Business in Germany

= Innovation + Growth

The theme for the German Convention Bureau for 2007 is appropriately called ”Business in Germany =Innovation and Growth.”   Indeed, Germany contributes greatly to the economic wellbeing of the European Union.  After all, 22 percent of the European population lives in Germany and 23 percent of the EU’s gross national product comes from here.  In the world market, Germany is second only to the USA.

Germany today is a leader in the areas such as IT, biotechnology, renewable energy and environmental protection.

While the success of Germany in all of these scientific and economic areas makes it a very attractive destination for meetings and congresses based on like concerns, it is important for MICE planners to have more specific information about developments in these areas. Each city of Germany has distinctive strengths, and planners of conferences and congresses should be able to take advantage of opportunities available to them, not just in the larger well-known cities in Germany, but in smaller cities that are enclaves of activities of interest.

For example, the city of Braunschweig is a center of scientific development, while Bremen is a leader in the air and space industry.  And Frankfurt, of course, is a major center of banking.  Many cities with core competence in a given area also have excellent venues for meetings, for example the Zeiss Planetarium in Jena or the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the Technical University in Dresden, incidentally also leaders in the development of paint pigmentation.

Thus the GCB will make available to planners information they need to identify the cities and regions of Germany where different branches of scientific, commercial and economic development is clustered.