Stories
Regions are fully aware of their location advantage and use it to attract nearshoring firms.
Third Place: Bavaria (Germany)
“Bavaria home of the digital future”,
Hanna Blank, Invest in Bavaria (Business Promotion Agency of the State of Bavaria)
Bavaria is home to several leading ICT firms, such as Microsoft, IBM, and LinkedIn. Invest in Bavaria identified several reason for this fact. First, the political will of the local government to foster digital transformation. Second, world-class universities that supply skilled workers. Third, one of the biggest cluster and network of IT firms in Europe. According to Invest in Bavaria, out of 40 new Swiss companies established in Bavaria since 2014, 10 work in in the IT sector. Stefan Huber, original from Thurgau (Switzerland) founded his start-up How2 in Munich. He says: "Munich is ideal for our sector because we find customers such as BMW or Expedia, as well as very well-trained employees," he explains.
Ralf Bopp, director of the German-Swiss Chamber of Commerce explains that, "The links between Bavaria and Switzerland are based on geographical, linguistic and cultural proximity. Bavaria is very much like Switzerland, with very innovative small and medium-sized businesses".
Shared Fourth Place: Berlin (Germany)
"Berlin goes Deep Tech",
Ines Weitermann, SIBB e.V., Verband der IT- und Internetwirtschaft in Berlin und Brandenburg.
For a long time Berlin has been very attractive for international IT Firms. Only few regions in Europe offer such a great network of international firms in all relevant sectors. Moreover, Berlin is a divers and multicultural city with an ever-growing number of potential employees.