North Rhine-Westphalia Drives Digitization Business Opportunities For Indian Companies In Europe

*This is in partnership with BQ Prime BrandStudio

For Indian companies, especially technology-driven ones looking for digitization-based growth and business opportunities in Europe, what better place to set up base than the heart of Europe? Investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders need to look no further than the North Rhine-Westphalia region, the most important economic region in Germany, Europe’s No 1 economy.

The North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) region has for years been one of the most popular locations for foreign companies in Europe and for everyone it is all about location and the business, social and cultural advantages that come with setting up base in NRW. While there are the historical advantages, such as a cosmopolitan state that has a strong presence of global investors, it is also a significant market. Around 160 million people live within a radius of 500 kms of the state capital Düsseldorf—equivalent to almost one third of all EU consumers. In addition, the region has various important cities such as Cologne, Wuppertal, Leverkusen, Essen, Bochum, Solingen, Duisburg, besides others, which have much to offer to businesses across various sectors. From no other location in Europe can so many customers with such high purchasing power be reached within such short distances as from North Rhine-Westphalia.

Ideal conditions for digital transformation

NRW has built extremely strong digital infrastructure to help power companies that play a key role in driving forward the digital transformation of the entire value chain. This creates excellent market prospects for companies with innovative technologies because North Rhine-Westphalia offers countless customers and cooperation partners due to the high density of industrial and trading companies. NRW is home to a booming ICT sector with more than 24,000 companies, and one-third of all German ICT sales are generated in NRW, with an ICT workforce of over 2.5 lakh knowledge workers.

Multiple digital hubs have also been set up throughout NRW, which are regional platforms for the digital economy. These hubs build the link for co-operation between start-ups, large corporates, SMEs and science.

Where digitisation is, data threats cannot be far behind. Keeping this in mind, the authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia have ensured they have built the necessary institutions and practices to protect businesses, and NRW is a hotspot for IT security with multiple federal cyber security clusters as well as institutes focusing on cyber security.

The region has a strong focus on industries dealing with future global challenges and is equally focused on strengthening a culture of innovation and supporting globalisation. The focus industries are in the realms of production technology, new materials, mobility & logistics, energy & sustainability, health & life sciences, IT and media.

Since knowledge workers are key to digital-driven businesses, a talent pool is very important and once again, NRW has all the right ingredients for success—68 universities and technical colleges with nearly 768000 students, and nearly 111000 students successfully graduating every year. Of these, nearly 85000 students are in disciplines related to ICT. This talent pool has been growing steadily for years, an important locational advantage not only for established market players in the digital economy, but also for young start-ups. In addition, the state boasts of 63 special research areas, more than 50 non-university research facilities, more than 60 technology centres and 30 technology transfer units.

Digital links legacy and the future

Some of the biggest German giants have their headquarters in North Rhine-Westphalia, including Bayer, Bertelsmann, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Henkel and ThyssenKrupp. And more than 700,000 small and medium-sized enterprises form the economic backbone of the state. This huge SME base provides immense scope to Indian companies to collaborate and explore various verticals across industries and sectors like IT, ICT, biotech, pharma, healthcare, e-commerce, manufacturing, etc.

While the largest industrial employment sector in NRW is mechanical engineering, this base in fact provides a strong industrial structure, which when aligned with innovative ICT companies provides the prerequisites for the digitization of production and logistics processes.

North Rhine-Westphalia also has a very well-developed ecosystem for start-ups, accounting for the highest proportion of participating start-ups in the ‘German Start-up Monitor 2020.’ In NRW start-ups find optimal conditions for growth. More than 50 percent of their sales comes from B2B, and they benefit from the regional network and the density of established companies. Even during the pandemic, start-up activity in the state remained unbroken: In 2020, an incredible 1.3 start-ups were founded in North Rhine-Westphalia every day.

No. 1 investment location in Germany

All these factors resulted in North Rhine-Westphalia establishing itself as the leading investment location for companies from all over the world. More than 20,000 foreign companies are now based here, including global players such as 3M, BP, Ericsson, Ford, Huawei, QVC, Toyota and Vodafone, as well as numerous medium-sized companies. Around 120 Indian companies have also opted for North Rhine-Westphalia as an expansion location, including IT giants as Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro Technologies, as well as Mahindra, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Bharat Forge and the like. More than 27,000 Indian nationals live in NRW. All these global giants value the business environment, especially the excellent market prospects, the research and university landscape and the highly qualified talent they find in NRW.

The partnership between Indian businesses and North Rhine-Westphalia is only set to grow. Achim Burkart, the Consul General of Germany in Bangalore explained that the German Government’s Indo-Pacific Strategy will further strengthen the strategic and economic relations between India and Germany. The recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Berlin has resulted in a series of common projects, including a comprehensive migration and mobility partnership. “I am sure that in the near future, NRW will further attract many more of such companies due to its ideal geographical location for these companies to strategically reach out to the German, European and global markets,” he added.

Felix Neugart, CEO, NRW Global Business GmbH, explained, “In North Rhine-Westphalia, we see India as a strong and complementary economic partner. NRW is not only an industrial region with many world market leaders and numerous SMEs but also an excellent innovation hub for emerging technologies such as AI, ICT and future-oriented energy technologies such as hydrogen. A growing number of Indian companies, especially from the digital services sector, use NRW as a base to access the European market.”

NRW.Global Business is here to help

NRW.Global Business, the trade and investment agency of the state of in North Rhine-Westphalia offers a comprehensive range of information and other capabilities.

NRW.Global Business recently organized a business and technology seminar in Bangalore, which saw strong participation from many Indian technology companies. Stephanie Beeres, Head of Business Unit, India & Australia, NRW Global Business GmbH said, “I am impressed with the presence and interest of Indian companies during our investment seminar, which we organised in partnership with CII & IGCC.”

NRW.Global Business also participated in a three-day FTR4H event on ‘Driving Digital Health,’ held earlier this month in Mumbai. The event witnessed participation from across the Indian healthcare sector and covered important themes such as opportunities for Indo-German cooperation in health start-ups, to digital transformation of healthcare, and how to kick start Indo-German healthcare business, all areas where NRW.Global Business can connect Indian and German companies.

Ambika Banotra, Chief Representative, NRW.Global Business, India summed it up, “The NRW region offers an excellent combination of classic and emerging industries with the benefits of location, talent, global market approach and R&D. Start-ups are also considering North Rhine-Westphalia to experience the close connect between industry and technical clusters. NRW Global Business in India is keen to support Indian companies/start-ups who are interested in exploring and expanding in this well-established and continually growing region.”

To know more about expansion in North Rhine-Westphalia, contact:

NRW.Global Business India / Bangalore

Ambika Banotra, Chief Representative

Tel.: +91 9110215076

Email: ambika.banotra@nrwglobalbusiness.co.in

www.nrwglobalbusiness.com