Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• The City of Dortmund purchased the land and, financially supported by the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Union, had the buildings constructed.
• The City, Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Handicrafts, and the more
influential financial institutions set up a managing company to run the center-or,
more precisely, to lease the office space, to sublet it to start-up and existing
companies, and to offer various services.
Still today, this successful networking is reflected in the legal structure of the
technology center which is a private company with the following shareholders:
• The two universities in Dortmund
• The Chambers of Commerce and Handicrafts, respectively
• The City of Dortmund
• Various financial institutions.
The outline and structure of Dortmund's Technology Center became a model
for the German innovation centers. It has concentrated both on technological
development and spin-off companies; in other words, it has supported the devel-
opment and application of technological products as well as helping and encour-
aging young entrepreneurs wishing to set up a business.
Since that time the Technology Center has developed into one of the most
successful and largest centers in Germany. In 10 building complexes with floor
space of 120,000 m
2
it accommodates about 190 companies with more then 1,500
employees. The Dortmund technology center has maintained its orientation toward
the main fields of research pursued in Dortmund, more details will be presented
below in
Sect. 4.5
.
4.3.1 Technology Park Dortmund
The Technology Park was founded in the same year as the technology center,
1985. It is located on an area of 40 ha next to the joint campus of the University of
Dortmund and the technology center Dortmund. The park offers space for con-
struction of their own premises to those interested in pursuing early stage projects
and enterprises which have hatched out of the incubator at Technology Center. It is
likewise an excellent location for enterprises seeking contact with scientific
institutions but have no need for the kind of support provided in the technology
center.
The Technology Center has grown fast and today accommodates more than 250
companies with over 8,000 employees.
A more detailed analysis of the concept of Dortmund's Technology Center and
Park as well as the mode of its operations will appear in (Becker and Herrmann
2013
) Fig.
3
.
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