Economic policy
in Baden-Württemberg
“Wo wir sind, ist vorne” (Always a step ahead) – is a slogan that Baden-Württemberg earns in many respects. In no other federal state there are so many world market leaders than in the southwest. Baden-Württemberg is home to world-famous global players and hidden champions alike. It is a model state in terms of innovation and inventive spirit: nowhere else in Germany, more patent applications are led than in Baden-Württemberg. It is also up to politicians to ensure that the southwest remains Germany’s economic powerhouse.
More than a quarter of all world-class companies with German roots are based in the southwest. They include, of course, major groups like Daimler and Bosch, but also many SMEs with less illustrious names, yet which in the shadow of the global players, constitute the backbone of the state’s economy and define the market with their products and services. The focus is on traditional sectors like automotive, electrical and mechanical engineering. Among Baden-Württemberg’s active labour force of around six million, more than 4.1 million are engaged in the services sector. Around 1.9 million people work in the manufacturing industry. Yet even in industry services are becoming increasingly important. The services sector accounts for almost 60 per cent of value creation in the southwest.
Presentation at the Elevator Pitch BW 2016
The wage level is high in Baden-Württemberg, unemployment by contrast is low. In 2016, it averaged at 3.8 per cent. “We are nearing full employment”, said Premier Winfried Kretschmann in January this year. At just 2.9 per cent, unemployment among young people is the lowest nationwide. The prospects also look good for the current year: developments in consumption, trade, services and the construction industry are so encouraging that the state government anticipates economic growth up to 1.8 per cent for 2017 – more than expectations for Germany as a whole.
Baden-Württemberg’s tradition not only extends to thinkers and inventors, but also to exports: with a quota of 42 per cent, exports in the southwest exceed the average of other federal states by almost 10 per cent. One in three jobs in Baden- Württemberg depends directly or indirectly on exports. Inter- nationality plays a key role in Baden-Württemberg at all levels. As Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut comments: “A key focus of our economic policy remains the support of our SMEs in tapping foreign markets.”
Supporting the local economy and attracting investors from home and abroad is the mission of regional economic development offices. They are not only represented in large cities and urban centres, but also in smaller communities. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ “w-punkt” platform helps in finding local points of contact. Entrepreneurs or start-up founders can request funding or advice via email or phone and are given the details of the right point of contact. A search engine lists all regional economic development partners by place and subject for the purpose.
Dorothee Schöpfer
Afrika kommt!
The “Afrika kommt!” initiative signals the interest in Africa of 15 major German companies: they offer young African professionals an insight into their work processes and management methods. The companies involved include Robert Bosch GmbH, Daimler AG and Andreas Stihl AG. The programme allows the selected scholarship holders from sub-Saharan countries to build up networks as a basis for long-term cooperation.
The programme is based on a comprehensive curriculum of training offers, both during and after professional further training in Germany. Participants prepare for their time aboard by attending language courses. In Germany the focus is on a practical involvement in work processes and working in partner companies.
Each of the African participants spends a total of nine months in the company. During their stay the participants attend several courses in international management and seminars at Bosch Stiftung in Stuttgart, and Zeit Stiftung Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius in Hamburg. Knowledge of processes in German companies and cultural and linguistic skills turn the young professionals from Africa into experts in business cooperation. Thanks to their contacts, “Afrika kommt!” alumni are important partners for African companies and organisations and become intermediaries between countries. The participants in the fifth year of the programme come from Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Cameroon, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ruanda and Uganda. The total of 12 women and 18 men will stay with their partner companies in Germany until the end of July 2017.
International managers can obtain an MBA from the Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology (SIMT)
Baden-Württemberg welcomes students from all over the world
Baden-Württemberg is very popular with foreign students: in the 2015/16 winter semester, 47,600 foreign students matriculated at a university in Baden-Württemberg, which is 5.4 per cent more than last year. The number of foreign students is thus 13.3 per cent, the equivalent of around 356,700 men and women studying at a university in Baden-Württemberg, accord- ing to a bulletin from the Land Statistical Office.
Around 5,700 students of Chinese nationality formed the largest group among the foreign students for the first time since the 2009/10 winter semester. Students with a Turkish passport come second with 5,400 persons, of whom 82 per cent held a German qualification for university entrance. Italy came third with around 2,400 students.
Students from other countries are particularly keen on science subjects: 38 per cent of students with a foreign passport registered for a degree course in engineering sciences. Just on 49 per cent of the foreign students were female. 72 per cent of students from the Russian Federation and 70 per cent from the Ukraine were female. By contrast, the female quota was comparatively low for students from India (28 per cent) and Pakistan (17 per cent). More men than women from African countries also studied in Baden-Württemberg. Foreign students greatly appreciate the high academic standards, good study conditions and high degree of knowledge transfer. In turn, foreign graduates are of great interest to the German economy and industry. The state parliament has resolved that students from non-EU countries will pay study fees of EUR 1,500 effective as of the winter semester.
Engineering students from the University of Virginia will attend a two-week intensive course at Stuttgart University.
Engineering students from the University of Virginia will attend a two-week intensive course at Stuttgart University.
Foreign students love Germany. According to Federal Statistical Office sources Germany is the most popular non-English-speaking study destination.
This is also reflected in Stuttgart and the region. On its own, the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart accounts for around 770 students from more than 40 countries. However, other disciplines are also international in character. Qianqing Xu (23) comes from China and is studying for a Master in automotive engineering in Stuttgart. “Germany is at the forefront of technology”, she says appreciatively. Patrick Tchakoute (29) from Cameroon is doing a degree course in computer science in Stuttgart. He thinks that he has the best study possibilities, and more importantly tuition fees that are still affordable. Sun Yuchen (25) comes from China and is studying for a Master in engineering in Stuttgart. “I am studying in Germany because the tuition fees are not so high.” Issam Yahyaoui comes from Tunisia and is financing his medical studies by working as a waiter. Stuttgart University received 18,800 written applications for a place in the winter semester 2013/14. The number of applications has thus risen again by eleven per cent. In Heidelberg, 24,000 of its 140,000 inhabit- ants are students, thus a ratio of one to six. In Tübingen, it is as high as one to four. Overall, Stuttgart has more students, i.e. 34,000, but given the population of 600,000 inhabitants, just one in every seventieth inhabitants is a student – and of these around, one in seven comes from abroad.
Dorothee Schöpfer