Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt is the 8th biggest German Land located in the Eastern part of Germany with boarders to Brandenburg, Thuringia, Saxony and Lower Saxony.The capital city is Magdeburg and the biggest city is Halle/ Saale (233,000 (2008) inhabitants).

After the German unification Saxony-Anhalt has experienced a deep process of transformation from socialist economy to market economy. This process has particularly influenced the chemical industry. The region has successfully managed the restructuring by diversifying the mono-structures in the former chemical region and the establishment of a modern infrastructure and new settlements of SMEs. Today, the development of the chemical industry in Saxony-Anhalt is a success story.

The Central German Chemical Triangle is one of the most modern and competitive centres of the chemical industry. Investors such as Dow, TOTAL, DuPont, BASF, Akzo Nobel, Atofina, Bayer, Radici, Solvay, Degussa, AMI and Linde are located in the region. The chemical sector in Saxony-Anhalt is dominated by SMEs; 88% of the enterprises in the chemical industry have less than 200 employees (96% of the plastic/rubber enterprises). With the total number of employees of 14,839 (2008) it is the second biggest employer within the manufacturing industry of Saxony-Anhalt (16.8%). The employment in the chemical industry in the region is also growing against the overall German trend. The total sales in 2004 reached € 4.38 billion. The main part of the chemical production is concentrated on the manufacturing of basic chemicals. But also manufacturing of pharmaceuticals is becoming more and more important. Furthermore, the regional industry is focused on polymer production, polymer processing companies and the production of rubber.

The development of the cluster "Chemicals/ Plastic" has successfully led to the establishment of several networks and numerous projects. Regional chemical parks joined forces in the Central European Chemical Network (CeChemNet). Together with chemical companies, service providers, business associations, scientific and research organisations they combine extensive expertise in the chemical industry and the successful chemical park management excellence. The association POLYKUM e.V. supports small and medium-sizes enterprises in the plastic sector through collaboration with regional research organisations, cultivation of business contacts and continuous information amongst the network. Saxony- Anhalt has also a leading position in the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN).

The cooperation between industry and government in relation to cluster development and strategic issues is successfully pursued in the framework of the "Strategic Dialogue Chemistry". With the recently commenced initiative "Chemistry Initiative Saxony-Anhalt for Central Germany" the process has been accelerated and the neighbouring regions as well as the federal government have been invited to participate in the further strengthening of the chemical cluster in Central Germany.