R&D in Baden Württemberg

Baden Württemberg is one of the leading regions for research in Germany and Europe. With its extensive research and development capacities and successful cooperation between companies, universities and non-university research institutions, makes 24% of the total investments enjoyed by R&D in Germany. In 2009, the proportion of R&D expenditure in relation to GDP rose to a new record level of 4.8% (research intensity rate all of Germany: 2.8%). Baden-Württemberg is therefore one of the leading regions in the international comparison. Baden-Württemberg's research intensity rate of 4.8% is the highest in the European Union. It is clearly in the lead compared to other top-spending countries such as Finland, with 3.9%, and Sweden, with 3.6%. The joint average research intensity rate of all 27 EU countries is only around 2.0%.

The predominant investor into R&D in Baden-Württemberg is the industrial sector with its numerous in-house research facilities. The industrial sector alone made almost 80% of total R&D investments in Baden-Württemberg. The university sector and the public sector are responsible for the remainder in roughly equal parts. With over 100 R&D institutions, the public sector offers a broad spectrum of non-university research institutions. Eleven of the 80 Max Planck institutes and 14 of the 60 Fraunhofer institutes, as well as 25 % of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres' research facilities are based in this region. There are also more than 70 universities in Baden-Württemberg, including four of Germany's nine elite universities.

In 2009, regional businesses spent around € 13 billion on locally-based research and development, employing the equivalent of 88,600 FTEs (full-time employees). Baden Württemberg's corporate research and development profile is strongly influenced by the automotive, electrical and mechanical engineering sectors. They alone were responsible for 76% of all corporate investments in in-house R&D, mainly due to the local prevalence of automotive engineering firms and their respectively high level of spending, which was 50% in 2009, far in excess of the German national average of 31%. This proves the enormous R&D capacities of the world-class manufacturers and sub-suppliers in the automotive trade, which has always been, and continues to be, Baden-Württemberg's decisive key industry.

In 2009, around € 1.5 billion were invested into research and development by Baden-Württemberg's public sector research institutions. Approximately 13,600 FTEs carried out their research work at these facilities. Baden-Württemberg's investments therefore equate 15% of all public sector R&D spending in Germany. In terms of research and development capacities in this sector, it is second only to North-Rhine Westphalia (around 17%).

Baden-Württemberg's university sector employed the equivalent of almost 18,500 full-time employees in 2009 - around 2,500 FTEs more than even as recently as 2007. The universities spent a good € 1.8 billion on research and development. In Germany, the 16% share of total university sector expenditure Baden-Württemberg spends on R&D is second only to that of North-Rhine Westphalia (just under 22%).

The high level of R&D activity in Baden-Württemberg results in a large number of inventions. A total of 14,813 of the patent applications received by the DPMA (German Patent and Trademark Office ) in 2010 came from Baden-Württemberg, or 31.5% of all patent applications. With 138 patent applications per 100,000 inhabitants (German average 58), the region heads the patent ratio table.