The Opole Land stands out nationally due its large economic and investment potential and quick rate of ownership transformations. Industry is characterised by a uniform distribution across the Voivodeship and by a diversified structure. At the end of 2004, there were more than ninety thousand businesses operating here, among them some eighty thousand private ones. Building and construction industry, electric machine and metal industry, chemical industry, fuel and energy industry, fertilizer industry, furniture industry, light and food industry are predominant industries. Coke, cement, lime, nitrogen fertilizers, alimentary fats and oils, trucks, tractors and machine tools for metal plastic working account for a dominant share of the country’s production and employment.
Companies with foreign capital account for 26 percent. Almost 70 percent of the Opole enterprises belong to the SME sector.
To maximise benefits from foreign investments and trade, self-governments of the gminas of the Opole Region allocate new sites for business and industrial development, modernize technical infrastructure, promote local business, create investment friendly climate for business. In order to provide information, legal and business assistance to potential investors, an Investor Help Desk has been recently established under the guidance of the Agency for Development of the Opole.
The Voivodeship has given priority to some areas of potential future investment projects, namely to the development of the areas of the European Transportation Corridor (within and around the A4 motorway, the former airport in Skarbimierz), those of the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone “Invest Park” in Nysa, the Strzelce Opolskie Economic Area, the high – tech area that is comparable to Silicon Valley, called “Jackowa Dolina” in Kędzierzyn-Koźle or the Kluczbork Economic Zone to mention those most outstanding.
