Professor Wolfgang Reinhart

Did you know that the state of Baden-Württemberg in the South West of the country is not only Germany's but the world's no. one exporting region - i.e. ahead of Japan and the United States - with annual sales 10,000 euros per head of the population?

The booming region around the city of Stuttgart with approximately 10.7 million people (United Arab Emirates: 4.041 million) and a size of 35,752 km² (UAE: 83.600 km²) is home to worldwide market leaders in the automotive and electrical industries (such as DaimlerChrysler, Porsche, and Bosch), information technology (SAP and IBM), medical products and biotechnology (Aesculap and Lion Bioscience AG). Mercedes and Porsche cars manufactured in Sindelfingen and Zuffenhausen are a common sight in the Gulf states, too.

When AME Info met Minister Wolfgang Reinhart in the impressive Embassy-like building of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Berlin's leafy borough of Tiergarten, he repeated with a wink the often-heard advertising slogan "We can do everything apart from speaking German properly" ("Wir können alles außer Hochdeutsch").

Patent record

The people in Germany's South West indeed have a funny accent, but it does not prevent them from being highly innovative and keeping the record for patent applications; 27 per cent of all German patens originate from there. Among the 16 states of the German Federation, Baden-Württemberg has the highest density of research facilities and is by far the largest investor in this field with 4 percent of the GDP being allocated for R&D. Minister Reinhart quotes as an example biotechnology: eight universities, 11 technical colleges and 18 other top institutes are engaged in biotechnological research.

Wolfgang Reinhart put it like this:

"Baden-Württemberg is poor with regard to natural resources, but our wealth are the people, who have a reputation in Germany and beyond for their diligence and creativity, but also for their kind-heartedness, sense of tradition and open-mindedness. Here, sharp commercial thinking and catering for human needs are no contradictions."

Wolfgang Reinhart is proud that the first high-speed petrol-driven motorcars were developed by his fellow-countrymen Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler some 120 years ago. "Since then, Baden-Württemberg is Europe's automotive state." However, he believes that his native region can offer more to the Gulf countries then expensive cars.

The land government in Stuttgart has set up a special agency, Baden-Württemberg International (www.bw-i.de), which arranges business contacts and multi-branch cooperation with companies and institutions abroad. BW-I regularly organises contact meetings in the UAE and the other Gulf countries and supports the exchange of business delegations between the two regions.

Asked about the growing demand in the Gulf for the transfer of know-how and the training of specialists, the Minister particularly recommended partnerships between universities and colleges. With adequate investments, more industry-related research could and should be carried out jointly at universities and technical colleges, which would yield marketable patents. Baden-Württemberg is keen not only to welcome Arab students at its Universities, but also to provide more vocational training in many fields. There are specialised agencies providing international consultancy services to this effect.

Saudi debut in 2006

Professor Reinhart mentioned among others the Academy for teachers and instructors at vocational schools (www.alf.es.bw.schule.de) in the industrial town of Esslingen. After the training of the teachers in Baden-Württemberg, the participants in the courses will receive further tuition by the Esslingen Academy in their home countries. A scheme to this effect is currently prepared for Saudi-Arabia in 2006. The Minister believes that a similar project might be appropriate for the UAE, too.

Minister Wolfgang Reinhart thinks that there are many good reasons for coming to the rapidly developing South East corner of Germany, and he would like to see more investors from the Gulf setting up business there. Attracted by the top performance and the excellent strategic position of the region in the EU, more than 3,200 foreign companies now have established a presence in the region, with 100 new ones joining them every year.