The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region...
The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region is in south-west Germany at the point where the three federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate meet. This conurbation, home to 2.4 million people, is shaped not only by cities such as Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg, Worms, Speyer, Heppenheim or Mosbach but also by the countryside of the Odenwald mountains or the Palatinate region.
Here, industry, science, politics and government work hand in hand across state borders; this is seen as one of the decisive factors behind the success in the Rhine-Neckar Region and beyond.
Along with its neighbouring regions – Frankfurt/Rhine-Main to the north and Karlsruhe/Stuttgart to the south – the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region makes up one of Europe’s powerhouses.
After its classification as a European Metropolitan Region and the signing of a second interstate treaty between Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, in 2006 the close collaboration between the public sector, industry and science was institutionalised in a private-public-partnership model that is one of a kind in Germany: ever since, the associations Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar GmbH, Verband Region Rhein-Neckar and Zukunft Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar e.V. have stood for targeted, harmonised regional development work.
... an economic leader
The Rhine-Neckar Region is one of Germany’s driving economic forces, with global players such as BASF, SAP, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, KSB or Fuchs Petrolub. It is also home to various SMEs with powerful brand images, such as Betty Barclay, Birkel, Capri Sun, Lamy, Vileda or Zewa.
In 2015, regional gross domestic product was around 92.6 billion euros. Nearly 60% of the goods produced in the region are exported. The main sectors are the automotive industry, mechanical engineering and plant construction, chemicals, information technology, biotechnology and the Life Sciences, energy and the environment and the creative and cultural industries. Rhine-Neckar has a leading position both nationally and internationally in many of these fields.
... creative and curious
The 23 institutes of higher education in the Rhine-Neckar Region come together with a wide range of well-known research institutions such as the European Molecular Biology Laboratory or the German Cancer Research Center to form a creative environment for innovative technologies. In the conurbation of Mannheim/Heidelberg/Ludwigshafen, more than twice as many experts work in research than the German average. Moreover, both universities and non-university R&D institutes maintain a lively exchange of ideas with industry, ensuring that knowledge is productively transferred from theory to practice.
Hardly any other region has such a long history when it comes to the pursuit of scientific discovery as does Rhine-Neckar. In 1386, Germany’s first university was founded in Heidelberg. Today, more than 87,000 students are enrolled at the region’s institutes of higher education, roughly one in ten of whom are international students.
... relaxing and stimulating
The Rhine-Neckar Region offers everything you need to make life enjoyable and rewarding. More than 110 theatres, more than 230 museums and galleries, plus all kinds of festivals, ensure there is cultural variety. The cities of Heidelberg (“City of Literature”) and Mannheim (“City of Music”) are members of the worldwide Unesco network “Creative Cities”. Three World Heritage Sites (Abbey of Lorsch;Frontiers of the Roman Empire; Speyer Cathedral) and more than 120 castles, cathedrals and palaces dot the history-steeped landscape, including world-famous historical sites such as the castles of Heidelberg, Schwetzingen and Hambach.
Away from the bustle of city life, nature lovers will find peace and relaxation in the woods of three nature parks (the Palatinate Forest, Neckartal-Odenwald, and the Bergstrasse-Odenwald geopark). A varied regional cuisine, top-class food and prize-winning wines from four wine-growing areas (Baden, Hessische Bergstrasse, Palatinate, Rhine-Hesse) get gourmets’ hearts pounding.
The region is also the top of its league when it comes to sports, with the Adler Mannheim ice hockey stars, the Rhine-Neckar Löwen and TSG Ludwigshafen handball team, the 1899 Hoffenheim footballers, the St. Leon-Rot golfers, or thrilling motor sports events on the Hockenheimring. The Olympic training centre for the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region keeps local sportspeople at Olympic level. The range of non-professional sports activities is almost unending, with more than 2,700 sports associations getting people moving from the Palatinate Forest to the Odenwald mountains.
...hands-on and committed
In the Rhine-Neckar Region more people than average do voluntary work. Almost half of local residents spend their spare time helping in areas such as sports, the church or the environment. The German average is just one in three. One result of this active civic society is the many recreational activities for children, young people and adults, or programmes for people who need assistance at various stages of their life. One of many examples illustrating how keen people in the region are to get practically and personally involved in their neighbourhood is the regional Volunteers' Day: on the fifth occasion in 2016, more than 7,300 local people got to work together to support non-profit organisations such as nurseries, schools and homes for the elderly – again, German record!
And the many foundations, companies, municipalities and other institutions also play a valuable role in creating a community spirit, for example by creating a good work-life balance. Bringing careers and family life into harmony is high on the agenda in terms both of company staffing policies and town and community family policy. From childcare to caring for relatives, in the Rhine-Neckar Region various initiatives have been set up to make families feel at home and welcome.