Software AG: high-tech region study provides further evidence of need to develop European software industry
Published: 6/22/2009
- Study compares Silicon Valley to high-tech regions (clusters) in Germany, Finland and India
- High-tech clusters are strategic elements of a modern economic policy
- Germany’s Rhein-Main-Neckar region has huge growth potential
- Software patents and access to venture capital need to be addressed at a pan-European level
Software AG today released a survey carried out by the Technical University of Darmstadt comparing a number of high-tech regions world-wide at a press conference in Frankfurt. The survey compared developments in Silicon Valley (USA), Bangalore (India), Oulu (Finland) and Dresden and the Rhine-Main-Neckar area in Germany. The survey showed how close cooperation between industry, science and politics provides a significant development impulse to specific industries and a strong regional competitive advantage. Regional and national development of industry clusters are a fundamental component of modern strategic economic policy. Although Germany’s Rhine-Main-Neckar cluster has one of the largest global concentration of resources it has not yet developed to the extent of similar clusters in the US, India or Finland. Impediments common to many European clusters include international awareness, access to venture capital, and lack of political support including an underdeveloped European software patent system.
The Rhein-Main-Neckar region is the largest high-tech cluster stretching from Frankfurt to Heidelberg and is home to Germany’s biggest software companies, Software AG and SAP. Rhine-Main-Neckar boasts more software companies than any other high-tech cluster and, outside of Silicon Valley, more high-tech employees and significantly higher revenue. However, the region has ICT employment levels and ICT revenue at 20% of those at in Silicon Valley.
| Cluster | Revenue | Companies | Employees | Area (Sq KM) |
| Rhein-Main-Neckar | €42 billion | 8,000 | 80,000 | 5,000 |
| Silicon Valley | €180 billion | 7,000 | 500,000 | 4,000 |
| Oulu (Finland) | €5 billion | 800 | 18,000 | 400 |
| Bangalore (India) | €2 billion | 1,500 | 80,000 | 500 |
Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO of Software AG, said: "My aim, together with the state government and regional partners, is to establish the Rhein-Main-Neckar area as a globally recognized IT cluster. We have the critical mass in terms of established IT companies, the political will, and a major differentiator in comparison to other IT clusters, that is our proximity to our user industries”.
Please read the full Press Release.
