Report on Adlershof 2010
"Berlin’s first port of call" by WISTA-CEO Hardy Rudolf Schmitz
Content
- Berlin’s first port of call
- The economic situation of Adlershof in 2010
- WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH
- Adlershof Projekt GmbH
- Innovations-Zentrum Berlin Management GmbH (IZBM)
- Adlershof Facility Management GmbH
- Adlershof in figures
- Participations in trade fairs and exhibitions
Berlin’s first port of call
Visitors leaving the prospective Berlin-Brandenburg International airport heading for the German capital will very soon come through one of the most successful high-tech facilities in Germany or – to put it literally – Berlin’s first port of call. Adlershof, of course, is more than just a technology park. It is also Berlin’s largest media cluster, plus an ensemble of various residential districts, shops, hotels, restaurants and an impressive landscaped park. 866 companies operate at Adlershof, along with, eleven non-university research institutions and six mathematics and science institutes from the Humboldt University of Berlin. Nearly 14,200 people work here. Over 7,800 students learn here. Adlershof serves as proof for the successful experiment of creating new economic structures in the immediate vicinity of science. Today, two-thirds of the site’s economic strength comes from companies, while two-thirds of investments are derived from private sources.
The amount of public funding attributable to the turnover is no more than 6.4%. At fewer than two percent, the bankruptcy rate is incredibly low. An authentic ‘city of science’, Adlershof is currently growing at an aboveaverage rate. After the economic crises, turnover and budgets received a real boost during 2010, rising by 15% on average. For 2011, the outlook among companies is generally optimistic. The site can look back on an impressive history – a story of success. Twenty years ago, on 12 March 1991, a group of scientists and policymakers recommended, for the first time, to establish an “integrated landscape that could accommodate both business and science”.
Through the combination of the knowledge and talent created by the former East German Academy of Sciences, daring entrepreneurs and generous start-up financing from public sources, it was possible to create a technology park that offers an ideal environment for companies to grow quickly. The Berlin State Government (Senate) supports and promotes this concept with investments in technology centres and infrastructure. Private enterprises return the favour by also making investments and by providing substantial tax revenues. Adlershof has become one of the few locations in Berlin that is not only home to training, research and development, but also production. Adlershof is also in demand when it comes to designing development and growth strategies for other sites with high prospects for the future, such as the Berlin districts of Charlottenburg, Tempelhof and Dahlem.
We will not take our anniversary as an occasion for venturous visions, but rather for developing tangible new perspectives: based on the growth we have achieved in recent years, it is likely. Adlershof could double its performance in terms of both turnover and employment over the next 10 to 15 years. However, this will only be possible if we work together with our site partners to further build and boost our image, open up new fields of expertise and continue to establish high-growth clusters. By doing this, emergent workshops of high-technology become pacemakers of the entire technological industry and thus contribute to bolstering the industrial basis of the City of Berlin. Furthermore, we have to bolster our reputation outside of Germany and become better known than we are today. In the process, we have to make sure that quality of life in Adlershof is not neglected. It is on of our prime aims to create a form of modern urbanity, where people are happy to live and work.
In 2020, we want to see Adlershof not merely firmly established, but as a beacon of a promising future and a powerful engine of growth for the German capital. In short: Berlin’s first port of call.
Hardy Rudolf Schmitz, Chief Executive Officer of WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH and Adlershof Projekt GmbH