ECONOMY, SCIENCE, AND RESEARCH

A drastic change of structure has characterised Berlin's economy since the reunification of its two urban subcomponents. Between 1991 and 2003 the number of employees in production and manufacturing industries fell by 411,000. In the year 2003, the majority (1.26 million ) of all employed workers (1.5 million) in the labour force found work in the service sector. The predominantly service sector-based increase (83,000) in jobs could not, however, compensate for the loss in the industrial sector between 1991 and 2003. At the outset of 2004, the city registered an employment level of approximately 303,000 persons - 17% of the labour capable population. The rise of the gross domestic product (€75,03 billion to €77.85 billion) between 1994 and 2003 was miniscule at best.

Berlin has the potential to improve its ability to innovate and to mould itself into a "City of Knowledge and Knowledge Production," given that a high-qualified work force is directly at its disposal. More than 350,000 persons in the city are in the possession of an academic or technical diploma and over half of all employed persons in Berlin are under 40 years of age.

With 14 academic institutions of higher learning, a career academy, more than 26 non-university and 10 national research institutions Berlin possesses a unique density of scientific and academic facilities. Additionally, the scientific involvement of Berlin's private corporations has served to bring in a yearly earning of €1.4 billion (1999).

Approximately 45,000 workers have direct employment in the scientific sector, while Berlin - with 133,000 students - boasts the largest number of students of any German city.

Berlin-Adlershof is among the 15 biggest scientific and technological parks world-wide and is a trend-setting institution in the collaboration of university facilities and non-university research and economic corporations. Currently, 5,500 employees work in 357 enterprises and research facilities; approximately one half of all enterprises are recent start-ups.

Approximately 2,200 employees in 39 economic corporations work on the Biological Medicine Campus in Berlin-Buch, where two large research centres and various clinics are located. The interworking of research, clinics, and the economy has proved successful promising for the further development of the region.

There exist chances and potential for the Berlin region, particularly in the following sectors:

• Biotechnology is one of the fastest-growing branches of the region. Over 7,200 employees work in over 100 biotechnology corporations and as well as in university and non-university research facilities. Over 50% of the corporations are direct spin-offs of research institutions.
• There are over 2,100 companies for information and communication technology with over 23,000 employees in Berlin. These corporations register a yearly revenue of 10 billion.
• In the sector of transportation technology there are more than 400 corporations and approximately 100 scientific research groups with a total of 48,000 employees. This phenomenon makes Berlin and its vicinity a leading centre for transportation and mobility.
• 130 active medical engineering corporations with over 4,600 employees collaborate closely with clinics and research institutions in the area of medical technology.
• The field of optical technology - an important key and up-and-coming technology - boasts 20 research institutions and approximately 100 corporations. Over 1,100 employees working within the field of Microsystems technology in 26 research facilities have brought about 800 registered patents since 1995, evincing the convincing quality of their work.
• Structural research represents an additional and attractive focal point of the Berlin research and development ambience. National and international research groups have excellent research possibilities at their disposal with the Berlin experiment reactor BER II, the ion beam reactor ISL (both in Berlin-Wannsee) and the synchronised radiation repository BESSY II in Berlin-Adlershof.
• Water research forms another essential part of the overall spectrum of science across Berlin. Thanks to a vibrant network of an especially close cooperation between universities, the business community and the City administration, all key subjects of technology with regard to water and sewage as well as municipal water management are considered with the aim of achieving innovative solutions.

Further scientific impulses and motivations are driven forward by the growing number of domestic and foreign visitors and the increasing importance of Berlin as a convention and congress metropolis.

Further information concerning Berlin as a scientific and economic metropolis can be found under the website:
www.wfbi.de