The economy of Berlin is dominated by the service sector, with around 84% of all companies doing business in services. Important economic sectors in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.
Berlin became one of the largest and most advanced industrial centers in Europe after 1870. After 1900 the Berlin banking district became a major continental financial center and was home to a number of prominent banks. After the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1945 and the subsequent political divisions, the city's location inside of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
led to an exodus of many major firms to
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. Berlin's economy has been affected through the years by the city's changing geopolitical fortunes from 1961-1989. The city stagnated economically during the Cold War, when
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
was isolated geographically and
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
suffered from poor economic decisions made by East Germany’s socialist central planners. Furthermore, few East German companies survived the collapse of the GDR and the attempt to privatize them through the
Treuhandanstalt
The ("Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification. Cre ...
.
After
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990 large service, technology and creative sectors re-established in the city. A number of companies have re-opened secondary corporate headquarters or satellite offices in Berlin. A number of major German companies were founded in Berlin, such as Siemens,
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
,
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
,
Allianz
Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management.
The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. The ...
,
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...
,
Telefunken
Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company').
The name "Telefunken" app ...
,
Osram
Osram Licht AG is a German company that makes electric lights, headquartered in Munich and Premstätten (Austria). Osram positions itself as a high-tech photonics company that is increasingly focusing on sensor technology, visualization and tre ...
,
Knorr-Bremse
Knorr-Bremse AG is a German manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles that has operated in the field for over 110 years. Other products in Group's portfolio include intelligent door systems, control components, air con ...
and
Edeka
The Edeka Group is the largest German supermarket corporation , holding a market share of 20.3%. Founded in 1907, it consists today of several co-operatives of independent supermarkets all operating under the umbrella organisation ''Edeka Zen ...
.
History
Berlin was founded at a point where trade routes crossed the river
Spree
Spree may refer to:
Geography
* Spree (river), river in Germany
Film and television
* ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
* ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery
* "Spree" (''Numbers' ...
and it quickly became a commercial center. During the early modern period, the city prospered from its role as
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n capital by manufacturing luxury goods for the Prussian court and supplies for the Prussian military.
Industrial Revolution
![Maschinenbau-Anstalt Borsig, Berlin Chausseestraße, 1847, Karl Eduard Biermann](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Maschinenbau-Anstalt_Borsig%2C_Berlin_Chausseestra%C3%9Fe%2C_1847%2C_Karl_Eduard_Biermann.jpg)
During the mid-19th century, the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
transformed the city’s economy. Berlin became Germany’s main
rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
hub and a center of
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
manufacturing. The city became a leader in the manufacture of other kinds of machinery as well, and developed an important
chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...
sector. Toward the end of the 19th century, Berlin became a world leader in the then cutting-edge sector of
electrical equipment
Electric(al) devices are devices that functionally rely on electric energy ( AC or DC) to drive their core parts (electric motors, transformers, lighting, rechargeable batteries, control electronics). They can be contrasted with traditional mech ...
manufacturing. As the ''de facto'' center of the German
Zollverein
The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...
, or Customs Union, and later the seat of the
Reichsbank
The ''Reichsbank'' (; 'Bank of the Reich, Bank of the Realm') was the central bank of the German Reich from 1876 until 1945.
History until 1933
The Reichsbank was founded on 1 January 1876, shortly after the establishment of the German Empi ...
, Berlin became Germany’s
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
ing and
financial
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
center as well.
Berlin suffered from both the
German hyperinflation of the 1920s
Hyperinflation affected the German Papiermark, the currency of the Weimar Republic, between 1921 and 1923, primarily in 1923. It caused considerable internal political instability in the country, the occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium, ...
and the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
of the 1930s. The city’s economy revived as a center of
weapon
A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...
s production under the Nazis, but it lost a pool of entrepreneurial talent when the Nazis forced Jewish businessmen to sell their holdings and ultimately massacred most who did not flee Germany.
After the World Wars
World War II severely damaged Berlin’s industrial infrastructure, and Soviet expropriation of machinery and other capital equipment as “
war reparations
War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war.
History
Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history.
R ...
” further damaged Berlin’s industrial base. Soviet restrictions on transport impeded communication with West Germany and ended hopes that Berlin would resume a role as Germany’s financial center; most banks established headquarters in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. In East Berlin, socialist central planners rebuilt a manufacturing sector, but one that was not competitive internationally or responsive to market demand. West Berlin’s economy grew increasingly dependent on state
subsidies
A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...
and on its role as an educational and research center.
Reunification
![16199 dbtower duhanic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/16199_dbtower_duhanic.jpg)
Berlin’s and Germany’s unification brought the collapse of many of East Berlin’s producers, which could not compete with market-disciplined Western competitors. Massive
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
was only partly compensated by the growth of jobs in the construction and infrastructural sectors involved in rebuilding and upgrading East Berlin’s infrastructure. The move of the federal government from Bonn to Berlin in 1999 brought some economic stimulus and tens of thousands of jobs from government employees, parliamentary services, lobbyists and journalism to Berlin. Berlin’s
service sectors have also benefited from improved transportation and communications links to the surrounding region.
While some
manufacturing
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...
remains in the city (
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
and
Bayer Schering Pharma
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...
have headquarters in Berlin), the service sectors have become the city’s economic mainstay. Research and development have gained significance, and Berlin was ranked among the top three innovative regions in the EU (after
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
and the
Île-de-France
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 = +01:00
, timezone1_DST = CEST
, utc_offset1_DST = +02:00
, blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product
, blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st
, bla ...
in 2006. In the same year unemployment remained high, at 16.5% as of 2006.
Fast-growing sectors are communications, life sciences, mobility and services with information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology and environmental services, transportation and medical engineering.
Since 2015 Berlin is the top congress city in the world and is home to one of Europe's biggest convention centers in the form of the CityCube Berlin (formerly
Internationales Congress Centrum). It contributes to the increasing tourism sector encompassing 592 hotels with 90,700 beds (2007 figures) and numbered over 22 million overnight stays by 9.8 million tourists in 2011. Berlin has established itself as the third most visited city destination in the European Union.
Berlin's economy has grown continuously above the German average in the period from 2005 to 2013. This trend is set to continue, with important improvements to infrastructure, such as the biggest European crossing station,
Berlin Hauptbahnhof
Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...
(inaugurated 2006), the opening of the 3rd biggest German airport,
Berlin Brandenburg Airport
Berlin Brandenburg Airport ''Willy Brandt'' (german: Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg "Willy Brandt", , ) is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the Germany, German capital Berlin in the state of Brandenburg. Named after the f ...
, in 2020 replacing the decrepit
Tegel Airport
Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Berlin-Tegel „Otto Lilienthal“) was the primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilientha ...
which was not fit to serve as a modern
airline hub
An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer (or stop-over) points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the ...
.
Also, the revered Berlin music scene, attracting tens of thousands of young tourists flying in for the city's famed clubs has become an increasingly important part of the economy and is set to gain the support of the city music board modeled after the German film promotion authority.
Workforce
* Number of total employees (III/2021): 2,098,400 citizens
* New jobs in 2016: +46,200 (+2.5%)
* Unemployment rate (December 2021): 8.8%
* Number of unemployed people (December 2021): 179,291
* Number of job offers in Berlin and Brandenburg in 2017: 46,000
Companies
![BMW G 650 GS Modell 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/BMW_G_650_GS_Modell_2013.jpg)
The state-owned railway,
Deutsche Bahn
The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder.
describes itself as the se ...
, has its headquarters in Berlin. Many German and international companies have business or service centres in the city.
Among the 20 largest employers in Berlin are the Deutsche Bahn, the hospital providers,
Charité
The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Cen ...
and
Vivantes
The Vivantes Hospital Group is a state-owned healthcare company operating hospitals, primary health care centers, nursing facilities and other medical centers in Berlin. The company runs 10 hospitals with total capacity of about 6,000 beds and m ...
, the local public transport provider,
BVG,
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
, and the
telecommunications company
A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
.
Daimler
Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to:
People
* Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900), German inventor, industrialist and namesake of a series of automobile companies
* Adolf Daimler (1871–1913), engineer and son of Gottlieb Daimler
* Paul Da ...
manufactures cars, and
BMW manufactures motorcycles in Berlin.
Bayer Pharmaceuticals
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...
and
Berlin Chemie
Berlin-Chemie AG is a German pharmaceutical company based in Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Menarini Group.
History
Berlin-Chemie considers the establishment of a plant for the laboratory preparations of the Chemical factory of Kahlbaum in ...
are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city.
Some other notable companies with their headquarters in Berlin are
50Hertz Transmission GmbH,
Axel Springer SE
Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as '' Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and ''Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated to ...
,
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
,
Bundesdruckerei
Bundesdruckerei ("Federal Press", short form: BDr) produces documents and devices for secure identification and offers corresponding services. It is based in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. In addition to complete passport and ID card syste ...
,
KPMG
KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.
Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
Deutschland, ,
Otis
Otis may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Characters
* Otis (Superman), in the films ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'' and related DC Comics media
** Otis Graves, in the TV series ''Supergirl''
* Otis (The Walking Dead), Otis (''The Walking Dead' ...
Deutschland,
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
Germany,
Coca-Cola European Partners
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc (CCEP), formerly Coca-Cola European Partners (2016–2021) is a British company formed as a result of the combination of the three main bottling companies for The Coca-Cola Company in Western Europe: Coca-Col ...
Deutschland,
Delivery Hero
Delivery Hero is a German multinational online food-delivery service based in Berlin, Germany. The company operates in 50+ countries internationally in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and partners with 500,000+ restaurants. Deli ...
,
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Banking Group is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank w ...
Europe,
solarisBank,
N26
N26 (known as ''Number 26'' until July 2016) is a German neobank headquartered in Berlin, Germany. N26 was founded in 2013 in a Rocket Internet Incubator and currently operates in various member states of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). I ...
,
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...
Germany,
Zalando
Zalando SE is a publicly traded German online retailer of shoes, fashion and beauty. The company was founded in 2008 by David Schneider and Robert Gentz and has more than 50 million active users in 25 European markets. Zalando is active in a vari ...
,
GASAG
GASAG (german: Berliner Gaswerke Aktiengesellschaft; English: ''Berlin Gas Works Corporation'') is the main natural gas supplier and vendor in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3 ...
,
HelloFresh
HelloFresh SE is a publicly traded meal kit company based in Berlin, Germany. It is the largest meal-kit provider in the United States, and also has operations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Europe ( GB, D-A-CH, Benelux, France, Italy and ...
,
Deutsche Wohnen
Deutsche Wohnen SE is a German property company, and one of the 30 companies that compose the DAX index. The position in the DAX was reached in June 2020 from previous MDAX position after Lufthansa was downgraded to the MDAX because of losses du ...
, and
Vattenfall
Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational power company owned by the Swedish State. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
The company's name is Swedish for "waterfall", and ...
Deutschland.
The top 10 largest employers in Berlin by number of employees in 2016:
Tourism
![IFA 2012 IMG 7244](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/IFA_2012_IMG_7244.JPG)
Berlin has 788 hotels with 134,399 beds as of December 2014.
In 2016 the visitor figures for Berlin have broken records with 31.1 million overnight stays (+2.7%) and 12.9 million hotel guests (+2.9%). Berlin has a yearly total of estimated 135 million day visitors, which puts it in third place among the most-visited city destinations in Europe. International visitors made up 46 per cent of the overnight stays in 2016. The largest visitor groups are from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Poland.
According to ICCA statistics in 2015 Berlin became the top organizer of conferences in the world hosting 195 international meetings. It is home to one Europe's biggest convention centers at the
Messe Berlin
Messe Berlin (') are exhibition grounds in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf precinct of Berlin, Germany, at Masurenallee opposite the Haus des Rundfunks. Since 2011, they have officially been known as "Berlin ExpoCenter City" and operated by the M ...
. Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair
IFA
IFA or Ifa may refer to:
Organisations
Economics
* Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK
* Index Fund Advisors
* Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK
* Institute of Ac ...
, the
ILA Berlin Air Show
The ILA Berlin Air Show (German: Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (ILA)) combines a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with a public airshow.
It is held every even year at the new Berlin ExpoCenter Air ...
,
Berlin Fashion Week
Berlin Fashion Week (''Berliner Modewoche'') is a fashion week held twice annually (in January and July) in Berlin, Germany. Since its establishment in July 2007 it has gained great international attention for its many creative young designers wh ...
(including the
Bread and Butter tradeshow
Bread&Butter was an annual Berlin-based event and a year-round online shopping hub by Zalando.
Access to pre-launches and rare items, with a particular focus on streetwear and sneakers, is part of Bread&&Butter’s DNA. Brands such as Vans, adidas ...
),
Green Week
, cz, rusalné svátky, rusalje, russian: зелёные cвятки, русальная неделя, русалии, pl, zielone świątki, uk, зелені свята, русалії
, observedby = Slavic people
, litcolor =
, longt ...
("Grüne Woche"), the transport fair
InnoTrans, the adult entertainment fair
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
and the tourism fair
ITB are held in the city.
Media
Berlin is home to many international and regional television and radio stations. The public broadcaster
RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters
MTV Germany
MTV Germany is a German language free-to-air television channel operated by Paramount Global. The channel launched on 7 March 1997 as MTV Central, as part of a regionalisation strategy by Paramount Global, then MTV Networks Europe.
Availabi ...
,
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
and
Welt
Welt, welts or variants may refer to:
Media
* ''Die Welt'' (''The World''), a German national newspaper
** ''Welt am Sonntag'' (''World on Sunday''), the Sunday edition of ''Die Welt''
* ''Die Welt'', former weekly newspaper in Vienna, Austria
* ...
. German international public broadcaster
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city including
Das Erste
Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...
,
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
and
RTL.
Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local
broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
s (''
Berliner Morgenpost
''Berliner Morgenpost'' is a German newspaper, based and mainly read in Berlin, where it is the second most read daily newspaper.
History and profile
Founded in 1898 by Leopold Ullstein, the paper was taken over by Axel Springer AG in 1959. It ...
'', ''
Berliner Zeitung
The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...
'', ''
Der Tagesspiegel
''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, s ...
''), and three major
tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as ''
Die Welt
''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...
'', ''
Junge Welt
''Junge Welt'' (English: ''Young World'', stylized in its logo as ''junge Welt'') is a German daily newspaper, published in Berlin. The jW describes itself as a left-wing and Marxist newspaper. German authorities categorize it as a far-left medi ...
'', ''
Neues Deutschland
''Neues Deutschland'' (''nd''; en, New Germany, sometimes stylized in lowercase letters) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquartered in Berlin.
For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ...
'', and ''
Die Tageszeitung
''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...
''. The ''
Exberliner
''Exberliner'' is an English-language magazine published in Berlin that was launched in 2002. It is published monthly (except for the July/August double issue) and available for €3.90 at newsstands around the city or by subscription. The magazi ...
'', a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of the two major German-language
publishing house
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
s
Walter de Gruyter
Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature.
History
The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...
and
Axel Springer
Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press ma ...
, each of which publish books, periodicals, and multimedia products.
Creative industries
Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion,
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
, publishing,
R&D,
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
, TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18,6 billion Euro in total revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20% of Berlin's gross domestic product in 2005.
![Studio Babelsberg Haupteingang 2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Studio_Babelsberg_Haupteingang_2015.jpg)
Berlin is an important center in the European and
German film industry
The film industry in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema made major technical and artistic contributions to early film, broadcasting and television technology. Babelsberg Studio, Babelsberg became a household synon ...
. It is home to more than 1000 film and television production companies, 270 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year. The historic
Babelsberg Studios
Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...
and the production company
UFA
Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...
are located in nearby
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, as is the
Filmuniversität Babelsberg. Companies like
Rise FX
Rise FX is a German visual effects company with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, and London.
Rise FX has worked on several films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe like '' Avengers: Endgame'', '' Captain Marvel'', ''Ant-Man and the W ...
create
special effect
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...
s for international film productions. The city is also home of the
European Film Academy
The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.
The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soci ...
and the
German Film Academy, and hosts the annual
Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
. Founded in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978. With over 430,000 admissions it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world.
Education and research
![Berlin Adlershof Photonics Center 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Berlin_Adlershof_Photonics_Center_2016.jpg)
The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region is one of the most prolific centers of higher education and research in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. The city has four public research universities and 27 private, professional and technical colleges ''(Hochschulen)'', offering a wide range of disciplines. Over 180,000 students (+1.8% compared to 2015/16) were enrolled in the winter term of 2016/17. The three largest universities combined have approximately 100,000 enrolled students. They are the
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...
''(HU Berlin)'' with 34,000 students, the
Freie Universität Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
''(Free University of Berlin, FU Berlin)'' with about 34,500 students, and the
Technische Universität Berlin
The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...
''(TU Berlin)'' with 30,000 students. The
Universität der Künste
The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...
''(UdK)'' has about 4,000 students and the
Berlin School of Economics and Law
The Berlin School of Economics and Law (German: ''Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht''), abbreviated as BSEL, is a public institution of higher education and research founded on 1 April 2009 through the merger of the Berlin School of Economi ...
has enrollment of about 10,000 students.
The city has a high density of research institutions, such as the
Fraunhofer Society
The Fraunhofer Society (german: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., lit=Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research) is a German research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany ...
,
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community
The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines.
As of 2020, 96 non-university research insti ...
and the
Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...
, which are independent of, or only loosely connected to its universities. A total number of 62,000 scientists are working in
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
. The city is one of the centers of knowledge and innovation communities (Future Information and Communication Society and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation) of the
European Institute of Innovation and Technology
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is an independent body of the European Union with juridical personality, established in 2008 intended to strengthen Europe's ability to innovate. The EIT is an integral part of Horizon ...
(EIT).
See also
*
Economic history of Germany
Until the early 19th century, Germany, a federation of numerous states of varying size and development, retained its pre-industrial character, where trade centered around a number of free cities. After the extensive development of the railway ...
*
List of people from Berlin
The following is a list of notable people who were born in Berlin, Germany.
Politicians and Statesmen
* Friedrich Ancillon (1767–1837), Prussian historian and statesman.
* Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg (1803–1868), statesman and p ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Economy Of Berlin