GründerRegio - b-neun
MUNICH AND ITS ENVIRIONMENT AS A BUSINESS LOCATION
The Munich Region hosts 12 institutions of higher education with around 100,000 students. This corresponds to the highest level of qualification in Germany, as 12% of employed population are university / college graduates. There are around 10,000 R & D employees in the region working in numerous universities and non-university research institutions.
In addition to that, the region is not only the leading centre for private-sector R & D in Germany, but also the leading I & C location in Europe (18,000 companies, around 260,000 employees). One-third of the world's top 25 software firms have premises in Munich, 1,600 IT dealers and 500 software houses have established their business in the city and Munich is a central media and bio-technology location with about 11,500 media companies employing 130,000 employees earning revenues of around 19 billion Euro. Another 12,000 people are working in the life science sector, employed by numerous major corporations or by innovative start-ups.
MUNICH AS A START- UP LOCATION
The Munich Region counts 13,000 new business start-ups each year. The preferred industries are multimedia, internet, advertising, IT-consulting and environmental technologies. Almost 20% of all German internet start-ups are based in Munich.
This is boosted by the concentration of essential industry branches, enterprises and institutions of higher education all at the same location combined with close contact to venture capital companies and a business-friendly political climate.
MUNICH´S ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE INNOVATIVE BUSINESS START- UPS
The Munich Technology Centre and four additional business areas offer 66.000 m˛ for small and medium enterprises. About 15 centres for start-ups exist in and around Munich - often strongly focused on special business branches - provide a comprehensive and broad base for all those newcomers ready to start their own business. Furthermore 14 private business incubators and business accelerators are currently located in Munich supporting start-ups by provision of space, usually linked to offers in consulting and services.
NETWORKS
Various networks and initiatives to establish a sustainable entrepreneurship culture have been initiated. The "Förderkreis Neue Technologien e.V."
(Association for the Promotion of New Technologies) for example organises entrepreneurial get-togethers, interactive seminars and workshops covering all aspects of business start-ups, financing and management. The "Munich Business Angel Network" is also located there, an informal, regional platform for business start-ups with strong growth potential.
For the forth-consecutive year in the Region of Munich, the "Munich Business Plan Competition (MBPC)" took place. This year's competition broke a new participation record: 386 young entrepreneurs and a total of 126 business plans. In four years the competition has already founded 103 companies with some 750 employees financed by approximately 80 million Euros. About 60% of the business ideas are derived from the IT sector, 20% from life sciences.
Finally, GründerRegio M e.V. (Founders' Region Munich) - an initiative of the Science and Economy Region of Munich - promotes start-ups and spin-offs deriving from and thematically close to institutions of higher education. For instance GründerRegio M - in addition to the co-ordination of PANEL and some other EU projects manages the "Hochsprung Initiative" (High Jump) in the "GründerNetzwerk Bayern" (Founders' Network of Bavaria).
