Middle Upper Rhine
Although the smallest of the twelve regions of Baden-Württemberg extends along the banks of the Rhine, more than one million of people live together here. The central region Middle Upper Rhine includes two urban districts and rural districts each.
As the name hypothesizes, the region with a size of 2,137 square kilometres is located in the area of the upper Rhine. Together with its neighbours, the north Alsace and south Palatinate, it forms the north wing of the trinational Upper Rhine metropolis region.
Due to its central situation, the region has a good infrastructure. For instance, it is connected excellently to the federal motorway network by the A5, A8 and B10/A65 motorways. Furthermore, two European railway tracks cross in the regional metropolis: The "Mainline for Europe" between Paris and Budapest and the north/south transversal between Rotterdam and Genoa. Also, the Rhine has the function of a waterway. The Rhine harbors in Karlsruhe are among the most important inland harbours of Europe. The Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airport, the second-largest of the federal state, ensures a good airplane connection.
This also brings numerous guests into the touristically and culturally interesting region. The biggest German open-air theater and the biggest European opera house in Baden-Baden are located here. Also the various Baroque palaces at the Middle Upper Rhine, the Karlsruhe centre for art and media technology and the Baden-Baden casino act as tourism magnets and bring almost three million overnight stays per annum to the region.
Although the Middle Upper Rhine region is the smallest of the twelve regions of the state, it generates about 10 percent of Baden-Württemberg's gross domestic product. Thus, its economic strength lies above that of some of the EU countries. The corporate landscape consists of a healthy mixture of international company groups, medium-sized enterprises and start-ups. In the Baden-Württemberg comparison, the share of employees in the tertiary sector is considerably higher in the Middle Upper Rhine region. Here, the part of the service providers working closely with the company is also higher than usual in the average of the regions.
Due to the presence of Daimler AG, an automobile cluster has developed. Furthermore, industry emphases are on energy, IT and nanotechnology. Particularly the Karlsruhe area takes an exceptional position here. Europe-wide, it is considered the leading location in the information and communication technologies. Resident clusters (e.g. Karlsruhe energy forum etc.) mostly act across the borders due to the geographical situation.
Known resident enterprise names of the region are Bosch, Daimler, Siemens or dm. Furthermore, a great number of medium-sized and small enterprises that are quite often market leaders in their field contribute to the success of the region.
The innovation strength of the Middle Upper Rhine region is also reflected in the dense structure of the university landscape. Especially Karlsruhe plays a decisive role. Here, a university, three art and music universities, a pedagogic university as well as a dual and a private university each are located. Particularly in the fields of engineering sciences and natural sciences, the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie KIT (Karlsruhe institute for technology) has an excellent reputation. It is one of the eleven German universities of excellence and takes number 131 on the world ranking list (QS world university ranking). The outstanding science landscape is complemented with several well-known research institutions.
Your direct contact to the region
