, there was a lot of emphasis on acquiring call centres and logistic sites, but today the main focus is on IT, industry 4.0 and medical technology in the larger context of "Digital Bavaria". Over the years, some countries, such as China and Russia, have firmly established themselves as a source of direct investment in Bavaria after coming up against some initial difficulties. Now this involves opening up new hotspots such as Turkey or South Korea. And of course tools and equipment are also moving with the times: A Powerpoint in the national language was considered innovative 10 years ago. New methods such as this very blog are being applied. In addition, Invest in Bavaria's external image has also modernised several times over the past 15 years; the last time being in 2013 when there was a complete internet relaunch and up-to-date logo.

However, Invest in Bavaria is not only a business promotion agency that carries out predefined, political tasks – the organisation is particularly a very special microcosm. Supported by a very diverse range of personalities coming and going who are characterised to a certain extent by Invest in Bavaria and do the same for the organisation on their part: Somewhat like a ministry - yet not entirely. Somewhat like a commercial service provider – and yet something different. The team that now consists of 30 employees is always at the forefront, boasting a wide range of expertise. Not least because of this, for me personally, what was originally planned as two years has now become more than nine years of working for Invest in Bavaria in various roles.

I hope that Invest in Bavaria will maintain its strengths – team spirit, engagement, flexibility – and consistently evolves and develops further. On this note – Happy Birthday Invest in Bavaria!