REGIONAL FOCUS
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Half a century ago, the German state of Bavaria had a primarily agrarian economy and a reputation for being something of a hinterland. Poor in natural resources, the state decided to invest heavily in technology after World War II and offer a variety of financial incentives to industries looking to relocate. The strategy paid off in spades, attracting flocks of firms that were fleeing the newly formed communist state of East Germany. Bavaria managed to maintain the quickest industrial growth in Germany throughout much of the last 50 years, and, in the process, the region has become home to thousands of small and mid-sized technologically oriented companies as well as global players such as BMW and Siemens. More than 12% of the people in the state now work in the high-tech sector, which is a greater percentage per capita than anywhere else in Europe, according to the investment agency Invest in Bavaria (Munich).
After rebranding itself as a high-tech powerhouse and world-renowned research centre, the one-time kingdom flaunts an economy that is among the strongest in Europe. In fact, Bavaria, by itself, beats 21 of the 27 countries belonging to the European Union in terms of gross national product. “Bavaria has long had a reputation as being highly individualistic, conservative politically, and highly rooted in tradition,” says Isabell Thürk, sales manager for packaging producer Huhtamaki Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG (Ronsberg). “Now, it is also known as being wealthy.”
The region’s development doesn’t seem to be slowing down, either. In 2007, the state retained its status as Germany’s quickest growing economy, providing more evidence that the state’s investment in high-tech industry is still paying off. Bavaria’s economic minister, Emila Müller, expects the solid growth to continue throughout 2008.
A Talent for Electronics
Because of its reputation as being wealthy, politically conservative, and fiercely independent—at times exhibiting separatist tendencies—Bavaria has occasionally been compared to the US state of Texas. So it seems fitting that one of the companies that played a role in Bavaria’s transition to a high-tech centre is Dallas–based Texas Instruments (TI). Established in 1961, Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH designed a modern semiconductor manufacturing plant near Munich in the city of Freising that went online in 1969. The facilities were expanded several times as the industry in the region grew in the following decades, helping to support the state’s industrial metamorphosis. Now a major local employer in the area, the Freising facility currently employs approximately 1400 people from more than 40 nationalities. Working closely with local technical universities such as those based in Munich and Landshut, Texas Instruments Deutschland has developed a host of patented technologies.
As TI and similarly oriented firms began to expand in Bavaria, numerous other electronics companies also began to settle there. As a result, the region has acquired the reputation as an emerging European Silicon Valley—leading Microsoft-founder Bill Gates to dub it a “high-tech Mecca.” “Bavaria has a lot to offer companies specializing in electronics,” says Mark Swiecicki, global medical manager of Kontron AG, medical division (Eching). “For instance, companies here have access to a talented workforce and have the advantage of being able to source much of what they need locally.”
Investment in Medical Technology
The state’s talent for producing electronics and electrical equipment has also played a role in supporting the state’s medical device industry. “There has been a lot of cooperation between local medical device firms and electronics firms,” Swiecicki says. In particular, the collaboration has helped make the region a major producer of medical electronics, accounting for 60% of the electrical medical equipment manufactured in Germany.
The larger medical products industry also has emerged as a major driver of the Bavarian economy. The neighbouring state of Baden-Württemberg has the largest number of medical device makers in Germany, but Bavaria has the country’s highest turnover for that sector according to the industry association Spectaris (Berlin). In all, the region’s sales of med-tech products totals €4.84 billion.
Bavaria’s location in central Europe has been of strategic importance for companies directly and indirectly involved in the med-tech industry. “In Bavaria, as well as in Baden-Württemberg, there are a number of research institutes and manufacturers that are committed to serving the medical device industry,” explains Carl F. Baasel, founder of Carl Baasel Lasertechnik GmbH & Co. KG (Starnberg). “This facilitates many business tasks such as finding suitable employees and industrial suppliers.” Andrea Gebhard, marketing communications manager at sensor specialist Sensortechnics GmbH (Puchheim) agrees, noting that her firm works closely with many med-tech firms from Bavaria and nearby Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland.
With medical applications accounting for roughly half of its business, Sensortechnics also has had the good fortune of being headquartered in the greater Munich area, which is home to one of the biggest med-tech clusters in the world. “The Munich area offers a very good infrastructure with a dense network of high-tech firms and the convenience provided by an international airport,” Gebhard notes. Bavaria’s tech-savvy capital has the strongest economy among German cities according to a study from the magazine WirtschaftsWoche.
Boasting the highest concentration of industry within Bavaria, the greater Munich region is home to more than 20,000 high-tech firms. The product spectrum offered by companies based in the area includes laboratory devices; software for medical applications; a variety of specialized products for surgery, ophthalmology, and dentistry; and an array of components for medical devices.
Munich also has the reputation of being one of the top areas in the world for medical research. Industrial clusters in Bavaria, including the one based around Munich, bring together research, industry, and investors. “The clusters work by fuelling product development with the latest research findings,” adds Hauke Dierksheide, a marketing engineer at Sensortechnics.
One of the state’s main focuses when driving economic development has been to promote the formation of new life sciences clusters. In addition to the industrial hub of Munich, Bavaria features several other high-tech clusters, some of which specialize in medical specialties such as biomaterials, implants, and MRI equipment. Clusters particularly active in medical technology include those in Erlangen, Nuremberg, and Würzburg in the region of Franconia in Northern Bavaria.
Getting in Touch
Hopefully the products and services described on the following pages will convince you that Bavaria has more to offer than beer, Weißwurst, and scenic landscapes. To locate other suppliers serving the medical device industry in Bavaria, visit www.bayern-international.de, which provides a list of more than 800 firms active in that area. If you would like to find out more about the state’s med-tech clusters, go to www.medtech-pharma.de. Finally, check out www.invest-in-bavaria.com for general information on the state.
