08 10 2020

Expo Real Hybrid Summit: Baden-Württemberg remains attractive for investors as Europe’s No. 1 region for innovation

Regions in the State of Baden-Württemberg will use the joint Baden-Württemberg International stand at the real estate trade fair in Munich to show off their location potential.

In response to the pandemic, the largest specialist trade fair for real estate and investment is using a new format for this year’s event – the Expo Real Hybrid Summit. Baden-Württemberg will once again be represented at this important industry meet-up. From 14 to 15 October 2020, the agency for economic delevopment  Baden-Württemberg International (bw-i) together with eleven of the state’s regions will present attractive investment projects throughout Baden-Württemberg, both virtually and on site in Munich at the Expo Real trade fair. bw-i’s attendance at the trade fair highlights the fact that Germany’s Southwest as Europe’s leading innovation region is eager to engage with investors and project developers even in these extraordinary times.

 

"Our message to all visitors to the Expo Real is clear: The German Southwest is one of the top locations for investments in the future. Investors will find major economic potential here through our innovative environment thanks to the strong links between business and science. The location is also home to people who are setting the tone on topics relevant to the future, such as Industry 4.0, sustainable mobility and artificial intelligence. At the Expo Real Hybrid Summit, we will allow visitors to experience the Baden-Württemberg location first hand and will engage with industry experts to develop new approaches", says Dr. Christian Herzog, Managing Director of bw-i.

 

Together with the municipal and regional economic developers, bw-i will demonstrate the state’s spirit of invention by presenting promising investment opportunities, both on site at stand EG.40 in the trade fair halls in Munich and virtually via the website bw-invest.de. The following regions will be represented: Northern Black Forest, Black Forest-Baar-Heuberg, Tübingen-Reutlingen-Zollernalb, Freiburg, Heilbronn-Franconia, East Württemberg, Rhine-Neckar, Karlsruhe, Lake Constance, Stuttgart and the Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau.

 

Forward-looking investment projects in the regions

With the Industriepark Nördlicher Bodensee industrial park, the Bodensee (Lake Constance) region is presenting an area of around 61 hectares that is of interest to small undertakings as well as to companies that need larger amounts of space. The industrial park is in a favourable location with good transport links to the three urban conurbations of Stuttgart, Munich and Zurich. It can offer high-speed fibre-optic broadband.
 

With the project Neue Mitte Graben-Neudorf, TechnologieRegion Karlsruhe is introducing a model ecological neighbourhood over an area of 12,000 metres. This new centre is to be entirely carbon free with an innovative energy supply and its own electric car sharing offering for residents.


In Mannheim, an area approximately 5.4 hectares in size is being developed directly adjacent to the Mannheim University Medicine department of Mannheim Medical Technology Campus (MMT-Campus) with a total of nine buildings for companies and for research. This geographical closeness will allow for intensive collaboration as well as fast and efficient development of medical products.

The first construction phase of the urban neighbourhood of Neckarbogen in Heilbronn provided the site for the Bundesgartenschau national horticultural show in 2019. It features award-winning architecture as well as generous green spaces and water areas. In the coming years, the area is to become home to as many as 3,500 residents and provide a place where roughly 1,000 people can work. The application period for the second construction phase is currently open to investors.

 

International investors have had Baden-Württemberg in their sights for many years now. The State of Baden-Württemberg attracted 365 foreign investment projects in 2019, a similar level to 2018 (363 projects). As in prior years, Switzerland was the country topping the list of foreign investors in 2019, accounting for 111 projects (this figure was 104 in 2018). Switzerland has traditionally been a close economic partner to Germany’s Southwest because of the latter’s proximity to the Swiss border. Switzerland was followed in the ranking by the USA with 38 projects (2018: 38), China with 22 (2018: 22), Austria with 22 (2018: 21), Italy with 20 (2018: 15), France with 19 (2018: 17) and the UK with 17 (2018: 20).

 

Get an impression of Baden-Württemberg as an investment location and its regions.

 

Update October 13, 2020:

Unfortunately the event was cancelled on short notice due to the current pandemic developments. Further information can be found in the press release of the organiser.