Baranya County Industrial Development Programme

Baranya County – in the southern part of Hungary, with border with Croatia – is one of the less industrialised Hungarian counties, including also Pécs, the central town of Baranya and the whole of the Southern Transdanubian region. As the performance of industry plays a decisive role in the development of the Hungarian regions, the low share of the industry also brings about a low level of economic activity, in general, and low productivity of local companies. The area is not favored by FDI, either, mostly due to the area’s poor connectivity and the lack of appropriate skills of the local workforce. Results then include brain drain, aging population and even less attractive economic environment for investors. Despite the clearly worsening relative position of Baranya among Hungarian counties, negative trends have not tackled by appropriate government measures. The practice is a regional bottom-up initiative, led and mostly implemented by the Pécs-Baranya Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Its overall purpose is to help dynamize the economy of Pécs and County Baranya by providing a coordinative framework for local economic actors and an integrated development program that involves decision-makers outside the region, including government and potential investors. The main local stakeholders besides the Chamber are the local authorities and the University of Pécs.