The economic region of Munich is one of the top business locations in Europe for aviation, astronautics and satellite navigation, boasting 234 companies and 7 renowned research institutes. With a turnover of EUR 4.7 billion in 2006 and over 15,000 employees in industry and research, aerospace and satellite navigation make a major contribution to the economic power of Munich as a business location. Employees in these industries are highly qualified and specialised, 60% of the staff in aerospace and 83% of those in satellite navigation are university graduates. As a classic high-tech, research-intensive industry, aerospace is constantly providing other industries with significant technological impulses. Satellite navigation, while still young as a commercial industry, is emerging as a sunrise industry with the potential of becoming a key player in the coming years.
Besides big system integrators such as EADS, there are well-known suppliers to the aerospace industry as well as to operations in specialised engineering and machining tools at all tiers of the supply chain in the Munich economic region.
The aerospace and satellite navigation companies in the Munich economic region truly live up to the reputation of their field as being highly research-intensive: On average the aerospace comanies invested 18.9% of their turnover in research and development. That puts them ahead of the national average for the aerospace industry, at 15.8%.
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AZO was founded as an incubator to expand Oberpfaffenhofen, an important aerospace location, into a cluster focusing on European satellite navigation. Established in 2001, the AZO-run Application Center for Satellite Navigation has so far seen through the creation of 38 new companies and more than 600 jobs. As of 3rd August 2009, AZO manages the ESA Business Incubation Center Oberpfaffenhofen, Europe’s forth ESA BIC. The Free State of Bavaria, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the European Space Agency (ESA), and local bank Kreissparkasse München Starnberg will contribute EUR 6.3 million toward the aim to support 40 company foundations on location in the next four years. As part of the ESA Technology Transfer Programme (TTP), the ESA BIC Oberpfaffenhofen focuses on incorporating aerospace technology and expertise into start-up companies in new fields of the economy, while benefitting from the direct vicinity to the scientific expertise and development network of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
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