Latest Press Releases

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany increased slightly in June. The indicator now stands at +47.4 points, compared with +46.4 points in May.

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The vehicle manufacturing industry spends more money on innovation projects than any other commercial sector in Germany. For 2004, firms in this sector which, as well as cars also manufacture vehicles for travel by air, rail and water, estimate that a total of 24 billion euros will be spent on innovation. This represents 34 per cent of all spending on innovation in German industry as a whole.

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The chemical and electronics industries are the most innovative in Germany. Around 80 per cent of businesses in each of these sectors have implemented innovative products and processes.

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The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany continues to drop slightly in May. The indicator now stands at +46.4 points compared with +49.7 points in April.

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In 2002, the total of newly-founded firms in Germany's technology and knowledge-intensive sectors (see definition at the bottom of the press release) dropped by an average of nine per cent compared to the previous year. The technology-intensive sectors of the manufacturing industry and the services sector recorded a particularly strong decline in start-up numbers.

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A company's innovativeness is crucial for the international competitiveness of the German economy. Providing companies with sufficient financial support to improve or develop new products, services, manufacturing techniques or process technologies, thus also plays a major role in securing jobs.

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The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany continued to drop significantly in April. The indicator now stands at +49.7 points compared with +57.6 points in March.

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In view of increasing economic globalisation, it is important for national economies to have as many internationally competitive businesses as possible. However, not every company is able to successfully enter the export market.

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Following a three-year delay, German mobile network operators will this year launch their UMTS networks. Network providers assume that demand will largely originate from business customers who wish, for example, to connect to corporate intranet via their netbooks during business trips. The wireless local area network (W-LAN), currently considered the greatest competitor of this technology, is, however, rapidly expanding.

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In periods of strict public budgeting, many a politician chooses to bring up the issue of inheritance and gift tax. It is often argued that an increase in the levels of inheritance and gift tax in Germany would be justified by the fact that current levels are lower than those in a number of other countries. In an assessment carried out on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF), the Centre for European Economics Research (ZEW) in Mannheim aimed to find out if this is in fact the case.

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