Hamburg Business Development Corporation
Hamburg is one of the most dynamic centres of the German economy. Hamburg's contribution to GDP is over 50% higher than the German average in terms of gainfully employed persons and nearly 90% higher per capita. Whats´s more, roughly 10% of Germany's top 500 companies are from Hamburg.
More than 100,000 firms and businessmen are currently registered with Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. Although internationally renowned names such as Airbus, Beiersdorf, Hapag Lloyd, Helm, Olympus, Otto Versand, Panasonic, Tchibo or the major German publishing houses continue to characterize Hamburg's economy, many global markets are also shaped by Hamburg's small and mid-sized firms.
As an economic center Hamburg is closely linked to its surrounding region. Each working day, some 300,000 people from the outlying districts commute to Hamburg. These districts are among the most prosperous and rapidly growing in the neighbouring states of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony and together with Hamburg they make up the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. This region stretches from Cuxhaven at the mouth of the River Elbe in the north-west along the Elbe and through Lüneburg Heath to the borders of Saxony-Anhalt in the south-east - home to some four million people.
Hamburg - A Growing City
Hamburg, the maritime and media center of Germany, is a city of jarring juxtapositions. The industrial waterfront heaves with rusty docks, while its center is filled with emerald parks, blue lakes and cream-colored villas. Despite playing second fiddle to the cultural juggernaut that is Berlin, Hamburg breeds its own brand of the cosmopolitan cool - with a large Turkish population, gay enclaves and fashion centers - who mingle at chichi restaurants and steamy underground clubs.
With the mission statement "Hamburg - A Growing City" the Hamburg Senate expresses its resolve to attract new companies and inhabitants to the city in order to expand its significance as a European metropolis on a national and international level. Especially, the long standing relations with the Baltic region and Asia can fuel this development. Hamburg wants to grow with regard to quantity and quality in a process that considers the protection of resources and a long term sustainability.