Although the first things Lower Franconia brings to mind are top wines, creative artists of immortal world fame such as e. g. Tilmann Riemenschneider or sacred buildings and palaces - uniquely designed by Balthasar Neumann - this is only one side.
Lower Franconia is much more, namely a fortunate symbiosis of apparently contradictory values. On the one hand tangible history, the home of cultural possessions of international standing and citizens with a healthy consciousness of tradition, on the other hand a dynamically growing high tech region which is one of the leaders in Europe.
Science location Lower Franconia, center of computer science, University of Würzburg
The challenge of creating the future with the past in mind is taken up here consistently and deliberately. An example of this is one of the oldest universities in Germany, the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, which celebrates its 600th anniversary in 2002 and at the same time has created another milestone in the field of sciences of the future by introducing the subject of nano structural technology in the winter semester 2000/2001. Universities of Applied Sciences at three locations in the region with the widest range of subjects and internationally respected research institutes such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research, The South German Plastics Centre and the Centre for Applied Energy Research represent know-how on location and form the absolute hard location factors for business in the region.
With its nine Districts and the three district-free cities of Aschaffenburg, Schweinfurt and Würzburg, Lower Franconia is a spread out region with 8.529,24 km² and about 1.344.000 inhabitants. Of special note are the number of school pupils at about 200.000 and enrolled students at about 23.300. In a land poor in resources, "minds" are the medium. It is thus our goal in Lower Franconia to educate highly qualified and motivated employees, to further develop the business-friendly background conditions and to maintain the high standard of life here, aspects which without a doubt are major deciding factors for the attractiveness of a business location.
Globalisation of market
Looking into the future you cannot avoid coming to terms with globalisation, which influences political, economic and social actions. Certainly globalisation is nothing new. What is new, however, is the great dynamism and the extraordinary breadth of this development. Not only the financial markets and world trade already dominated by it. The increasing internationalisation of ownership as well as growing number of corporate alliances and mergers are also part of this. When internationalisation causes the nationality of a company to be pushed further into the background and the emotional ties to the location to lose signifcance, this poses an enormous challenge to those responsible in the region.
Schweinfurt: industry and culture (museum Schäfer)
Lower Franconia is conscious of this challenge and is anything but "helpless" in the global competition of the economic regions. Companies and capital find a large number of positive hard and soft location factors here. The fact that "resting" means standing still, and resting on your laurels will be punished tomorrow already, does not have to be taught in Lower Franconia. We want more! Constant reorientation and further development of all involved in the economic process is the task.
A combination of the market's own initiatives and improvement of the supportive background conditions creates lasting competitive advantages in the global market. Existing and expandable highly specialised abilities and knowledge of companies and scientific institutions form the foundation here. The fact that the attractiveness of an economic region is increasingly based on "Knowledge" is thus an advantage to Lower Franconia.
At the centre of a prospering market
With reunification Lower Franconia regained its central position in Germany. But in ever-expanding Europe too, the location is increasing in significance. The starting position at the turnstile of north-south and east-west commerce is ideal. Coupled with a good infrastructure this geographical advantage gains additional weight.
World cultural heritage of the UNESCO: The Residence (in former times princebishop's palace) in Würzburg
For many appointments the motorcar remains the fastest, most comfortable and flexible means of transportation, freight transport is by road is also widespread. Located centrally in the German and European motorway network - such as the A 3 east-west, A 7 north-south, A 70, A 81, A 45 and the A 71 currently under construction - almost every corner of the region is accessible by motorway.
For travel between German metropolitan centres the railways have undoubtedly gained in attractiveness. With its excellent integration into the IC and ICE network, Würzburg Central Station has a top position nationally, whereby Deutsche Bahn AG's north-south route via Würzburg is one of the few fast train routes already in existence in the Federal Republic.
Although Lower Franconia has no international airport of its own, business travelers can quickly reach Frankfurt Airport, one of the largest on the Continent, by train or car.
For a business location the possibilities for heavy freight are naturally another important indicator.
With the completion of the Rhine-Main-Danube-Canal the Lower Franconian harbours now lie on one of the most important inland shipping routes in Europe, from the North Sea to Black Sea.
Founders Centres
Where there are good location conditions for companies, jobs are created. The constant renewal of the corporate landscape "from below" by young companies is extremely important to us. It strengthens the middle class, which is present in Lower Franconia in all its variety of industries.
Wine vintage in Lower Franconia
For many of these start-ups, which are characterised by innovation, flexibility and dynamism, the five technology founders centres covering the region - Zentec Grosswallstadt, Rhön-Saale Gründer- and Innovationszentrum RSG Bad Kissingen, GRIBS Gründer- und Inovationszentrum, Chancencenter Maintal, both in Schweinfurt, the Technologie- und Gründerzetrum Würzburg - as well as other technology parks provide an outstanding environment starting and developing, thanks to flexible and affordable location options as well as comprehensive support and management services.
Cooperation and networking
Lower Franconia is proud to be the corporate location of numerous global players in classical industries such as mechanical engineering, automotive supply, electrical engineering and control systems engineering. Here too the key technologies of the future have long since moved in. Through the development of new technologies at the Julius Maximilian University, at existing companies, research facilities and in cooperations, Lower Franconia has become one of the economically strongest regions in Europe.
Julius Maximilian University
Lower Franconia has a good name in academic circles. Not because the university's roots go back to the Middle Ages and after all six Nobel Prize winners - from Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1901) to Klaus von Klitzing (1985) researched at the university here, but because in addition to the tried and true, innovative paths are also followed.
The University of Würzburg is one of the most important biomedical and biotechnological research locations in Germany, which is being further expanded through the introduction of bioinformatics. With regard to biomedical third party funding for research alliances the University of Würzburg also has a top position.
In this area, technology transfer is gaining in significance, i. e. the implementation of research results in application oriented practice. As a result of the founding of companies from the university which is linked with this, many jobs are created in Lower Franconia. This development receives sustained support through the creation of a research alliance of the northern Bavarian universities it Research Network Würzburg/Erlangen/Bayreuth which receives funding as part of the Hightech Offensive of the Free State of Bavaria. The aim this BioMedTec initiative is to concentrate the academic potentials in biotechnology, medicine and biochemistry and increasingly use them for company start-ups and relocations.
The University of Würzburg sees increasing miniaturisation as the main driving force for further industrial development, whereby the effects are not only significant in information technology, but also for energy, environmental and medical technology. The new course in nanostructural technology is a novelty for the natural and engineering sciences in Germany. It represents an new interdisciplinary approach in which the engineering science subjects are taught in close interaction with industry and also application-oriented in combination with economics and law. "Developers" will be able to turn scientific foundations into products and thus accelerate the implementation of new technologies. In many cases they are the business founders of tomorrow in a region with a high standard of living.
When the course "Technology of functional materials" currently in preparation is able to release its first graduates, this will be a further boon to application-related research in companies.
Educational programme with concrete targets - the Universities of Applied Sciences in Lower Franconia
The passing on of knowledge and application didactics is a high level domain of the Universities of Applied Sciences. Both the Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences with two locations and the Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences with their courses in engineering sciences, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, informatics, business management and social sciences offer local industry numerous opportunities for cooperation. This is not a one-way street, however, for the constant stimuli from practice provide the basis for new teaching and educational content.
High-tech Offensive
We are aware that innovation and technological progress are the main prerequisites for jobs in the present and the future, and in Lower Franconia we have filled the High-tech Offensive initiated by the Bavarian government with funds from privatisation with special life.
High-Tech-Region Lower Franconia, robotsystems near Aschaffenburg
About Euro 100 million will flow into Lower Franconia. With it high tech centres of international standing are being established or expanded and future-oriented regional projects in cooperation between companies and scientific facilities are being funded. In addition to the building of a Centre for Experimental Molecular Medicine these include an Innovation and Founders Centre for Biomedicine and a Centre for Modern Communications Technologies. The expansion of the research network for new materials which exists between the universities of Bayreuth, Erlangen and Würzburg will also help local business obtain the stimuli which competition in the 21st century demands and for which Lower Franconia is equipping itself. In the knowledge that research with a concrete relationship to reality makes a region fit, it is a major feature of the Lower Franconian concept that local industry is firmly involved in the projects right from the start.
The close interlinking of research, development and implementation is decisive, for he who stops being better is soon not good enough. This could also be the motto of the second pillar of the Hightech Offensive, the regional concept, which with Euro 25 million puts Lower Franconia in the position to strengthen and further develop the existing technological competence and the technology profile. This means product-related research and development projects in alliances of companies amongst themselves or of companies with partners from science and research. It is not going it alone that makes you strong, but making use of the widest range of competencies for a project.
As the diverse range of projects shows, from control and regulation engineering, environmental and energy management, plastics through to surface technology and bio- and medical technology, the mix of industries in Lower Franconia alone is already a guarantor for ongoing further development of the region.
Lower Franconia - a top address for investors
The driving force of the economy and the constant structural transformation taking place today at breakneck speed are in particular new business start-ups or relocations. They create a broad, more economically adaptable environment with growth and new jobs. Because today companies around the world are so sensitised that they increasingly orientate themselves to where they find the best background conditions, Lower Franconia, which can offer many outstanding hard and soft location factors - such as e. g. a well educated workforce and totally up-to-date technological knowledge - is well positioned.
Health region Lower Franconia; Bad Kissingen
Of course one could report on much more about the region, such as the cultural events which well-known far beyond the state borders, like the Mozart Festival in Würzburg and the Kissingen Summer or the atmospheric wine festivals along the Lower Main, around Würzburg and in the "Wine District" of Kitzingen. The largest single forested area in the Federal Republic, the Spessart, but also the wild Rhön or the unspoilt Hassberge hills are not only responsible for a healthy climate they also offer ideal opportunities for unwinding and feeling good.
With regard to wellness and the new understanding of health it should not be forgotten that world famous spa Bad Kissingen, but also Bad Brückenau, Bad Neustadt an der Saale and Bad Königshofen make an active spa vacation so attractive that it is a pleasure to refill the "tank" the demands of modern times.
Lower Franconia has many assets. On the following pages competent articles will help you learn more about them and about the business fields and companies here in the region.
I would be delighted if all of this makes you curious to get to know Lower Franconia personally visiting the region, and to appreciate it and, yes, to love it.
from: Wirtschaftsstandort Unterfranken
editor: Christian Kirk
Europäischer Wirtschaftsverlag
Regierungsbezirk Unterfranken 2001/2002
ISBN: 3-932845-25-0
Seitenanfang
Stand
15. März 2010
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