Focus industries



Major corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups interact with each other and together with research and science, they create synergies and networking effects across sectors. Your company benefits from this, however big it is and whichever sector you’re working in.

Automotive Industry


Bavarian innovations made their mark in the automotive sector as early as 1893, when Rudolph Diesel invented his diesel engine in Augsburg. Today, alongside the further development of the classic combustion engine at the highest technical level, it is topics such as electromobility and lightweight design where Bavaria shows its greatest innovative power. Active members of Bavaria's automotive sector include world-renowned premium manufacturers such as BMW, Audi, and MAN (commercial vehicles), as well as over 1,100 companies including well-known suppliers such as Bosch Rexroth AG, Brose, Continental, Dräxlmaier Group, Schaeffler, Webasto and ZF Sachs. All significant international automotive suppliers have branches in Bavaria, providing the ideal conditions for automotive production here.

 

In Bavaria, networks such as BAIKA for international automotive suppliers and the Automotive cluster organize the hugely important networking of various actors who will help to shape the sector's future. Here in Bavaria, excellent materials research meets innovative design and the production of high-performance onboard electronics: all the components for modern automotive production. Efficient driving dynamics, vehicle safety and comfort, and efficiency and flexibility in production are some of the topics dealt with by the Automotive cluster. The expertise generated here benefits the companies in the sector both in Bavaria and worldwide.

Aerospace and Satellite Navigation



The structural characteristics of the Bavarian aerospace sector offer an excellent foundation for branch stakeholders. Bavaria is home to world-leading OEMs as well as to a large number of suppliers and engineering services. Manufacturers of special equipment just like world-class research facilities and educational institutions are located in the Free State. The Bavarian state government offers a wide variety of support measures and creates a unique framework for the aerospace sector. Recently, for instance, the Bavarian Strategy on Aeronautics 2030 was developed in order to assert and strengthen Bavaria`s top position as one of the leading aerospace locations worldwide.


Focuses include the construction of airplanes, aircraft engines, helicopters, and spaceships. Satellite navigation is another core field. Bavaria's around 550 aerospace companies employ around 36,000 engineers, technicians, and industrial specialists – around one-third of those working in this sector in Germany. They generate annual sales of around EUR 7 billion. When those employed in the air transport sector are included, the industry counts well over 60,000 staff.

Information Technology


There are hardly any sectors left today in which information and communications technology does not play a significant role. Customers of the ICT sector come from the automotive industry, medical technology, financial services and many other sectors. Large numbers of companies in all these economic fields are based in Bavaria. This is one of the reasons why ICT companies also like to choose Bavaria as their location. In a study, the European Commission named Munich the top center for the ICT segment in Europe. To make sure it stays that way, the Bavarian state government will invest hundreds of millions of euros in digitalization over the next few years. There are many reasons why Bavaria is one of the world's key ICT locations today.


Around 380,000 people work in 20,000 companies in the sector in Bavaria today. The spectrum of ICT companies in Bavaria is large. International corporations are just as much at home here as small and medium-sized companies and exciting start-ups in the sector, which includes service, development, and distribution in the software and hardware fields, microelectronics and telecommunications, embedded software and software-based processes. As well as a broad base of potential customers, Bavaria also offers a large pool of IT specialists, dedicated networks and key trade shows for the sector. Lots of good reasons to choose ICT location Bavaria.


Biotechnology



Bavaria is home to multiple biotech regions, in which companies in the sector are concentrated. These include the biotech region Munich/Martinsried with its Martinsried-Großhadern campus, as well as the bio-regions of Regensburg, Franconia and Straubing. So far, Bavaria is home to over 350 companies in the life sciences sector, and the infrastructure means that there is space for plenty more. This is thanks in no small part to the many nationally and internationally renowned research institutions based here in Bavaria.

 

One of the focuses of the biotechnology scene in Bavaria is on developing new therapeutics and diagnostics. In order to make it as easy as possible for new biotech companies in Bavaria to enter the market, networks such as BioMed Würzburg, BioPark Regensburg GmbH and BioM in Munich provide individual support, effective transfer of knowledge and technology, advice on financing issues and integration into the well-established network structures from the very beginning. In addition, the Biotechnology cluster makes successful efforts to present Bavaria as a biotechnology location in a uniform way to the outside world, for example at large specialist trade shows such as BIO-USA and Biotechnica.

Electronics and Electrical Engineering



The electrical industry is one of the largest industrial sectors in Germany and has a wide-ranging, very dynamic and innovative portfolio. The largest proportion of total sales is in the automation segment, with 28%, ahead of construction elements with 10% and energy technology with 7%. Employing 847,000 people (more than 20% of whom are engineers), the sector is the second largest employer in Germany's processing industry. Thanks to high investments in research and development, seven out of ten companies regularly launch product or process innovations.

The German electrical industry benefits particularly from future trends such as the increasing fusion of production and information technology (Industry 4.0). In order to drive the digitization of production forward, the sector associations of German IT (BITKOM), mechanical engineering (VDMA) and electrical engineering (ZVEI) have come together to set up a platform for the promotion of Industry 4.0.

 

Bavaria is home to companies from a wide range of different fields of electrical engineering and electronics, such as companies including Infineon Technologies and SEMIKRON in power semiconductors; Rogers Germany (formerly curamik), CeramTec and Kunze Folien in substrate technology; and Siemens in drive technology. Other fields include vehicle electronics from companies such as Robert Bosch, Continental, Liebherr Elektronik and Transtechnik, and the energy storage field in which BMZ is just one of many active companies. This segment is benefiting from the growing trend towards connection of household appliances and the increasing interest in resource efficiency worldwide.

Media


23 of the top 100 companies in the German media sector are Bavarian – just one of many figures which make Bavaria Germany's number 1 media location. Here, companies in the media sector find outstanding infrastructure with plenty of potential partners at all levels of media production, both in audio-visual and print and online media. This is one of the reasons that big players in the sector such as ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, Kabel Deutschland GmbH and Hubert Burda Media have chosen Bavaria.

 

Bavaria's media sector represents high sales; Munich's information and communications and media sectors, for example, generate around EUR 70 billion. Success comes down to good staff. That is why many institutes in Bavaria, as well as institutions such as MedienCampus Bayern e.V., provide exemplary media education and further training. Success also comes down to good financing. That is why Bavaria offers outstanding financial support. When compared to other film funding organizations in Germany, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern is one of the most successful organizations in this field. Bavaria also provides top support for cultural and educational games.

Mechatronics


Mechatronics is a kind of paradigm and can, therefore, be used as an umbrella term for all sectors whose products involve the efficient interplay between mechanics, electronics, and software. This now includes many traditional and future-orientated sectors such as automotive engineering, machine tool building, the electrical and electronics industry, medical and environmental technology, and aerospace. Many key industrial branches in Bavaria are therefore potential customers, employing around 50 percent of all those working in the industry in the state. The market for mechatronics companies in Bavaria is huge.

 

As well as the market opportunities, Bavaria's excellent research environment with its many Fraunhofer and DLR institutes, a well-appointed sensor technology sector and its large numbers of outstandingly educated mechatronics specialists all speak for Bavaria as a location. There are also competence centers and business incubators such as the "gate" technology center and business incubator in Garching, near Munich, which offers support and services to new companies in establishing international relations, as well as attractive premises. The perfect start for a business to take flight.

Financial Services


Bavaria offers insurance and finance institutes a solid basis for the performance of the entire industry with its comprehensive ecosystem. Numerous companies from the banking and insurance sector, asset management as well as the risk capital, leasing and factoring sectors are based in Bavaria. As a result, excellent research institutions encounter many successful companies from the financial industry in Bavaria. Resulting in an ideal starting point for start-ups too. As the big players have recognised that their business is undergoing radical change due to digitalisation. There is a great deal to do together. It’s being done in Bavaria.


Around 188,000 people work in the financial economy in Bavaria. Around 100 companies in the insurance sector are based in Bavaria, making the state one of the world's leading insurance locations. These companies include Allianz AG and Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer. Bavaria's banking and insurance sector has seen growth of 59 per cent since the start of the 1990s. The sector in Bavaria appears stable and robust, with the forward-looking stock exchange, innovative asset management and Bavaria as Germany's most important state of venture capital.

Chemicals


Today, chemistry forms the basis of products in many different sectors, such as skincare, pharmacy, paints and varnishes, and synthetic fibres. Employing around 49,000 people, the chemicals sector in Bavaria covers almost every area. The Bavarian chemical triangle in Upper Bavaria forms a centre for the sector. Global players such as Wacker Chemie are just as much at home in Bavaria as the around 210 small and medium-sized companies. Bavaria offers them a large number of customers for their products and has established an outstanding logistics infrastructure.

 

A large pool of excellently trained potential staff awaits the chemicals sector in Bavaria. The state's universities provide the next generation of academics, with Chemistry faculties and chairs at six universities and a wide range of universities of applied sciences. In addition, the sector has space for around 2,000 apprentices, educating the chemical technicians and laboratory assistants of the future, as well as agents with expertise in the sector. Networks such as the Chemistry cluster bring companies and research institutions in the Bavarian chemicals sector together and make valuable contributions to reducing the time needed for chemical products to be ready for the market.