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Baden-Württemberg is one of the leading European locations for IT and media: Around 300,000 employees in 31,678 companies generate an annual turnover of €57.3 billion. The IT and media sector represents the most profitable and the most important industry in Germany's Southwest: the sector accounts for close to 10% of the gross value added (compared to 6% for the state's world-famous automotive industry).
Major Player in Software and E-Business/Internet
The outstanding economic impact of information technology in Baden-Württemberg is proven by numerous studies: Baden-Württemberg is a leading region in the fields of corporate software and multimedia, Internet usage among the general population, E-Government (96% of municipalities have their own website) , E-Business application in SMEs (48% have implemented real E-Business solutions), and the positive attitude of the general population towards technology. It is also a growth driver for employment: 55,000 new jobs were created over the past ten years in the field of IT services alone. The region is also leading in the application of Open Source Software: more than 2,000 IT service providers have already switched to the freely available Linux operating system and related software applications.
More than 7,000 software and IT companies focus on developing innovative products and services in Baden-Württemberg. Numerous companies with a worldwide reputation as technology leaders in the ICT sector have located their headquarters and development units here. With global players such as IBM, SAP, Hewlett Packard, Alcatel SEL, Burda Media, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, as well as successful young companies such as GFT Technologies, CAS, Bechtle and Web.de, Baden-Württemberg boasts a strong information, communication and software industry.
Creativity meets Technology
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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Baden-Württemberg play a fundamental role as innovation enabler, via strong connections with other technology areas and especially the creative industries. The region is a hotbed of creative hearts and minds across all sectors. Be it music, film, art, design, architecture or publishing, it is all there. This creativity blends with the region's excellence in ICT. A major event that stands for this unique mix is the "fmx" annual international conference which takes place in Stuttgart. Being one of Europe's leading events for digital creation in animation, effects, games and postproduction, the conference attracts visitors and speakers from all over the world. In 2005, 3,500 visitors and 250 speakers attended the event.
Excellent Universities
With more than 220 different courses at universities and colleges, Baden-Württemberg is the leading location in Europe for education in the fields of information and communication. According to annual surveys, the top-ranked German IT departments are those of the universities of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. A strong network of universities of applied sciences focus on innovative technologies and applications. Among them are the HdM Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart, well-known as the largest media university in Europe, and universities specialised in software engineering (Heilbronn), visual design (Schwäbisch Gmuend, Pforzheim) and computer science (Karlsruhe).
Baden-Wuerttemberg: Connected
The ICT cluster in Baden-Württemberg is linked by MFG Baden-Württemberg as the main innovation player in the field and a wide range of sector initiatives, e.g. Baden-Württemberg: Connected (bwcon), one of the most successful business networks for innovation and technology in Europe. More than 400 technology and software enterprises, content suppliers and users, who are highly active in this sector, have joined in bwcon and use it as a platform for networking, exchanging information and cooperating. bwcon promotes innovation and sustainable growth in the areas of ICT, life sciences/health and the creative industries and especially in the convergence of these fields.
A variety of further innovation networks are active in the ICT sector in Baden-Württemberg, e.g. in the fields E-Procurement, Linux-based solutions for the public and private sector, rural IT development or software supply chain management.
