Berlin: Your Business Location

10 From a divided city

10 From a divided city to a world city Soundcloud Out of the City of Change come companies that have changed the world of music. SoundCloud is for music what Instagram is for pictures and YouTube is for videos. Musicians can share their work on the online platform and offer it for download. Users can easily play the songs and integrate them into other websites. When Swedish founders Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss came to Berlin in 2007, they surely didn’t expect that one day 350 million users would be huge fans of their idea. 6,000 new users join daily. In the meantime, 180 employees work in the headquarters in Berlin-Mitte to ensure that musicians can continue to share their work with others. T he fall of the wall has shown that, in Berlin, anything is possible. The once grey and divided city has become one of the most attractive metropoles of the world. After the fall of the wall, Berlin became the capital of a reunited Germany and, with this, an arena for diplomatic relations throughout the world. By and by, the federal ministries and the government moved to the city. The crowning glory was the move in 1999 of the German Bundestag into the newly renovated Reichstag building. But it was not only the government district that was redesigned and rebuilt. The whole city benefitted from the decision to make Berlin the capital of Germany. The newly constructed political center provided for an economic dynamic and upwind in employment. In transformation. The new capital in the center of Europe is developing rapidly. In the mid 1990s, Berlin was the biggest construction site in the world. Crumbling east and west sections of the city were laboriously redeveloped. Potsdamer Platz, long a wasteland, was transformed into an architectural vision of the future with hotels, offices and housing complexes. A large new rail station was built, and infrastructure was further developed. But even though Berlin has left its transformation period behind, a pioneering spirit still remains in the city. Currently, the Stadtschloss, which was badly damaged in the Second World War and torn down in 1950, is being rebuilt beside Berlin Cathedral. Construction is due to be completed in 2016. Digital upswing. For a few years now the city has been experiencing an economic miracle 2.0 and is writing history as the capital of the digital industry. Economic upswing and fast-pace stages of growth have contributed to the transformation of the city. Berlin has Ableton Depeche Mode, Metallica and Coldplay use it, as do the composer Hans Zimmer and Bruce Springsteen – Ableton Live, a software for producing music. Berlin-based Ableton AG provides DJs and music producers around the world with the hardware and software necessary to create their songs. With a market share of 20 %, Ableton is one of the leading providers in the segment. Photos: imago | Detlev Konnerth, Berlin Partner, companies Potsdamer Platz in the transformation of time 1990 1998

„Berlin stands for the digital revolution like no other European city. Entrepreneurs find the perfect environment here to implement their business ideas.“ 11 Oliver Samwer CEO Rocket Internet experienced highs and lows and has made the most of its opportunities. In the meantime, the city draws people from all over the world. Many people stay, find work, or found their own companies. The population of the city grows annually by around 40,000. By the year 2030, the population may well have grown by half a million. Tourism is booming. Berlin is an essential part of every tour of Europe, and its party scene is one of the most popular in the world. Creative City. A creative spirit pervades the city. Creativity means interrupting the usual way of things and coming up with something new. This happened after the fall of the wall and continues to happen on an everyday basis in the countless startups and creative businesses. Berlin is a place of growth, change and renewal. The German capital is an exciting place, where one can contribute to shaping the future and grasp business opportunities. Native Instruments For the world‘s largest manufacturer of software-based synthesizers, digitization was an opportunity to expand rapidly. The Berlin company changed the world of music in the same way that the introduction of electric pianos and guitars had decades before. Native Instruments employs more than 300 members of staff at its Berlin location. today