6/15/2009

Bavaria’s Economics Vice-Minister Hessel at ‘Paris Air Show’ / Bavarian and Abu Dhabi Aerospace Clusters sign ‘Twin Cluster Agreement’

MUNICH / PARIS     Bavaria’s Vice-Minister of Economic Affairs, Katja Hessel, visited the ‘Paris Air Show’ today - the most important exhibition for the aerospace sector - where she was able to convince herself of the efficiency of Bavarian products. At the Show in Paris Le Bourget Airport she was impressed by the wide-ranging presentations of numerous small and medium-sized companies from Bavaria. “Besides such Bavarian industry giants as EADS, MTU or Premium Aerotech, it is the SMEs in particular that make up the impressive overall portfolio of companies in the Bavarian Aerospace Cluster with top-quality offers”, Hessel commented.

After walking round the Show, Vice-Minister Hessel took part in the formal signing of the ‘Twin Cluster Agreement’ between the Bavarian Aerospace Cluster bavAIRia e.V. and the Abu Dhabi Aerospace Cluster, the Abu Dhabi Airport Company (ADAC). “I am delighted that in the past few months collaboration between the two regions has developed to the point where such industrial cooperation is possible”, Hessel added. The ‘Twin Cluster Agreement’ covers investments in production and research facilities in both Abu Dhabi and Bavaria. Hessel: “Good cooperation with Abu Dhabi is very important to the vibrant Bavarian aerospace industry and the agreement will make it much easier to implement this cooperation. The Government of Abu Dhabi plans to build up the aerospace sector as a strategic core industry. Some 300 billion US Dollars are to be invested in the next 20 years.” The Arab side is currently seeking international industry partners across the entire added-value chain, including explicitly SMEs of some size. Bavarian firms could therefore benefit enormously from the signing of the ‘Twin Cluster Agreement’.

Altogether well over 60,000 people are employed in the aerospace sector in Bavaria. The annual turnover comes to about 6.5 billion Euros. But the economic significance of the aerospace industry extends far beyond mere sales revenue and employment figures. The companies operating in this sector account for an R&D share of up to 19 percent of sales revenue as drivers of growth and innovation.

The State Government supports the important process of building networks within the industry and with research institutions through the Bavarian Cluster Initiative. bavAIRia has been entrusted with the management of the ‘Aerospace’ and ‘Satellite Navigation’ twin clusters.

Source: Invest in Bavaria

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