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Technologiepark Wildau: Still at the beginning as a high-tech location
Photo: Dahme-Spreewald Economic Development Agency / olihein.de
Edmund Ahlers is obviously not hearing the question of what brought him to this area for the first time.
And yet he meets her with a cautious smile at first, as if he wanted to sound out what the other person is probably aiming at.
But then he thinks about it and reports briefly on his résumé: engineering studies at RWTH Aachen University, first job at BMW Rolls-Royce and finally in 1994 the opportunity to help set up the new joint venture location in Dahlewitz south of Berlin.
It should take two or three years, after all, in his own words, the area didn't appeal to him that much.
More than 25 years have passed since then, and Ahlers sees the area in the south of Berlin with different eyes.
He now runs his own company called AneCom AeroTest, which specializes in test series for components of gas turbines and aircraft engines.
Rolls-Royce supported the spin-off in 2002 and is still an important customer today, but no longer the only one.
AneCom can confidently be called a hidden champion, one of those specialists who are world leaders in their market segment and who are generally assumed to be in Baden-Württemberg, in Hesse or in the rural regions around Munich.
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AneCom founder Ahlers: suction power well before the opening of BER
Photo: Michael Kröger / DER SPIEGEL
There are some of such high-tech companies in the various industrial settlements in the south of the capital: Rolls-Royce and its engine production, of course, that of the medical technology manufacturer Körber & Körber in Birkenwerder.
Vestas in Lauchhammer (wind power) and Weber in Bernau (drive systems) are also among them - and were here long before the capital's airport existed.
Nevertheless, a new era will begin for the Dahme-Spreewald region from next Saturday: Finally, it should start at BER - nine years later.
Big ambitions
The area developed an economic pull well before the airport opened.
Just over a year ago, the US billionaire Elon Musk caused a stir with his announcement that he would be building an electric car factory in Grünheide.
The shell of the building is about to be completed.
A construction and design center are to follow soon.
And BASF plans to start manufacturing components for batteries soon, as does US battery specialist Microvast, which plans to open its European headquarters in Ludwigsfelde at the beginning of next year.
The companies belong to the 7,300 settlements, innovation projects and technology-oriented start-ups that the state-owned development company has been able to attract to Brandenburg since 2001.
In terms of the established high-tech locations in Germany, Brandenburg is still at the beginning, but the ambitions are great: "Our goal is to be among the 50 top regions in Germany in the medium term," explains Gerhard Janßen from the Dahme-Spreewald Economic Development Agency.
And preferably in as many demanding disciplines as possible, such as electromobility, IT, aviation, medical technology or artificial intelligence.
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Photo montage of the future Tesla plant in Grünheide: development should gain momentum
Photo: --- / dpa
He attaches particular importance to the new Schönefeld Airport, and not just at the start of operations.
"BER has already had a major influence on economic development in recent years," explains Janßen.
"After the opening, the development should gain momentum".
Janßen refers to a study from 2019, according to which between 60,000 and 70,000 jobs could be created by the year 2035 around the business with BER alone.
Even the corona crisis does not deter him in his optimism: "Corona will delay the upswing," he says.
"But she won't prevent it."
Hope for international connections
Klaus-Heiner Röhl from the Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) judges the importance of BER a little more cautiously.
In his opinion, a major airport can only develop its full economic importance for the economy in the area if it offers international connections in sufficient numbers.
In this respect, however, BER still has some catching up to do.
DIW boss Marcel Fratzscher goes one step further.
The aim must be to "establish BER as an international hub on an equal footing at least with Munich Airport," said the DIW boss.
Airport boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup would probably be satisfied with a few additional direct connections, for example to important metropolises in Asia or the USA.
"There is definitely interest in additional connections," said Lütke Daldrup in the daily newspaper "Welt".
"Emirates would currently like to fly to Berlin, even in spite of the corona crisis. It would only need a letter from the Federal Minister of Transport so that additional landing rights are created here."
Of course, managers who start their business trips from their locations around BER also want direct connections.
Last year, Tesla boss Musk even explicitly stated that the capital's airport was an important factor in choosing the location in Grünheide.
He also plays a role for Microvast board member Sascha Kelterborn.
However, during the conversation it quickly becomes clear that a number of other factors played a much more important role in the choice of location: the proximity to the capital Berlin, for example, the dense network of universities and the available qualified workforce.
Other factors are decisive
AneCom founder Ahlers also sees it that way.
BER gives him noticeable relief on the way to his customers all over the world, he says.
But the local framework conditions are decisive for him: the network of companies and universities, good connections to politics - and above all his employees.
In any case, it is currently difficult to assess whether air traffic will completely regain its original importance for the business world after the corona crisis.
In the era of travel restrictions, many companies have found that at least some of the video conferences work just as well as face-to-face meetings.
The criticism of air travel and its effects on the global climate are also showing their effects.
According to experts, business travel will therefore possibly no longer reach its previous level.
The capital city airport will still have to find its role in the region.
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