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NRW.INVEST is the economic development agency of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). It deals with the acquisition of and support for foreign investors and the international marketing for NRW as a business location. As One-Stop-Agency for foreign investors, NRW.INVEST supports mainly international companies with their investment projects and settlements in NRW throughout the entire settlement process. NRW.INVEST maintains two subsidiaries in Japan and the United States as well as six representative offices in China, India, Korea, Poland, Russia and Turkey. The sole shareholder of NRW.INVEST is the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
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In 2010 the state economic development agency NRW.INVEST celebrated its 50th anniversary. When it was founded in 1960, the former “Rheinisch-Westfälische Industrieförderungsgesellschaft” was commissioned by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to recruit new industries to succeed the crisis-stricken mining industry.
The Mission
As business location North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is in direct competition with the major European metropolitan regions Greater London, Île-de-France, and West-Nederland as well as other strong business locations worldwide. Acknowledging the importance of foreign investments in times of globalization, NRW.INVEST aims to boost the location of foreign companies in NRW.
Activities / Service
To promote NRW internationally as the business location in Europe, NRW.INVEST offers foreign investors an extensive service through all stages of the investment. In these concerns NRW.INVEST cooperates closely with the Federal State government and the regional institutions for economic development in NRW.
NRW.INVEST is set up in specialized country and industry teams that are experienced in all aspects of the location business.
The teams located at NRW.INVEST’s headquarters in Düsseldorf, the capital of NRW, and the teams on site at the representative offices and subsidiaries provide comprehensive information about NRW as an investment location, describe important aspects of the state's economic structure and industry clusters, and give answers to tax-related and legal questions. Besides general information, NRW.INVEST provides potential investors with tailor-made information depending on their specific needs. On request, in-house experts analyze investors’ investment plans and find the right location for company settlements in NRW.
The database Germansite is an additional service for investors searching for a business location in NRW. Detailed geo-information of over 1,000 vacant commercial sites in NRW is available to the user, including the contact data of the respective contact person.
NRW.INVEST supports investors in practical issues such as visa applications as well as the entire licensing procedure that comes with a business set-up in NRW. The agency acts as a guide to the appropriate authorities and a mediator between the investor and the responsible institutions.
Investing in a new location does not stop after the initial set-up of the business. Further administrative processes are ongoing; a good share of the foreign companies in NRW start expanding and growing. Therefore, NRW.INVEST also offers aftercare services. With various series of events and a broad range of support and consulting services NRW.INVEST maintains continuous contact with investors in the State to ensure that they feel at home in North Rhine-Westphalia and can grow successfully here. In specific cases the team in Düsseldorf offers solution-oriented services by attending to investors’ questions and concerns regarding expansion investments, growth finance or administrative procedures.
Being a global organization NRW.INVEST cooperates with many international institutions. The agency is a member of organizations like the German-French Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany, ChemCologne, Chemsite, British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, the German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and the Turkish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Activities Abroad
Maintaining its head office in Düsseldorf, two subsidiaries, and eleven representative offices, NRW.INVEST is an international organization. The local staff at the subsidiaries and representative offices actively approach foreign companies in those areas where NRW is highly successful and attractive for foreign investments. They provide investors with first-hand information, practical advice for establishing business in NRW, and the necessary contacts. The offices abroad therefore often serve as the first link in the service chain of NRW.INVEST.
For the past two years NRW.INVEST has increased its activities abroad, particularly in the growth markets India and Turkey. The increasing inclusion of these nations in the world's economy is expected to bring about a significant rise in foreign investment. For this reason, the agency opened a branch office in the Indian city of Pune in the middle of 2007 and set up a representation in Istanbul in January 2008. The importance of the NRW.INVEST foreign offices is demonstrated by the example of Japan. Thanks to the representation in Tokyo and the intensive acquisition measures conducted there, NRW has developed into an important location for Japanese companies. More than 600 Japanese firms are now located in the state, earning Düsseldorf the nickname “Little Tokyo”. NRW.INVEST maintains further representative offices in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Sichuan, Seoul, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw. Another subsidiary is based in Chicago.
Foreign Direct Investments in NRW
North Rhine-Westphalia attracts companies from both Germany and abroad, 14 of the 50 German companies with the highest sales are based in NRW, including Bayer, Bertelsmann, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, E.ON, Metro, Rewe, RWE and ThyssenKrupp. The state can rightly claim the most foreign direct investments (FDI) anywhere in Germany.
With 28.5 percent (189.8 billion euros) North Rhine-Westphalia recorded by far the highest direct investment share in Germany of all 16 federal states in 2014. More than 18,000 foreign companies from the most important investment countries control their German or European operations from bases in North Rhine-Westphalia. This means that almost a quarter of the foreign companies in Germany are domiciled in North Rhine-Westphalia. These include many international global players such as BP, 3M, Ericsson, Ford, LG Electronics, QVC, Sany, Toyota, and Vodafone. The companies employ a total of over 750,000 people.