In the Southern Upper Rhine region, there are one million inhabitants living on an area of 4,062 square kilometres. Being integrated in the “trinational metropolitan region Upper Rhine” and located in proximity to France, the region is characterized by cross-border cluster structures. The regional economy moreover shows a well-balanced business diversity as well as a medium-sized enterprise structure.
The Southern Upper Rhine region covers an area of 4,062 square kilometres and is part of the "trinational metropolitan region Oberrhein". Consisting of the city of Freiburg as well as of the local districts of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Emmendingen and the Ortenaukreis, the region counts more than one million inhabitants. The geographical situation of the region at the interface of the EU and the EFTA (Switzerland) has a positive impact on its conditions as business location. Compared to Baden-Wuerttemberg as a whole, the region's economy is characterized by a particularly strong influence of the services sector and a smaller share of the manufacturing industry. However, the share of the regional corporate services is below the federal state's average.
The regional economy shows a well-balanced business diversity as well as a medium-sized enterprise structure. Notably in the services sector, numerous business concentrations can be found in the sectors of publishing, transport, computer science and research. Being located in proximity to France, the region is also characterized by cross-border cluster structures. In addition, there are several structural policy projects going beyond regional and national borders. The region is remarkable for its impressive specialisation and innovative strength in the health sector.
The most important sectors include (by the number of jobs liable for social insurance contributions excluding commerce, the construction and the public sector):
Compared to other regions of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the innovative strength of the Southern Upper Rhine region is at the bottom of the scale. Both, the innovative level as well as the development of the region's innovation activities are clearly below average.
Innovation Index of the region* | ||
---|---|---|
Overall index | 29,7 % | federal state 38,8 % |
| 22,7 % | federal state 36,5 % |
| 50,7 % | federal state 45,8 % |
Share of the employment in the different sectors** | ||
---|---|---|
Manufactoring | 32,5 % | federal state 36,2 % |
Services | 67,0 % | federal state 63,2 % |
| 14,6 % | federal state 13,3 % |
| 9,3 % | federal state 12,5 % |
| 4,2 % | federal state 4,1 % |
*Statistical State Office of Baden-Wuerttemberg 2015
**Statistic of Employment of the Federal Employment Agency 2015