Debrecen4U May 26, 2025

Phase I of the SME park was handed over

The first phase of the SME park has been completed. It will accommodate 16 local and Debrecen-area businesses. Details of the development were announced at a press conference on May 23, 2025.

Mayor László Papp emphasised at the handover ceremony that the same conditions will be provided for local small and medium-sized businesses as for the city’s large investors. “Today is important not only for us, not only for the city’s representatives, but also for the 16 local and area family businesses who believed in this initiative, believed in the future of Debrecen, and dared to dream big,” ha said, adding, that the handover of the first phase of the SME park is the beginning of a new chapter in the economic life of Debrecen. The mayor stressed that this park is not just an investment but a symbol of the aspiration that every business in our city, whether small or large, will have an equal chance to start on the development path.

“Debrecen’s economy has undergone historic development over the past ten years. In 2014, we set a strategic goal to build a city that is proud of its past and boldly plans for its future. In this spirit, we created our economic development strategy, which has created more than 20,000 jobs across the city,“ László Papp highlighted. He noted that 256 new jobs will be created in the first phase of the SME park.

The mayor added that there is no doubt that the news that has caused national and international resonance in recent years is related to global companies such as BMW, CATL or Eve Power. However, the backbone of the economy in Debrecen is mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, as they are the largest employers in this city.

“That is why it has become a strategic issue for us that while we bring the world’s largest companies to Debrecen, we should not ignore those who have been living, working, and building the economy and this city here for many years, even decades. One of the most important elements of this endeavour was the establishment of the Southern Economic Zone. This is the area that has become one of the most dynamically developing industrial zones in the country. A significant part of Debrecen’s economic performance is already produced here, and I can safely say that what we see around us here on these 700 hectares will be one of the major engines of the country’s economy,” he underlined.

He added that thanks to the completed investments, the road, the utilities, the industrial environment, the services, everything is now in place for Debrecen’s SMEs to operate under the highest conditions. “Our goal is to build a sustainable, high-added-value economy in Debrecen. Another such initiative is the supplier forum, which promotes building relationships between local and settling companies. Our goal is to include as many Debrecen small and medium-sized enterprises as possible in the supply chains of large global companies so that they can also share in industrial growth,” László Papp explained. He added that this is not the end but rather a new beginning. Their vision is for Debrecen to remain a city where local entrepreneurs know that they can count on us and remember what the perseverance and stubbornness of citizens mean.

The Executive Director of the Hungarian Economic Development Agency, Tamás Fehérváry, said that supporting SMEs is a particularly important element for them. “At the Hungarian Economic Development Agency, the systematisation of SMEs, their development, and the transfer of knowledge are at the centre. Every such initiative, which is also implemented here in the industrial park, creates an opportunity for Hungarian enterprises to exchange knowledge and reach an international level, where their competitiveness and export potential can be demonstrated,” he stated.

The Hajdú-Bihar County President of the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers, Károly Balogh, said in his welcoming speech that the greatest opportunity for the SME sector could be to join supply chains, not only to factories operating in Debrecen but also to the headquarters of factories and to foreign parent companies, which could increase not only the export performance of the given company, but also the growth of the Hungarian economy.

“We can proudly say that here in Hajdú-Bihar, especially around Debrecen, there are more and more family companies that have been able to change, while remaining rooted in the local area and becoming open to the world. We consider one of the most important tasks of the coming years to be searching for those local family companies with sufficient potential to produce an exportable product, in cooperation with one of the large international consulting firms, PwC. We want to hold their hands so that we can take them on a paved road, using a model, on a commercially successful path,” he pointed out.

László Papp also said that the planning work for the second phase of the SME park is already underway, and he hopes that the construction of utilities will begin within a few months. “We are on the right track; there will be a continuation. We will implement the second phase, because Debrecen businesses need space and opportunities, and we will create these,” he emphasised.

Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu