Home to 140,000 Enterprises
Three out of four employees work in the services sector, making it the predominant segment of the region’s economic structure. Beyond that, Hamburg is an important centre of industry. There are over 140,000 enterprises registered at the Chamber of Commerce.
A number of innovative growth industries are represented in Hamburg, most notably in the fields of port & logistics, life sciences, the aviation industry, and media & IT. Other key sectors are renewable energy, maritime industry and trade relations with Asia, with a particular focus on China.
An essential locational advantage is the fact that Hamburg’s business community and public authorities have a history of concerted action to support the development of growth clusters. Media and IT companies were the first to enter into a public-private partnership with the city in 1997, establishing the initiative Hamburg@work. The initiative Hamburg – The Place for Aviation and the Logistics Initiative Hamburg followed. The state of Schleswig-Holstein became an additional partner when the life sciences initiative norgenta was formed. 2009 a new cluster initiative has been launched to promote the renewable energy sector. 2011 Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein launched a mutual cluster management venture entitled Maritime Cluster Northern Germany.











