Get to know Nuremberg

Nuremberg is the business, service and cultural centre of Northern Bavaria, and the heart of a cosmopolitan urban region. Find out what makes Nuremberg such an attractive destination, both economically and scientifically.

The European Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg (EMN) is one of Europe’s leading business hubs. Its central location as a pan-European hub (Paris - Prague, London - Vienna, Stockholm - Madrid, Warsaw - Berlin - Rome) offers ideal conditions for trade, exports, and tourism. With approximately 3.5 million residents, 2 million people in the workforce, and 150,000 companies, the region generates a gross domestic product (GDP) of EUR 151 billion - nearly half of which comes from exports.

Nuremberg is particularly strong in the fields of IT, medical technology, and innovative solutions for energy, transport, and medicine. As a dynamic hub for high-tech, industry, and innovative services, the greater Nuremberg area is continuously developing into a center for future technologies as well as research and development. More than 20 university-level educational institutions and over 50 research institutions underscore the metropolitan region’s innovative strength.

This makes Nuremberg an ideal location for your conferences, congresses, and events.

Economy

Nuremberg and its entire Metropolitan Region are one of the ten most dynamic economic regions in Europe, thanks to their high-innovation economic structure sustained by small and medium-sized businesses. Nuremberg is holding its own as a site for high tech, industry and innovative services, punching above its weight in economic output.

The Nuremberg European Metropolitan Region is home to some 150,000 companies from all sectors, 25,000 of them within the city limits alone. They include a good mix of global players (like adidas, Datev, Siemens), hidden champions (like uvex, Barth & Sohn) and young start-ups, especially in tech (now-established examples: FlixBus & immowelt.de). And the Zollhof – Tech Incubator is one of Germany’s fastest-growing incubators for new businesses.

Nuremberg’s sector skills

Three skills areas are the most significant for Nuremberg as a city:

Information & Communications: 10.3% of Nuremberg’s working population is active in this field, placing the city third in the country after Munich and Bonn.
Medicine & Health: The Nuremberg Region is the home of “Medical Valley”, a medical technology cluster that is among the international leaders. Jointly with Zollhof, it was named a “Digital Health Hub” in 2017, one of the German economy ministry’s twelve national Digital Hubs.
Energy & Environment: Nuremberg is home to multiple institutions like the Energie Campus Nürnberg and the H2.B – Wasserstoffzentrum Bayern hydrogen centre.

But Nuremberg and its Metropolitan Region also have significant capabilities in other sectors like Automation & Production Technology, Automotive, New Materials, and Transport & Logistics.

Digitalisation: A driving force

The region’s success in recent years is founded on Nuremberg’s strong digitalisation capabilities as a business location, and its close, vigorous cooperation among business, government and research. The region’s special ecosystem of innovation now sets it apart with cross-cluster solutions in four science-based, forward-looking fields for action: networked mobility, the digital healthcare industry, networked production, and sustainable energy systems.

You can find out more about Nuremberg as a business location on the websites of the City of Nuremberg and the European Metropolitan Region Nuremberg (in German, English available soon).

Science

Nuremberg is an excellent host for events in many fields of science and research. As a place of learning, Nuremberg is diverse, innovative, and flourishing. Many university-level educational institutions both public and private, research and development facilities, scientific laboratories, and start-up incubators are producing top-notch next-generation talent for business, science and research in the business location of Nuremberg.

Nuremberg’s universities

The Nuremberg Metropolitan Region offers a vast range of options for university-level study – from fine arts and music, to artificial intelligence, to medicine, engineering and business administration. Nuremberg alone has some 24,000 registered students at the moment. If you go beyond the city limits to the Metropolitan Region, the figures grow still further. The area has a total of 20 university-level educational institutions, 50 research facilities, and some 100,000 students

The university-level schools include:

The Academy of Fine Arts
The Nuremberg Lutheran University of Applied Sciences
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
FernUniversität in Hagen - distance-learning university, Nuremberg Campus
Nuremberg Hochschule für Musik music conservatory
Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm technical university

Nuremberg Technical University, founded in 2021, has expanded the innovation ecosystem still further. It is expected to set new standards for German university-level institutions, and to become a model university of a whole new breed.

Research & development

Alongside these major-name university institutions, Nuremberg also conducts outstanding research outside the academic environment at many internationally famed research institutions and user centres. These involve a close link between business and science, and encourage interdisciplinary cooperation oriented to applications and solutions. Good examples here include the Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and the Energy Campus Nuremberg.

Open innovation, Nuremberg style

Science gets done in Nuremberg in more than just the ivory towers of dedicated institutions. Scientists and researchers are also looking for ways to come closer to society. You can see science and research at work first-hand in many forms and in many places around town. Many local museums offer lectures and Science Slams. Or you can try out innovations personally and become part of the development process at one of the innovation laboratories and start-up incubators like JOSEPHS – the open innovation laboratory.

Innovation & Inventiveness

The ICE and the Adler (Eagle) at the Deutsche Bahn Railroad Museum

Today, Nuremberg and its Metropolitan Region count among the economic areas with the most patents and the liveliest innovation in Germany, and its local universities also regularly win awards.

Today’s success is rooted in Nuremberg’s history as a Free Imperial City in the Middle Ages. Nuremberg’s citizens were self-governing, and had to make sure on their own responsibility that trade and crafts flourished. That tradition continued into the industrial age, and Nuremberg thus rapidly developed into one of the engines of German industrial history, in which Nuremberg names like AEG, Faber-Castell, Quelle and Zündapp regularly appear. Though some of these companies no longer exist in their historic forms, Nuremberg’s business players have repeatedly been able to reinvent themselves or evolve further, and have achieved the transition to a modern location for high tech, industry, and innovative services.

Selected examples of inventiveness from Nuremberg and Franconia

From the late Middle Ages to the 21st century, there are numerous examples of the inventiveness of Nuremberg's citizens. If you take a look at history, you will come across names like Dürer, Behaim and Ohm. It was the home of Germany’s first railroad, and where the first German patent was applied for. And did you know the MP3 format was developed jointly by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits?

1303/05
Nürnberger Rotbier created, Germany’s first bottom-fermented beer

1313
First regulations for making Nuremberg Rostbratwurst (Nuremberg sausages)

1360
Development of the drawing iron (Schockenzug) for making medium and fine wire

1368
Development of conifer cropping: the world’s first forest plantation

1390
The first paper mill north of the Alps lays the cornerstone for industrial mass production of paper

1395
First documentation of the “Lebküchner”, professional bakers of Nuremberg Lebkuchen (gingerbread)

1492
Martin Behaim makes a terrestrial globe, the oldest surviving globe in the world
Etzlaub makes the first map of Nuremberg’s environs, the oldest specialty map printed in Germany.

1500
Etzlaub also produces the “Romwegekarte”, the oldest road map in Christian Europe.

1504
Henlein is thought to have invented the first spring-driven pocket watch. (Henlein is no longer credited with inventing the first pocket watch of any kind.)

1569
Development of a technique for “Lyonese ware” (fine, silver-plated copper wires for use in textiles)

1655
First fire pump air vessel developed
First self-propelled wheelchair developed

1700
First clarinet developed

1793
The merchant Bestelmeier produces the first sales catalogue and becomes a pioneer in mail-order sales.

1824
Germany’s first free-standing suspension bridge built: the Nuremberg Kettensteg

1826
Ohm’s Law described

1834
Staedtler puts the first oil pastels on the market

1835
The first German railroad, the “Adler” (Eagle), runs from Nuremberg to Fürth

1875
The Schwan Pencil Factory (later Schwan-STABILO) develops the indelible pencil

1877
Ultramarine, developed in 1834, is awarded the first patent from the German Reich

1879
The first musical top developed

1882
Schuckert installs Europe’s first electric street lighting, with arc lamps, in Nuremberg
First “Bing Bear” teddy bear introduced

1883
Invention of phenazone, the first synthetic pain relieving and fever reducing medication

1914
Introduction of the Schuco Automato, a toy automaton

Ca. 1920
Creation of “Bärendreck” – a liquorice sweet

1921
Zündapp motorcycles for the general market start production

1923
"Em-eukal" from Dr Carl Soldan is the first German cough lozenge

1927
Introduction of the world’s first cosmetic pencil, the “Schwan Eyebrow Pencil”

1929
Birth of the “Tempo” handkerchief, the first tissue paper hanky

1933
Development of the Schuco Wendeauto wind-up car

1946
Grundig develops the Heinzelmann radio for the general market

1948
The social market economy is introduced in Germany, based on the theories of Dr Ludwig Erhard (born in Fürth)

1952/54
Puma, and adidas soon after, develops the first shoe with interchangeable cleats

1963
Design of a toy slot car by Carrera

1970
A Nuremberg clockmaker develops the radio-controlled clock

1971
Development of the first neon-yellow highlighter pen, the "STABILO BOSS"

1972
The Bobby Car from Fürth reaches the market

1974
Little PLAYMOBIL figures come into the world

1987
Development of the MP3 audio file storage format at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS

2010
The world’s first fully automated, driverless underground train goes into partly autonomous operation in Nuremberg

2012
A research team from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg develops the LOHC, a liquid compound that can store hydrogen

The best way to gain deeper insights into the Franconian inventive spirit of the past and present is to go on an exploratory tour of the city. Or discover the innovations of tomorrow at the annual "Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften" (Long Night of Science)!

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Journey to Nuremberg

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