By the year 2012 more than 60% of mobile phones in Germany will function with UMTS and therefore provide their users with fast internet access, is the prediction by the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM). Turnover generated by mobile data services in Germany without taking into account SMS and MMS services is therefore going to almost triple from 1.6 billion Euros in the year 2007 to 5.7 billion Euros in 2012. This is the finding of a study called “Mobile Life 2012″ which was carried out jointly by BITKOM and the Goldmedia consulting firm. more…

Greater Munich and Stuttgart are still by far the leading regions in Germany in terms of research and development. This is the finding of a study by the German institute for economic research (DIW) in Berlin. It also turned out that urban regions are more and more becoming important for industrial research while most regions in the east of Germany with the exception of Dresden have fallen further behind. A comprehensive article on this subject matter can be found in the 39/2008 issue of the DIW´s weekly report which is available for free-of-charge download. more…

Each year a ranking of the “The Best Global Brands” is compiled which immediately affects the value of a company. This year, however, this correlation also had the opposite effect: the financial crisis was detrimental to some brands, e.g. Merrill Lynch. The three top ranks once more went to Coca Cola, IBM and Microsoft. The three most important German brands are Mercedes Benz (rank 11, 2007: rank 10), BMW (rank 13, 2007: rank 13) and SAP (rank 31, 2007: rank 34). more…

The order volume by industry in the Eurozone (EZ15) has increased by 1.0% in July 2008 as compared to June which is a significant improvement with regard to the situation in June (-0.5%). In the EU27 the order intake even increased by 2.3% in July 2008 after stagnation in June. Without taking into account the shipbuilding industry, track vehicle building and air and the space craft industry the volume of incoming orders increased by 1.4% in the Eurozone and by 3.6% in the EU27. more…

Nine out of ten employers think that further professional training is “important” or “very important”. This is the finding of a survey by the forsa polling firm which was carried out in August this year on behalf of the Federal Employment Agency (BA). 1000 personnel managers representing companies employing at least 10 people were interviewed in the course of this survey. 79% of interviewees hold the opinion that further training of less skilled people is important as well. So far, however, only 35% of companies provide the respective training opportunities for this group of employees. more…

The German minister for economic affairs, Mr Michael Glos, today inaugurates SMM, the world’s most important shipbuilding fair in Hamburg. The organizers of this event this year welcome more than 1800 exhibitors from more than 50 countries. About 47,000 professional visitors, one third of these from abroad, are expected to visit the exhibition this year which will last until September 26th. The latest developments in the naval industry will be presented there. more…

According to estimates there was a deficit of 2.3 billion Euros in the trade balance of the Eurozone (EZ15) with regard to the rest of the world in July 2008. In July last year there had still been a surplus of 5.0 billion Euros. In June 2008 the balance had already been -0.2 billion and in June last year +7.5 billion. The big deficit in July this year is the consequence of a stronger increase in imports (+5.8%) than in exports (+3.7%). more…

By the end of 2008 about 8.9 million digital cameras to the value of 2 billion Euros will have been sold which is 4% more than in the year 2007. In the year 2009 the number of digital cameras sold is to increase by another 2.3% generating turnover of 2.1 billion Euros. These optimistic prospects were announced today by the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) which based their findings on data provided by the association for research on consumption (GfK). more…

The German ministry for economic affairs yesterday announced that the German economy has entered a phase of stagnation. GDP fell by 0.5% after adjustment for price, calendar and season in the second quarter 2008 as compared to the first quarter. Major economic indicators fell due to the development of the global economy. more…

The high-tech industry in Germany is looking forward to a brighter future. Accordingly the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) modified their recent forecast. Now BITKOM expect turnover to grow by 1.8% this year which would correspond to total turnover reaching 145.5 billion Euros in the German market for information technology, telecommunications and digital consumer electronics. The major driving forces are still the software and IT services segments. For the year 2009 BITKOM expect the German market to grow by 1.5%. more…