Bavaria is home to world-leading aerospace OEMs, as well as a large number of industry suppliers, engineering services and world-class research and educational institutions doing work in the field. Sector focuses include the construction of airplanes, aircraft engines, helicopters and spaceships, as well as satellite navigation technologies. The state’s nearly 550 aerospace companies employ around 36,000 engineers, technicians and industrial specialists, accounting for one-third of the sector’s total in all of Germany. Navigation companies account for another 150 firms in Bavaria.
Helping businesses is a state government that prioritizes the industry, offering a wide variety of support measures. Recently, the Bavarian Strategy on Aeronautics 2030 was developed in order to assert and strengthen Bavaria’s top position as one of the leading aerospace locations worldwide.
Discover more about Bavaria’s leading position in aerospace manufacturing, engineering & innovation.
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Learn about Bavaria’s cluster networks and initiatives to propel satellite navigation into the future.
Download PDFWorld leading OEMs such as Airbus Defense and Space, Airbus Helicopters Germany and MTU Aero Engines are headquartered in Bavaria, while Tier 1 suppliers like Diehl Aerospace, Premium Aerotec and Liebherr Aerospace have already chosen our state as one of their major business sites. In addition, a substantial number of niche aerospace suppliers and market leaders in their respective fields operate here, among them FAG Aerospace, EME, ESG, IABG, Leistritz or Telair. For navigation, sector specialists include Siemens, OHB System, T-Systems, Diehl, Rohde & Schwarz, IFEN, Eureka and GPP.
Workforce training via higher education and industry apprenticeships is world-renown throughout Germany, and especially in Bavaria. The state offers a large number of first-class educational institutions for the next generation in aerospace and navigation, with the Technische Universität München, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the University of Würzburg and the Universität der Bundeswehr Neubiberg leading the way. The Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Technology is also supporting the establishment of the Ludwig Bölkow Campus Aerospace & Security, which is becoming an international hub for pioneering innovation, new approaches and practice-oriented training in the field of aerospace.
A multi-faceted research infrastructure offers outstanding conditions for industrial aerospace and navigation in Bavaria, led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which has sites in Oberpfaffenhofen, Weilheim and Augsburg. World-renowned institutions such as the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) and the Galileo Control Center (GCC) are also based in Oberpfaffenhofen. The university system is also instrumental in R&D, with scientists conducting research at the Fraunhofer Institutes in Munich, Erlangen and Würzburg, the Max Planck Institutes for Astrophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the think tank Bauhaus Luftfahrt, which is funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. Key companies in the sector have also established research centers throughout Bavaria.
Feel free to contact one of our U.S. representatives directly, or request a meeting using the form below.
Representative offices of the Bavarian U.S. Offices for Economic Development in Cambridge, New Haven, New York and San Francisco assist American companies interested in establishing an office or facility in Germany. We provide complimentary and confidential services for all stages of setting up a business in the state, from planning and site selection to implementation. Contact us to help you land in Bavaria successfully.
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