The year of economic success

The passing year was a very good year regarding new investments and business development in the city. It is proven by almost all economic indicators, but also by the opinions of people who finally began to notice that a satisfactory job can be found in Lublin. Unemployment has reached its lowest levels since the economic transition. You could feel in Lublin even more friendly climate for conducting business, which resulted in tightening partnership ties between entrepreneurs and local authorities, but also in the great popularity of the ‘Connect’ Starting Platform and business incubators, which supported the unique development of the startup ecosystem. We have also achieved great success in terms of investment promotion and attracting new investors. Invest-in-Lublin.com, developed over a year ago, has gained popularity equal to the most active players of the Polish market, i.e. Wrocław or Tricity. However, new investments in key sectors of the city’s economy indicate the greatest number of Lublin’s economic successes in the past year.

We started the year 2017 in Lublin with one of the most important Polish modern business services sector events – the BSS Forum, together with Outsourcing Stars Gala, which turned out to be an excellent prediction for the remaining months. Our city was chosen by another six large companies from the BSS industry, including one of the largest F&A service providers – Vistra. We also welcome the dynamic growth of Convergys branch in Lublin, that has been selected by Samsung Electronics Polska for the provision of its pre-sales and after-sales customer service operations for the Polish market. Moreover, new office investments have made the supply of modern A and B-class office space exceed 180,000 sqm, which meant an increase of 20% y/y and reaching the 8th position in the country among the largest office space markets at the expense of Szczecin. However, we are still working hard to make next year even better for the BSS industry in Lublin.

The renaissance of Lublin’s industry after the difficult times of the turn of the 20th and 21st century was mostly possible thanks to the creation of the Special Economic Zone Lublin Subzone, which 10th anniversary we celebrated this year. Expenditures for the completed investments in its area have already exceeded PLN 1.5 billion, and the number of 60 investors has been reached. There were nine new industrial companies in the city, and other six have made significant reinvestments, including Lubella and MW Lublin. In addition, we have taken care of the future development of industry by signing a letter of intent on the creation of the Smart Industry Centre, as well as the establishment of the ‘Lublin Automotive and Machinery Upland’ Foundation, which aims to support the development of the ecosystem of the automotive and engineering industry in a manner analogous to the successful Lublin IT Upland. The supply results of industrial and warehouse halls are impressive – during the year an increase by as much as 44% was recorded, up to 160,000 sqm. The key transport infrastructure for the industry in the city and its vicinity is still being developed, so we expect that in the following years Lublin will be even more often chosen as a location for investments of modern industry representatives.

After such a good year we are not resting on our laurels, but we will try to make 2018 for the Lublin economy even better. We are waiting for the completion of infrastructural investments, new office space and new regulations concerning special economic zones to enter into force. We are ready to provide the highest quality of service to new investors and support entrepreneurs already present in Lublin in the new year. Last but not least, we would like to thank all our partners for their constructive cooperation over the last year.

And at the end of 2017, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and success in the new year 2018.