Economy: Berlin, less rebel, more high-tech

Berlin builds. Restores. Ravages. Renovating. Everywhere, under a still blue autumn sky, cranes are scratching the horizon. On Unter den Linden, the famous avenue of museums, facades are being refined and restored to their former glory. Almost thirty years after reunification, the German capital continues to work on its beautification. It is being polished and polished and, in the process, it is losing some of the strong, slightly disturbing character that made it so original. "Berlin remains a city apart in Germany, but it is becoming more normal. It's not quite the alternative city it was fifteen years ago.It's a great place to be," says Étienne Oudot de Dainville, Economic Affairs Counsellor at the French Embassy.

The German capital is in fact a victim of its own success: in a very short space of time, its attractiveness, and therefore very strong demographic growth due in particular to the influx of young graduates From Germany and around the world, it has risen to the top spot among European cities in PriceWater-House Cooper's Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2017 report. Real estate, once very affordable, is also skyrocketing, with construction-related sectors currently breaking record after record.

"As a result, rents have risen sharply, even though Berlin is still relatively affordable - a far cry from Paris, London, Zurich or Moscow"reassures Étienne Oudot de Dainville. Nevertheless, this trend is beginning to worry Berliners: the price of a property purchase rose by 17 % in 2017 alone, while rents climbed by 74 % between 2010 and 2018. All the more so as the city's power of seduction is not just an individual one. "Many companies are setting up their head offices in Berlin"He also points to the new museums and institutions that are springing up at the moment to explain the boost to the building sector.

Incredibly dynamic

The future Humboldt Forum, for example, is due to open its doors in 2019. New museum dedicated to non-European culturess, it will be built on the site of the former GDR parliament, demolished in 2008, but above all on what was, until the Allied bombardments, the former castle of the Prussian kings. The result will be an identical reconstruction in the Baroque style of the period.

"The paradox of Berlin is that its heavy past is still with us, but in a way it's permutedcontinues Étienne Oudot de Dainville. The headquarters of the Ministry of Economic Affairs is now housed in a former military medical school. The Foreign Office is part of the former central bank of the Weimar Republic, then of the Third Reich.^e Reich..."But it's also this weight of history that brings incredible dynamism to the city.

"Berlin has two of everything: opera houses, theatres, museums, both in the East and in the West. The cultural life here is extraordinary"he says. Yet Berlin is by no means the richest city in Germany. In terms of average annual income, it ranks only sixth out of the sixteen Länder in the Federal Republic.

It is perhaps this margin for progress that has resulted in economic growth well above the national average. In 2017, Germany recorded growth of 2.2 %, while Berlin reached 3.1 %. "This is partly due to the presence of the government, which stimulates service-related industries and lobbying, as in Brussels and Washington."concludes Étienne Oudot de Dainville, pointing out that the growing importance of high-tech companies, start-ups and communications also plays a major role in Berlin's rise.

Lukas Breitenbach, spokesman for Berlin Partner, the agency that supports technology companies and investors, fully agrees with this view: "Berlin's economy is currently booming. It has been developing well above the national average for several years now, because it is a city focused on tomorrow's solutions and innovation, combined with an extremely skilled workforce."he explains.

The high concentration of universities and the massive influx of young graduates from all over the world are contributing to this trend. "Asians and North Americans account for 28 % of skilled workers moving to Berlin"continues Lukas Breitenbach, adding that "Many of them work in the high-tech and IT sectors. Berlin is both a a symbol of freedom and an exciting presentsays the spokesman. The city has seen two dictatorships and a wall. So it's only natural that it should, by reversing itself, become a place of openness and tolerance, all the more attractive in today's increasingly threatening world."

These parameters also explain why all areas of digital technology are now represented in Berlin, in particular FinTech and IOT, "The Internet of Things", the Internet applied to home control from a smartphone, for example. Indeed, Berlin is now Germany's third most innovative region after Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. According to the Innovation Index produced by the Baden-Württemberg regional statistics office, the state of Berlin was Europe's ninth most innovative region in 2016.

Currently, almost 17 % of German start-ups are based in the capital, which also boasts more than 70 research centres. "Before the Second World War, Berlin was one of the world's largest metropolises, home to the largest German companies like Siemens, which even created a city within the city, the Siemensstadt, where its employees lived and worked. Then the industry had to migrate to other parts of Germanyexplains Lukas Breitenbach. After reunification, the factories in East Berlin quickly became obsolete, but the large industrial sites of the past are now being transformed into major research campuses."

Although there is still a high-tech industry here, with workshops producing BMW motorbikes, Siemens turbines and Otis lifts, it is innovative production that is the main feature of the capital's economy. "A campus dedicated to 3D printing is currently being built with the support of Deutsche Bahn. It will help to solve a number of industrial problems, including the overly expensive production of spare parts, which can now be manufactured at lower cost."says the spokesperson, adding that the project is so new that it does not yet have a name. To be continued.

Other major research centres in Berlin include a site dedicated to health and life sciences in the Buch district in the north of the city, and the Adlersdorf technology park, which is already home to more than 1,000 companies, 18,000 employees and 6,700 students. But it's the famous Siemenstadt that is currently in the midst of a transformation process that will soon see it become a "new city". "campus of the future dedicated to production, research and science. Its renovation is expected to cost between 500 and 600 million euros.

New town planning rules

This strong presence of innovation is leading to a major structural change. Two-thirds of the major German groups listed on the DAX (Deustsche Aktion Index) - including Lufthansa, Mercedes and Volkswagen - now have, if not their head office, at least their digital department in Berlin. As a result, the already significant growth in the population continues unabated. For nearly five years, the number of 40,000 more souls This is the equivalent of a medium-sized French town such as Melun, Aubagne, Auxerre or Bourg-en-Bresse. This means that the capital, which is eight times larger than Paris but only half as densely populated, has to rethink its urban planning. The potential, particularly for new housing, remains significant, as Berlin still has plenty of space to build on. All the more so as, although it is still forbidden to build more than 22 metres above ground level, this law could potentially be lifted in the years to come.

And that's where Berlin the green, Berlin the alternative, comes into its own, Berlin the rebel has not quite disappeared. It's a city of green lungs, with lakes, parks and even forests, and Berliners love their green spaces, their nature. Vegetable gardens are springing up all over the city, like the Prinzessinnengarten in Kreuzberg, run by a community whose members look like 70s hippies. At institutional level too, efforts are being made and targets are clear: Berlin should reduce its CO2 emissions by 40 % by 2020, and reach -85 % by 2050. The last coal-fired plant is due to close its doors before 2030, while photovoltaic energy is becoming more and more widespread. And in the spirit of innovation, artificial intelligence projects to help the environment are already emerging in Berlin. So there's a whole world of possibilities for action.