The Southern Economic Zone is a greenfield industrial area of 710 hectares located in the southern part of Debrecen, directly next to Debrecen International Airport. The zone, which consists of a unified development area, is the site of numerous innovative, high value-added investments that have been or are being implemented, including large foreign companies of national economic importance as well as their suppliers, but also Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises. 

The infrastructural requirements emerging due to the job-creating investments in the area will be met through a phased development: the internal access road network and utility connections to the industrial park are already partially completed. In the coming years, as part of the capacity expansion of the Southern Economic Zone, further infrastructure and utility developments will be implemented that are significant on both a regional and national scale, unparalleled in terms of capacity, investment value and volume. 

Without being exhaustive: the extension of the internal access road network in the industrial park, drinking water trunk mains, communal and technological wastewater primary sewers, industrial water (“grey water”) trunk mains, electricity network developments, communications substructure, groundwater and stormwater drainage system, solar park development; and (realized in the framework of national public investment), developments of the networks of roads/interchanges and railways. 

In 2021, the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) recognized the Southern Economic Zone of Debrecen with the “Industrial Park of the Year” award. 

On 24 June 2021, the General Assembly of the Municipality of Debrecen approved the concept for the implementation of the SME Park, which aims to create a healthy business environment in which the majority of businesses are engaged in industrial manufacturing, with a smaller number SMEs in logistics and related services. 

Thanks to the SME programme, the competitive and innovative conditions that were so far only available to larger companies in the Southern Economic Zone will thus become accessible also for SMEs requiring smaller areas, typically between 0.5 and 2 hectares. The proximity of companies already present and currently being established in the Southern Economic Zone provides an excellent opportunity for SMEs to become actively involved in the supplier networks of large companies and to maintain customer-supplier relations.

Access to the SME Programme is through a two-round public tendering process, in cooperation with EDC Debrecen Urban and Economic Development Centre Nonprofit Ltd. and Debrecen Real Estate Development Ltd.

The concept is being implemented in several phases, with Phase I of the SME Park currently under construction, which includes the development of the entire infrastructure of the area.

A total of 16 companies have settled in the area of Phase I of the SME Park. These companies are investing in the value of nearly HUF 13.2 billion, creating 256 new jobs in the city. Thanks to these developments, the real estate stock of the city of Debrecen will increase by more than 19,500 sq.m.

Location: Debrecen, Southern Economic Zone

Phase I area: 14 hectares

Companies investing in greenfield projects in Phase I: