Berlin at MIPIM 2015: Berlin – The Place for Business

Testimonials from business and politics are marketing Berlin. On the first day of this year’s international MIPIM 2015 Real Estate Trade Show, taking place from March 10-13 in Cannes, experts from business and politics talked about Berlin.

Berlin is growing and new companies are ruling the city. Dr. Jürgen Allerkamp, CEO of the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB), Dr. Stefan Franzke, Managing Director of Berlin Partner for Business and Technology GmbH, Janet Day Strehlow, EMEAR Theatre COE, Capital Program Management Workplace Resources Cisco Systems Holding GmbH, as the company’s representative and Dr. Thomas Glatte, Group Real Estate & Facility Management, BASF SE, discuss why this is the case and what makes Berlin so attractive in their opinion.

Berlin has an extremely positive reputation within Germany and, most notably, abroad, and is in the middle of writing its own story of success. Even if it is happening 20 years later than originally expected, Berlin has awoken from its slumber. Dr. Jürgen Allerkamp emphasized: “In recent years, Berlin has been growing by nearly 40,000 people each year. Half of the population has been renewed since the Wall came down. We can also see these dynamic changes in the city’s startup scene. Nearly half of our customers are founders, so funding them is very important to us.”

Berlin has assets that no other European city possesses in this combination: Urban space, human resources, a high concentration of science and research, internationalism and openness and not to mention a low price structure. Dr. Stefan Franzke also acknowledges that the real estate boom in Berlin has already been recognized a while ago: “The city on the Spree is Germany’s number one location for real estate. Our capital has both a variety of attractive commercial spaces as well as living areas that are still priced well below other comparable cities in Europe. Whether for industrial enterprises or creative startups – Berlin has the right real estate spaces to fulfill every requirement – even within the inner city. That also attracts more and more international investors,” continued Dr. Franzke.

This point was confirmed by Dr. Bernd Heinrichs, Managing Director IoT EMEAR & openBerlin IoT Innovation Center: “We deliberately made the decision to be in Berlin because we can work innovatively together with global market leaders from the industrial sector here. It is not even possible to find the same amount or frequency of partners in Silicon Valley as in Berlin. For this purpose, all of Berlin’s universities, research institutions and startups make it the ideal place to flourish.”

“Berlin also convinced BASF to locate there thanks to its international talent, unique location in the heart of Europe and excellent infrastructure,” acknowledged Dr. Thomas Glatte on the podium. “BASF Services Europe has been in Berlin since 2005. Starting out with 30 employees, our company has grown to around 1,200 people from over 50 nations.”

The panel’s response to the question “Why global players choose Berlin?” was clearly summed up: Because Berlin brings attractive spaces, international talent, traditional companies and the digital economy together at the heart of Europe.