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The German Gaming Industry

Our Industry Overview shows that Germany is home to 23 million active gamers and Europe's largest gaming market.

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Our Industry in Numbers*

• Europe’s largest ICT market in terms of revenue volume (20 percent of total EU market volume).
• With 5.5% global market share, German ICT industry is ranked fourth worldwide.
• Turnover of EUR 137 billion.
• Germany’s ICT industry employs a workforce of around 850,000 - making it the country’s second largest employer industry (only behind machine and plant manufacturing).
• The goal of the broadband strategy of the German government is the availability of connections with 50 MBit/s to 75% of German households until 2014.
• In 2010, nearly 10% of all ICT-related patents granted at the EPO were from Germany. With 519 ICT-related patents granted, Germany ranks first in Europe and third worldwide.

*2010 data unless otherwise explicitly stated

IT Competence from Central Germany

Ten IT companies from the states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia joined forces in 2010 to form the Cluster IT Mitteldeutschland e.V. ("IT Central Germany").

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Testimonial - Hermann Wimmer / President Europe - Middle East - Africa / TERADATA GmbH

"As a highly developed technology industry location at the heart of Europe, Germany is doubly interesting to Teradata: as an attractive market with many strong businesses, and as the ideal gateway to eastern European markets."

Market Developments

Germany’s highly diversified economy allowed it to weather the economic crisis much better and earlier than expected. The ICT industry in particular has proven to be an important catalyst for the resurgent German economy. The prevailing mood in Germany's high-tech sector after the recovery from the worldwide economic crisis is one of optimism. According to Germany's Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), expectations continued to improve during the third quarter of 2011. The most pronounced market trends are the increasing implementation of technologies such as cloud computing and the growing mobile data services segment.

Around 98 percent of German companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This has helped create a particularly innovative environment, with many SMEs acquiring highly specialized expertise in high-tech product development. This expertise helps to open up a number of niche markets – catering to both traditional and new industries alike.

Highly skilled and specialized employees are a key feature of the German labor market. Germany’s renowned universities offer some of the best IT degree programs in Europe.

Growth Areas

Cloud Computing: There is significant international demand for secure and cost-effective cloud solutions and services.

• 10% of total IT spending will go into cloud computing technologies in 2015.
• Cloud computing (turnover): EUR 3.5 billion in 2011; EUR 13 billion in 2015 (CAGR 18%)/(expected B2B+B2C).
• Cloud services (turnover): EUR 900 million in 2011; EUR 4.8 billion in 2015 (CAGR 40%)/(expected B2B).
• Cloud infrastructure(turnover): EUR 700 million in 2011; EUR 2.6 billion in 2015 (CAGR 30%) /(expected B2B).

Smart Grids: Increasing importance of sustainable energy supply offer great opportunities for smart grid adoption and ICT solutions for smart grid.

• Introduction of smart grids is inevitable in the midterm for the integration of decentralized energy production and network control.
• Market today is still driven by the supply side - waiting for political regulation and standardization as growth drivers.
• ICT part of the smart grid market is expected to nearly double until 2030 (from EUR 27 to EUR 46 billion in Europe).

Games: The gaming market is growing at a fast pace. Germany remains Europe’s largest and most attractive games market.

• Over 23 million Germans play electronic games (14.5 million online).
• Industry revenue in 2010: EUR 2.3 billion.
• Online games segment with average growth rates of up to 47%.
• Market entry conditions are highly attractive, as the German market is not dominated by large companies that control huge market shares.

Internet Business: Germany offers significant business potential when it comes to online business thanks to the highest number of internet users in Europe.

• Availability of broadband coverage is close to 97%.
• Broadband access is used by approximately 67% of the German population (EU average 56%).
• German market for internet accesses increased by 4.2% to reach EUR 13.8 billion in 2009.
• 10 million Germans access the internet on their mobile phones (17% of mobile phone users).

IT Security: The market for IT security is growing due to steadily increasing risk potential.

• Sales of German IT security reached EUR 2.6 billion in 2009.
• German market volume of IT security will increase by 124% to reach EUR 10.6 billion in 2015.
• Focus increasingly on mobile data, social media and cloud security.
• Identification, authentication, and biometrics revenue forecast to increase by 87% by 2015.

Mobile Data Services: The fastest growing segment within the German telecommunications market is an enabling technology for several other industries such as banking, entertainment and energy.

• 8.5 million Germans owned a smartphone in 2010 (growth rate of nearly 50% compared to 2009).
• 33 million German smartphone owners forecast for 2014.
• Mobile data services market volume of EUR 6.5 billion in 2010 (projected growth rates of over 8% in the coming years; expected market volume in 2012: EUR 8.2 billion).
• 17% of German internet users were using mobile devices to go online in 2010 (+22% compared to 2009).
• Mobile payment services an upcoming opportunity.

R&D | Investment Incentives

Germany has an excellent R&D landscape with a high level of integration and networking. The country is also home to Europe's largest ICT research organization - the Fraunhofer Society. All of the major ICT manufacturers operate R&D laboratories in Germany. The highly skilled German workforce and traditionally close ties between industry and universities complement the numerous R&D activities taking place in Germany.

Foreign investors can count on many forms of financial support thanks to the special emphasis placed on the promotion of R&D activities in Germany. The German government made more than EUR 15 billion in project grants available through its High-Tech Strategy through 2011; with more than EUR 1.5 billion reserved exclusively for R&D projects in the ICT industry. Additional and long-term R&D funding exists via initiatives such as the "ICT 2020 - Research for Innovation" program.

Infrastructure | Investment Climate

Germany is known for its extensive and highly modern logistics infrastructure that integrates state-of-the-art transportation networks with telematics, IT, and telecommunications systems. The government's wide-reaching "broadband strategy," supporting the nationwide expansion of high-speed broadband access (with transmission rates of at least 50MB/sec) in urban and rural areas alike, underpins the commitment to technological infrastructure.

Social, economic, and political stability provide a solid base for corporate projects while judiciary and civil services are highly efficient. In addition, contractual agreements are secure and intellectual property is highly protected in Germany.

References

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