(Last updated: 18 Jul 2011)

Trends and opportunities

ICT business opportunities

• ICT in Germany is an important driver for innovation, creating unique market opportunities for cutting-edge technologies
• Four main ICT industry segments: software, IT services, IT equipment and telecommunications
• Driven by positive growth rates in outsourcing services, infrastructure services and mobile data services
• Opportunities for companies entering the market, especially in growing areas such as embedded systems, IT security, cloud computing, social networking applications and next generation gaming as well as Green IT

Why is this market attractive for Australian companies?*

• Germany represents Europe's largest ICT market in terms of revenue volume (20 per cent of totoal EU market volume)
• Germany is the fourth largest ICT market worldwide (5.3 per cent of global market share), after USA (27.8 per cent), Japan (8.8 per cent) and China  (7.1 per cent) 
• Turnover of €130 billion, forecast of €145 billion for 2011 (2 per cent market growth)
• 75.000 ICT companies employing almost 820,000 people (second biggest employer following advanced manufacturing) 
• Domestic broadband coverage close to 97 per cent, with approximately 70 per cent of Germans online (equivalent to almost 60 million people) 
• Germany has an excellent R&D landscape and is home to Europe's largest ICT research organisation, the Fraunhofer Institute; all major ICT manufacturers operate R&D laboratories in Germany
• Approximately 24 per cent of all German patent applications at the European Patent Office were ICT-related in 2009, ranking Germany first in Europe and third in the world (only behind USA and Japan)
• ICT as well as R&D initiatives and incentive programs run by Germany’s Federal Government

(* 2009 unless indicated otherwise; sources: GTAI, BITKOM and EITO)

Marketing your products and services

Market entry

Top tips to be successful in Germany

• Challenge: smaller but very sophisticated niche markets – have something truly different on offer
• Be prepared to enter the market with a long-term strategy
• A local presence to ensure good support of customers and identy new market opportunities will help to ensure success
• Local language skills are of advantage
• Examples of successful Australian companies in Germany:  
  • With over 400 employees, Computershare Germany offers integrated solutions covering general meeting services, share register management, employee shareholding programmes, document management and communications solutions, as well as governance and banking services.
  • Germany and the Netherlands represent the major business unit focus of healthcare IT solutions provider iSoft Group Limited across continental Europe, with more than 600 employees covering product development, customer support and service.

Key ICT events in Germany

• CeBIT Hannover: leading business event and trade fair  showcasing digital IT and telecommunications solutions –www.cebit.de
• LERNTEC: International Trade Fair and Convention for Vocational Educational, Learning & IT – www.learntec.de
• conhIT:  Health IT Conference – www.conhit.de
• Smart Technologies Forum: Energy meets ICT – www.smarttech-forum.com 
• Various additional ICT conferences with sub-sector and niche-market focus  

Links and industry contacts

ICT–related resources

Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) – www.bitkom.org
Bvitg – Health IT Association – www.bvitg.de
European Information Technology  Observatory (EITO) – www.eito.com
G.A.M.E. – Association for Computer Gaming Development and Publishing – www.game-bundesverband.de
Kompetenznetze – Innovation Clusters in Germany (including ICT), an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology – www.kompetenznetze.de

Contact details

The Australian Trade Commission – Austrade – is the Australian Government’s trade and investment development agency.

Through Austrade’s network of offices in over 50 countries, we assist Australian companies to succeed in international business, attract productive foreign direct investment into Australia and promote Australia's education sector internationally.

For more information on how Austrade can assist you, contact us on:

Australia ph: 13 28 78 | Email: info@austrade.gov.au

A list of Austrade offices (in alphabetical order of country) is also available.