Berlin stands for creativity and innovation. With over 3.4 million inhabitants, the capital of Germany is the largest city in the country and also the centre of the creative industries. In Berlin alone, there are more than 24,000 companies with 170,000 employees working in this still fast growing sector.
The city’s mixture of media, digital and creative sectors with their manifold interlinks is unique: The Berlin region (including the surrounding area of Brandenburg) is Germany’s number one place for film and TV productions and is also leader in the music industry. Moreover, Berlin plays an important role in press and publishing, fashion and design, fine art, performing art, advertising, architecture as well as in software, Web 2.0 and games development. This makes the metropolis by the river Spree attractive for representatives of all creative sectors and has resulted in many of the market’s key players opening their headquarters in Berlin.
The UNESCO “City of Design” is also an international meeting place for people of the global business. With events such as the International Film Festival Berlinale, the International Design Festival DMY, the Berlin Fashion Week, the International Art Forum, the Popkomm, and the IFA, the city is host of major industry events, well-known festivals, exhibitions and large conferences every year. Today, Berlin ranks as the world’s second most popular city for congresses and conventions.
Creatives from around the globe are attracted to Berlin because of its special atmosphere. It is known as a cosmopolitan, tolerant, open-minded and exciting capital in which life is still affordable. Especially the 477,000 foreign inhabitants from 195 different nations contribute a lot to the city’s great diversity and cultural richness. Furthermore, Berlin has a very young population with 23.2% of all inhabitants being under 25. This plays an important part in Berlin always reinventing itself and being full of new ideas and leading innovation.
Young creative minds are needed to stay ahead and Berlin is well-prepared: There is a huge variety of educational facilities which offer specialised creative programmes to tens of thousands students and young professionals – amongst them the University of Arts, the Media Design School, the Games Academy, and the German Film and TV Academy. Berlin provides the country’s highest concentration of scientific and research institutions driving interdisciplinary cooperation with all industries.
As the creative industries are vital for Berlin’s economy, the city government has been developing strategies, master plans, and tailor-made support programs jointly with other regional parties for many years now: Under the lead of the Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Women’s Issues, various sector-specific networks, platforms and projects have been set up to maintain and further develop the city’s leading role in the sector. The creative industries are one of the key target fields in Berlin’s innovation strategy and widely supported also on national level. An extensive range of consulting, networking, funding, incubation and support opportunities in Berlin encourages the further disclosure of the creative industry’s great economic potential. With the time and money invested in this sector and the city’s attractiveness to creatives and business leaders alike, we are sure that Berlin will be able to hold and even strengthen its position as a creative capital in the future.
BERLIN PHOTO GALLERY