Chemicals

A large pool of excellently trained potential staff awaits the chemical sector in Bavaria. Chemical technicians and laboratory assistants of the future, as well as employees for the commercial, industrial and technical sector are trained in more than 60 different occupations in the industry. Around 1,000 young people in Bavaria opt for training in the chemical industry every year.

In addition, more than 50 different courses of study at 11 Bavarian universities and colleges provide the next generation of academics for the chemical industry. Bavaria has an institution with an outstanding international reputation in chemistry in the Technical University of Munich (TUM). TUM has been distinguished as an elite university as part of the government and states’ excellence initiative. But other universities, such as Bayreuth and Augsburg, are also making waves in chemical research, for example in solid state chemistry and material science. The academic research is complemented by application centres and research departments at many Bavarian chemical companies, as well as non-university research institutes. One example of this is the Fraunhofer IGB with its “Bio-, Electro- and Chemocatalysis BioCat” in Straubing. New technologies for the chemical storage of electrical energy have been researched there since 2016.

Bavaria offers attractive funding programmes for innovative research projects at company level in the chemical industry. Institutions such as the Bavarian Research Alliance or the Chemie-Cluster Bayern also assist with accessing funds at national and international level. Depending on the programme, funding may be provided not only for research and development, but also for introducing the developed products to the market. This well-established support in Bavaria provides the ideal conditions for securing the future of the sector through innovation. However, the broad-based academic research in chemistry not only ensures the development of Made in Bavaria innovations, but also provides the sector with the next generation of superbly trained staff.

One of the most important networks for the chemical industry is the Chemie-Cluster Bayern founded in 2006. It networks companies and research institutes in the Bavarian chemical sector with the aim of creating product, material and process innovations for new, generally international markets. More than 100 cluster members cover the chemical sector’s diverse value chain in Bavaria. Members of Chemie-Cluster Bayern range from producers of chemical and pharmaceutical products as well as rubber and plastic goods and manufacturers of metals and fibres. The cluster’s management supports its members on an individual basis with innovation management and technology transfer issues. It initiates collaborations across sectors, networks value chains, coordinates external funding and provides services to support projects.

Bavaria’s chemical companies have an export ratio of 64.5 percent. Besides the large-scale industry, small and medium-sized enterprises in particular have occupied global niche markets very successfully. The Chemie-Cluster Bayern therefore not only works on initiating the networking of companies and research institutions in Bavaria. It also maintains a large number of strategic alliances at a European and global level.

Added to this is the work of the Bavarian chemical associations based in Munich, which represent their more than 400 member companies from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in dealing with politicians, authorities and organisations. In addition to providing important information on current topics, its tasks also include the further development of environmental and chemical safety, the recruitment of junior staff and further training, as well as the coordination of the opinion-forming process on economic policy issues. The sharing of experiences among member companies is also supported and organised through a wide range of seminars and working groups.

In addition to the excellent research landscape and active networks, start-ups in the chemical sector in particular benefit from the high density of technology and industrial companies in Bavaria. Measured by the turnover of the manufacturing industry, Bavaria has the strongest industry of all German federal states. Chemical start-ups mainly develop B2B solutions and therefore find a large number of potential customers and cooperation partners from a wide range of user industries in Bavaria – the perfect prerequisite for cross-industry innovations!

These kinds of cross-industry collaborations are supported by the Bavarian clusters’ joint activities. Chemical cluster collaboration projects have already taken place in the past with the environmental cluster or the new materials cluster. This exploits the common overlaps and synergy effects of the different industries and creates platforms to transfer knowledge and promote innovative start-ups.

Renowned research institutes, chemical companies and also start-ups in Bavaria are currently focusing on the topic of “Green Chemistry” and want to promote environmental protection and resource conservation in the chemical industry. The PlanB (Biobased.Business.Bavaria) start-up competition run by the BioCampus Straubing is always looking for and promoting green start-ups with new innovative ideas from a wide range of fields, such as bioenergy, biobased materials and chemicals, resource efficiency or biobased circular economy. Together with industrial companies, business coaches and a network of experts, green ideas are being promoted in Bavaria.

Are you interested in Bavaria as a business location for your company in the chemical industry? We are happy to support you with the entire establishment process: from planning to the search for a location, formalities and visa issues. Even once you have established yourself in Bavaria, we will put you in touch with networks, associations and clusters. Simply get in contact with us – the team at Invest in Bavaria is looking forward to hearing from you.