Business in Germany

The economic and research region of Stuttgart – innovative, dynamic and strong

The region of Stuttgart is one of the most innovative urban regions of Europe. Around 2.7 million people live here, 1.4 million work here, 24% of jobs are in the high-tech sector. Approximately 160,000 companies generate a gross domestic product of 90 billion Euro. It has repeatedly received the “Award of Excellence for Innovative Regions“ from the European Commission.

The great international importance is due above all to the unique mixture of world-renowned corporations and innovative medium-sized companies, the “hidden champions”, primarily in the sectors of automotive engineering, electronics, electrical engineering and machinery. Their successful cooperation is a guarantee for the strength in exports and innovation for the entire region, and the names of HP/Compaq Deutschland, Alcatel-Lucent, IBM Deutschland, Agilent Technologies, Trumpf, Stihl, Dürr, Kärcher, Lapp, Festo, WMF, Märklin, Leitz, Ritter Sport and many more are known around the world.

The region of Stuttgart is considered the leading automobile location par excellence. Names such as Daimler, Porsche, Neoplan, Bosch, Mahle, Mann + Hummel, Behr, Beru, Eberspächer, Bertrandt and many more stand for a long tradition. Large companies, system and component suppliers, supported by service providers in the research and development institutes, form a unique cluster. Furthermore, the convergence of automobile technologies and information technologies creates new products and thus new markets. The region’s companies are particularly strong with regard to research and development. More than 13 million Euro are invested here daily – this is a ten per cent share of Germany’s total.

A further focus is provided by environmental technologies. Environmental products, procedures and services are successfully marketed internationally. More than 500 companies and 100 scientific facilities contribute to this sector with their developments, products, procedures and services. The fuel cell is at the same time the result of automobile construction and environmental technology.

As a leading media region, Stuttgart has an excellent international reputation. Over 400 publishing houses, including the world’s largest publisher of travel books, Mairs Geographics with Baedeker, and the largest German school textbook publisher, Ernst Klett AG, which operates world-wide, are based here, and only Silicon Valley sells more company software world-wide. The Südwestrundfunk (SWR – South-West Radio) is the second largest broadcaster in the ARD. The Hochschule der Medien (Media College) and the Ludwigsburg Film Academy set new trends. In 220 courses of study, they produce creative heads for the media, IT and communications sector.

Stuttgart as a financial and stock exchange centre is also dynamic, documenting its national and international significance with the Landesbank Baden- Württemberg (LBBW). Stuttgart is the third largest bank location in Germany, the Stuttgart Stock Exchange is Germany’s second largest trading centre with a current market share of 34% on the German stock trading market.

With large projects such as “Stuttgart 21“ – the new design of the Central Train Station and development of the resulting 100 hectare area becoming available directly adjacent to the city centre – or in October 2007 with the opening of the New Stuttgart Trade Fair and the ICS International Congresscenter Stuttgart (a member of SevenCenters of Germany) in the immediate vicinity of the airport, Stuttgart and its region are setting the course for a continued promising future. 

The special feature of the attractive location for education of the Stuttgart region is the close combination of high-tech, practice-oriented study and the partnership with the industries.
The research infrastructure in and around Stuttgart has a leading position in Germany for fundamental scientific research and application-oriented research. Innovation capacities of companies are complemented by a close network of universities, colleges and public research facilities.
The over 500-year-old traditional University of Tübingen is a classical university. It enjoys an international reputation in the modern biological and natural sciences, and maintains a world-wide network of cooperation and partnerships. The strategic research structure of the University of Hohenheim is characterised by the fields of biological science, agriculture and nutritional science, international economic research, tropical research, environmental research and eastern European research. The University of Stuttgart concentrates on technical and scientific disciplines. It leads in Germany with regard to acquisition of third-party funds, thus underlining its excellent scientific quality. The research rankings of the Germany research community and the Humboldt Foundation list the University of Stuttgart among the top places. The Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology (SIMT), 16 academies and technical colleges, eight Fraunhofer or Max Planck Institutes, the German Research Institute for Air and Space Travel, the College of Music and Visual Arts, the Ludwigsburg Film Academy and many more altogether offer a wide range of courses and areas of research in the region.

The transfer of scientific research results to innovative and marketable products is supported by numerous institutions such as the Steinbeis Transfer Centres. The innovative top position of the region is attested by the number of patents: nowhere in Europe are more patents applied for than in the region of Stuttgart. And nowhere in Germany are more high-tech companies created. Enterprises

The Stuttgart region – with its unique concentration of know-how, top-level research and successful companies in industry, trade and service – offers ideal conditions for successful conferences. A visit to one of the numerous trade fairs or industrial museums rounds off an introductory view of the economic region of Stuttgart.

As a leading media region, Stuttgart has an excellent international reputation. Over 400 publishing houses, including the world’s largest publisher of travel books, Mairs Geographics with Baedeker, and the largest German school textbook publisher, Ernst Klett AG, which operates world-wide, are based here, and only Silicon Valley sells more company software world-wide. The Südwestrundfunk (SWR – South-West Radio) is the second largest broadcaster in the ARD. The Hochschule der Medien (Media College) and the Ludwigsburg Film Academy set new trends. In 220 courses of study, they produce creative heads for the media, IT and communications sector.

Stuttgart as a financial and stock exchange centre is also dynamic, documenting its national and international significance with the Landesbank Baden- Württemberg (LBBW). Stuttgart is the third largest bank location in Germany, the Stuttgart Stock Exchange is Germany’s second largest trading centre with a current market share of 34% on the German stock trading market.

With large projects such as “Stuttgart 21“ – the new design of the Central Train Station and development of the resulting 100 hectare area becoming available directly adjacent to the city centre – or in October 2007 with the opening of the New Stuttgart Trade Fair and the ICS International Congresscenter Stuttgart (a member of SevenCenters of Germany) in the immediate vicinity of the airport, Stuttgart and its region are setting the course for a continued promising future. 

 

The special feature of the attractive location for education of the Stuttgart region is the close combination of high-tech, practice-oriented study and the partnership with the industries.

The research infrastructure in and around Stuttgart has a leading position in Germany for fundamental scientific research and application-oriented research. Innovation capacities of companies are complemented by a close network of universities, colleges and public research facilities.

The over 500-year-old traditional University of Tübingen is a classical university. It enjoys an international reputation in the modern biological and natural sciences, and maintains a world-wide network of cooperation and partnerships. The strategic research structure of the University of Hohenheim is characterised by the fields of biological science, agriculture and nutritional science, international economic research, tropical research, environmental research and eastern European research. The University of Stuttgart concentrates on technical and scientific disciplines. It leads in Germany with regard to acquisition of third-party funds, thus underlining its excellent scientific quality. The research rankings of the Germany research community and the Humboldt Foundation list the University of Stuttgart among the top places.

The Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology (SIMT), 16 academies and technical colleges, eight Fraunhofer or Max Planck Institutes, the German Research Institute for Air and Space Travel, the College of Music and Visual Arts, the Ludwigsburg Film Academy and many more altogether offer a wide range of courses and areas of research in the region.

The transfer of scientific research results to innovative and marketable products is supported by numerous institutions such as the Steinbeis Transfer Centres. The innovative top position of the region is attested by the number of patents: nowhere in Europe are more patents applied for than in the region of Stuttgart. And nowhere in Germany are more high-tech companies created.

The Stuttgart region – with its unique concentration of know-how, top-level research and successful companies in industry, trade and service – offers ideal conditions for successful conferences. A visit to one of the numerous trade fairs or industrial museums rounds off an introductory view of the economic region of Stuttgart.