Back in 2014, a study by the European Commission confirmed that Munich is the city that offers Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies the best location conditions in the EU - and the situation just keeps improving.

The study included three elements that specifically evaluated the ranking: research and development (closeness to a technical university and its ranking, research institutes on site), internationalisation (partnerships and co-operations from abroad) and networking within the region (research clusters, collaboration with local companies).

It shows that the ICT excellence of a region is also dependent on the capability and willingness to make knowledge marketable and not being afraid of innovations.

Munich has all it takes to stay in the lead position for the European IT-location.

The presence of many big businesses like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM and Alibaba speaks for itself. Not only do they profit from the proximity to prestigious universities but also the co-operations with corporations like BMW, Siemens and Allianz is greatly appreciated.

A lot is being expected in the field of digitization when it comes to secure Munich's importance as a high-tech region.
Especially insurers and automotive companies - Munich hosting some of the biggest of those - are very active in this regard. Data analyzation will play a more and more important role concerning, for example, risk evaluations.

The Technical university of Munich (TUM) is preparing for the future task of increasing the number of professorships in the digital environment steadily.

At the Bundeswehr university in Neubiberg a Cyber Defense Center was opened recently. It is Germany's biggest research institute for data security. On the same premises the safety authority ZITIS (Central office for information technology in the security area) is located. One of its main purposes will be to develop tools that allow to decrypt and monitor communications via WhatsApp or Skype. More than 400 jobs are expected to be created over the next few years.