Helmut Karl, Antje Möller
and Rüdiger Wink
(Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany)

Abstract

The working paper presents an overview to the system of industrial policy in Germany. Special focus is directed to the relationships between federal and regional (Länder) policies. As German industrial policy is distributed across various policy fields, objectives, strategies and instruments of the main fields – innovation, SME, and regional economic policy – are discussed against the background of recent structural challenges to the German economy. Case studies for two Länder – Northrhine-Westphalia as typical West-German old-industrial heartland and Saxony as the main industrial location in the Eastern Länder – reveal the complexity and diversity of institutional approaches and the main challenges for future regional industrial policies in Germany.

Keywords: cooperative federalism, SME policies, regional development instruments, public-private partnerships
Jel class.: L52, O38, R58