Dresden as a research location
'Globally focused - locally active' is the slogan that promotes business, education and research in Dresden. The main focus is on developing new commercial space and helping entrepreneurs and business founders. Partnerships between research and industry are encouraged in Dresden with lucrative results.
The city is actively growing due in no small part to future-oriented sectors such as information and communications technology, nanotechnology and life sciences. Technology is a top priority in Dresden - with 36,000 students TU Dresden (Dresden University of Technology) is the largest institution of higher education in the federal state of Saxony.
Dresden is home to the largest number of Fraunhofer institutes in Germany - twelve. The Max Planck Society, Leibniz Association and German Research Foundation (DFG) are also based in the Dresden region. In total, research institutions in the city employ more than 3,000 people.
In order to compete in the Initiative for Excellence, a nationwide competition for excellence in research, the various Fraunhofer, Leibniz and Max Planck institutes in Dresden have joined forces with TU Dresden in a unique alliance: DRESDEN-Concept. This project is designed to safeguard postgraduate study and to optimise research facilities for up-and-coming academics who are attracted to Dresden from all over the world.
History
First mentioned in records in 1206, Dresden became a royal seat during the Baroque period and is still known as a Baroque pearl. During the Second World War, the city - including many world-famous buildings and art treasures - was largely destroyed as a result of several waves of bombing. As part of the former East Germany, the once splendid city was rebuilt in a rather pragmatic manner, with some parts of Dresden still showing signs of prefabricated concrete today. Since German reunification in 1989, Dresden has received a lot of funding to restore it to its former glory.