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That's IT
Information and telecommunications technology in Bavaria. Bavaria spells information and telecommunications technology with capital letters.
Throughout Europe, indeed around the globe, the state’s IT industry sets the pace. Numerous world famous enterprises like Siemens, Microsoft, Lucent Technologies, Cisco Systems and Oracle have established themselves in Bavaria for this reason.
IT investments thrive in Bavaria. With a workforce of 350,000, the state’s information and telecommunications technology industry ranks among the most important IT centers in the world (Source: 1997 McKinsey study). Bavaria is ahead of all German regions in IT (Source: German Chamber of Commerce and Industry study in 2000). The state’s more than 20,000 information and telecommunications enterprises with a total of 350,000 employees represent
- 29% of the manpower in German computer manufacturing
- 36% of the workforce in German electronic components production
- 31% of the employment in German TV and communications engineering
Bavaria accounts for 40% of the Federal Republic’s software companies, and 20% of its Internet service providers. The environment for growth fostered by the state prompted global industry leaders to locate their European headquarters and branch offices in Bavaria. The state’s star-studded IT heavens include the likes of Adobe, Apple, BT, Cisco Systems, General Electric, HP/Compaq, IBM, Infineon, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Oracle, SAP, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments.
A resolute IT strategy forged the foundations for the state’s superiority in IT. Bavaria gave IT a head start by launching and expanding IT-oriented schooling, sponsoring training in IT jobs, nurturing IT start-ups and attracting IT firms and supporting IT research. It networked the interests of business, science, government policies and the public to spur the industry’s growth.
Bavarian networks
Four digital GSM mobile phone networks (D1, D2, E-Plus and O2) put Bavaria in the forefront of personal communications long ago. Work presently focuses on the development from GPRS and WAP to UMTS. Three of Germany’s four largest suppliers of cellular telephone services operate development centers in Bavaria. Also international market leaders play an important role in Bavaria such as the Japanese NTT DoCoMo Group. Working hand-in-hand with local science and government resources, the industry is now developing advances in broadband, multimedia cell phone use.
Choose Bavaria and you opt for an environment of open minds backed by outstanding technical resources. IT companies and services gain an edge from low-cost satellite communications access and digital DAB and DVB-T transmission systems.
Market potential
Bavaria offers an interesting market for successful products. The consumer potential in the information and communication high-technology is enormous. Because the state is a leader in
- air and space technology as well as in satellite navigation
- micro-electronics
- automotive production
- mechanical engineering (CAD systems)
- mechatronics, telematics and tele-medical applications
Munich, the state’s capital, ranked No. 1 in insurance, No. 2 in banking, No. 3 in stock market and ranked the world’s No. 2 publishing center – has very important IT clients. Additional market potential is provided by the multitude of mid-sized enterprises and the approximately 4.8 million residential Internet users in Bavaria (source: infratest Burke, 2000). An investment in Bavarian IT pays itself off twice.
Plug into opportunities
What makes Bavaria attractive?
Nurturing IT from the very start Imbedded amidst scads of IT users and a promising regional market, startups thrive in Bavaria. Thirty state-sponsored incubators abetted by selective government funding sustain new Bavarian ventures in realizing their aspirations. In just five years Bavarian government loans, granted within an aid program for qualifying mid-sized companies, supported more than 11,000 startups. “Bayern Kapital” also specializes in venture capital for young entrepreneurs.
The Bavarian state government has been supporting utilization, research and development in the IT-industry since the eighties by offering incentives for innovativeness and since 1994 with additional large-scale High-Tech Initiatives.
“Bayern online”
www.bayernonline.de
The BavariaOnline program was created to motivate the state’s populace and small and medium size companies to use High-Technology. Bavaria spent 77 million euros to build a statewide high-speed, high-performance network and provided seed money to more than 50 future-oriented, application-oriented pilot projects.
Bavaria’s software initiative
www.software-offensive-bayern.de
Bavaria’s Software Initiative develops and enhances Bavaria’s IT potential. For instance, the GATE incubator in Garching hosts not only young, innovative entrepreneurs entitled to state-aid for making their ideas work, but the facility also attracts projects incubated at nearby Technical University of Munich. To staff such operations Bavaria continues to make more opportunities for studies in computer science and advanced professional IT courses readily accessible.
Bavaria
Hub of high-tech network
IT clusters
Over the years major IT clusters mushroomed in Bavaria. These citadels of know-how draw on Bavaria’s well-trained personnel resources and its promotion of innovative start-ups. When Tata Consultancy Services, Patni Consultancy Services from India, General Electric from the United States, NTT DoCoMo from Japan became cluster constituents their presence added new perspectives to the interests shared in these communities and pointed the state’s bandwagon of internationally-oriented companies toward ever greater successes.
Munich
With 155,000 employees Munich’s 8,600 IT enterprises make Bavaria’s capital city the No. 1 IT site in Europe and fifth in the world (Source: Boston Consulting Group). Many international companies - Apple, BT, Microsoft, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Oracle, Siemens and Sun Microsystems - are among the pillars of the city’s IT community. To stay ahead Munich joined in the founding of the “Innovation Champions League,” an association of the world’s leading IT sites.
Munich accounts for every tenth job in German EDP and electrical industries. 24,000 software specialists, 1,600 dealers and 500 systems houses make the metropolis a unique resource for expertise.
Firms based in Bavaria’s capital city have a dense network of telecommunications operators and suppliers in their midst and is a hub for Central and Eastern European telecommunications and a major R&D base for telecommunications suppliers.
To maintain the industry’s momentum, Bavarian schools maintain the highest standards in training future IT and telecommunications experts. At the university level such resources in Munich include
- Technical University (computer science, electrical engineering and information technology)
- Ludwig-Maximilian University (computer science)
- Munich Polytechnic Institute (electrical engineering, information technology, computer science)
- German Army University
Promising graduates continue to be supported, for instance, when opting to pursue their specialties at the GATE incubator and technology center in Garching (www.gategarching.de).
Munich also leads the way in networking: The Munich Network for IT & Media (Förderkreis IT-und Medien-Wirtschaft München e.V. - FIWM) is the regional platform for networking and information exchange in the Communication and Media Industry in the Greater Munich Area (www.fiwm.de). High-tech companies can also make valuable business connections through the Munich Network (www.munichnetwork.com).
Augsburg/Swabia
IT accounts for 34,000 jobs in Augsburg/Swabia and some 15% of all the newly-founded companies in the region. The data reflects the quality of the local workforce and excellence of Swabian higher education, as exemplified by
- University of Augsburg (computer science, interdisciplinary computer science)
- Augsburg Polytechnic Institute (electric engineering, computer science)
- Kempten Polytechnic Institute (electrical engineering, information technology, computer science)
- Neu-Ulm Polytechnic Institute (business computer science, information management)
- Summer Academy (www.it-sommerakademie.de) and, above all,
- IT Academy (www.it-akademie-bayern.de) which, together will well-known companies as partners, provides a combination of academic and hands-on training for IT jobs.
The work of KIT, the Swabian communications and information technology initiative (www.kitschwaben.de), has been instrumental in IT’s success in the region. KIT promotes new ventures, cooperation, networking and the development of sites.
Recognizing Augsburg’s supportive business climate, excellent training resources and outstanding business facilities, leading companies like Deutsche Telekom, Fujitsu Siemens, NCR and Siemens chose to locate in Augsburg.
Rosenheim
Organized by more than 70 local business, science, research and government leaders, Rosenheim’s initiative for developing information and communications technology (www.rosik.com) turned the city into a center for high-tech by emphasizing the combination of international synergies and local skills. In this striving the initiative is supported by the Rosenheim Polytechnic Institute (computer science, plastics engineering, production technology, electrical and information technology) as well as the city’s information and telecommunications academy.
Rosenheim has established itself as the location for creatives in the IT Industry. The technical university as well as the Information and Communication Academy are the focal points of the IT Center. Along with the world-leading Kathrein Gruppe numerous small and medium size technology companies have located to the region. ROSIK is an active industry platform (www.rosik.com) for Information and Communication companies comprised of eighty members.
Lower Bavaria
Graduates of the Landshut and Deggendorf polytechnic institutes as well as Passau University are uniquely positioned for IT careers thanks to study programs geared to an industrial environment that includes BMW’s largest production plant in Dingolfing.
In the IT industry Lower Bavaria offers an outstanding application environment, among others in the Automotive Industry (BMW-Werk in Dingolfing) and Logistics Industry. Renowned technical universities (University of Passau, Technical Universities in Landshut and Deggendorf) and research facilities give companies the opportunity to use a wide knowledge base to their highest potential through the combination of research, theoretical and practical training.
Nuremberg, Fuerth, Erlangen
In Europe’s IT spectrum, Nuremberg figures prominently with its 52,000 employees in information technology and telecommunications. Major IT performers – Lucent Technologies, SuSE/Novell, Semikron and Siemens as well as other specialty companies – provide added IT dazzle to the region. With such other luminaries as Cortal Consors, DATEV, KarstadtQuelle and GfK, the region harbors a large diversity of end users for IT products and services.
Among metropolitan Nuremberg’s institutions of higher learning to train future IT practitioners are:
- Friedrich-Alexander University (computer science, electrical engineering, electronics, information technology, information systems)
- Nuremberg Polytechnic Institute (electronic engineering, precision mechanics, information technology, computer science)
- Ansbach Polytechnic Institute (information, multimedia and commercial communications, multimedia and communications)
The IGZ innovation center and incubator in Erlangen (www.igz.de) affords budding entrepreneurs a fertile environment for harvesting the fruits of their ambitions. They are mentored by an active network for innovative companies such as the „Northern Bavaria Network“ (www.netzwerk-nordbayern.de).
Nuremberg’s NIK initiative (www.nik-nbg.de) is the platform for the regional IT industry. Sponsored by 80 members, including companies and research institutes, the state of Bavaria, the cities of Nuremberg, Fuerth and Erlangen, chambers of industry and commerce as well as labor unions, NIK launches and supports innovative projects and cooperative ventures.
Upper Franconia
The region with the third highest concentration of industry offers an attractive well-balanced application environment and is, therefore, an interesting market for IT service companies.
The technical universities in Bamberg, Bayreuth, Coburg and Hof produce highly qualified graduates. Cutting-edge e-learning facilities such as the Virtual Campus or Bavaria’s Virtual Technical University offer the region an important expertise. The Initiative is a qualified platform for IT in Upper Franconia that compliments each other with a state-of-the-art incubator center for the region (www.itato.de).
Lower Franconia: Greater Rhine-Main-Area
Innovative IT companies with applications, among others, in the industries of Health/Medicine, New Materials, Automotive and Logistics as well as the University in Würzburg and the Technical Universities in Würzburg-Schweinfurt and Aschaffenburg offer the best expertise and potential in Information and Communication Technology.
The project “IT Cluster Unterfranken“ with the incubator and innovation centers, TGZ Würzburg und ZENTEC Großwallstadt, as project-leaders combines the on-site expertise in the area of Information and Communication Technology (www.it-unterfranken.de)
Regensburg/Upper Palatinate
The Greater Regensburg Area has 20,000 people employed in the IT Industry. Siemens, Siemens VDO, Infineon, Osram Opto Semiconductors, Toshiba und BMW all have a presence in this area. The region produces highly-qualified employees: annually more the 1,200 students graduate in IT from the University of Regensburg, the Technical University in Regensburg and Amberg-Weiden or finish a practical education from the Information Communication Technology Academy and the EDV School in Wiesau.
The Regensburg IT-Data Storage Incubator Center currently houses forty companies (www.it-speicher.de) and operates on highest standards for incentives to next generation software and entrepreneurial growth. The Regensburger Technology and Incubator Center has developed into a meeting place for the region’s IT industry and is best represented by the IT platform www.regensburg.it.
At a glance - other initiatives and information sources
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