image
1

Mannheim, Source: Pixabay

Mannheim with integrated and long-term development strategy

Mannheim with integrated and long-term development strategy

Thanks to the EU funding, today the German city is a supra-regional hub for modern services

The German city of Mannheim faced complex challenges at the turn of the millennium. Production jobs were being lost and this wasn’t being fully compensated for by job creation in services. For many years, the unemployment rate was the highest in the state of Baden-Württemberg. To overcome these challenges, Mannheim developed an integrated, long-term local development strategy. It has two main priorities:

  • target group-oriented support offers, particularly for start-ups;
  • and improving conditions for service enterprises by repurposing abandoned industrial and business sites.

The strategy places the cultural and creative industries, including the music industry, promotion of technology and medical technology at the centre of Mannheim’s structural policy. The aim - to give the city, which was previously dominated by the production sector, a new structural and economic outlook.

Since 2000, EU funding has helped generate sustained urban development in Mannheim. As well as repurposing of wasteland, investments have been made in 9 start-up centres and centres of excellence for specific business sectors. 8 of the centres are already open. They offer high-quality consultancy services and have increased the number of successful start-ups significantly, housing 300 firms employing more than 1,000 people. The 9th and largest of them will be completed by mid-2020. Becoming a city of start-ups has improved Mannheim’s image markedly. Today, it is a supra-regional hub for modern services, including in the music industry and innovative sectors like medical technology.

Source: European Commission

Newsletter

Back

Growing City

All

Smart City

All

Green City

All

Social City

All

New European Bauhaus

All

Interviews

All

ECP 2021 Winner TheMayorEU

Latest