Every year, it’s become a ritual for my friends from Karlsruhe to make their gracious presence in Mumbai during the Stuttgart Meets Mumbai – a two-day wine festival – organized annually in Mumbai. This year was no exception as my good old friend Martin Wacker not only graced the occasion but a whole Karlsruhe team led by Karlsruhe’s Lord Mayor Dr. Frank Mentrup. “It’s the first time that we are visiting India post-pandemic. I am so happy that all of us are safe and now we look forward to tightening our relationship with India and especially Maharashtra and Pune,” said Martin Wacker, MD KME Karlsruhe Marketing and Event GmbH.
Delegations from Baden-Württemberg visit Maharashtra. From 31 January to 5 February, two delegations from Baden-Württemberg and Karlsruhe paid an important visit to Maharashtra. Baden-Württemberg is a partner state of Maharashtra, and its capital Stuttgart has a twin-city status with Mumbai. On the other hand, the city of Karlsruhe has a sister-city relationship with Pune. So naturally, the delegation visited Mumbai and Pune as well as Aurangabad. Apart from several other topics, the major focus was on green hydrogen technology and attracting skilled workers. The delegation mainly consisted of Minister of State Dr. Florian Stegmann, Karlsruhe’s Lord Mayor Dr. Frank Mentrup, KME Managing Director Martin Wacker, and the Managing Director of the Kreishandwerkerschaft (representation of the interests of craft companies in Karlsruhe), Andreas Reifsteck.
In the field of renewable energies, especially in hydrogen and fuel cell technology, there is great potential for cooperation, particularly with Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. In addition, the state of Maharashtra, located on the west coast and in the centre of India, is actively promoting the settlement of German companies and offering areas for this purpose. In Pune, for example, the 90-hectare “Eco Industrial Park” is to be planned With Karlsruhe’s support, offering space for small and medium-sized enterprises, a project is also underway in cooperation with the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HSKA) for the sustainable further development of the Rabale industrial zone in Thane. This project focuses mainly on areas of mobility, energy supply, and innovative infrastructures.
A few years back, Karlsruhe opened an office in the old slaughterhouse for the consortium ABPRO (Aurangabad Business Promotion Center). The idea is to support medium-sized companies from India in setting up in Baden-Württemberg in a pilot project.
In the field of renewable energies, especially in hydrogen and fuel cell technology, there is great potential for cooperation, particularly with Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. In addition, the state of Maharashtra, located on the west coast and in the centre of India, is actively promoting the settlement of German companies and offering areas for this purpose. In Pune, for example, the 90-hectare “Eco Industrial Park” is to be planned With Karlsruhe’s support, offering space for small and medium-sized enterprises, a project is also underway in cooperation with the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HSKA) for the sustainable further development of the Rabale industrial zone in Thane. This project focuses mainly on areas of mobility, energy supply, and innovative infrastructures.
A few years back, Karlsruhe opened an office in the old slaughterhouse for the consortium ABPRO (Aurangabad Business Promotion Center). The idea is to support medium-sized companies from India in setting up in Baden-Württemberg in a pilot project.
The signing of the Indo-German Mobility and Migration Agreement in December 2022 brought significant relief in the recruitment of skilled workers. The Karlsruhe Kreishandwerkerschaft now wants to increasingly address young trainees from India. Interested persons are now being familiarized with German culture and language through training courses. But training is also being promoted in the other direction: for example, young people are learning technical trades in the “Indo-German Tool Room” in the city of Aurangabad. The German-style training makes the graduates sought-after specialists in the labor market.
The city is at the heart of the Karlsruhe Technology Region, one of the most dynamic and successful economic regions in Europe. Over 4,200 companies are active in the IT and media sector alone. So there’s great potential for tech exchange. The delegation successfully returned to Germany with a multitude of new impressions, new contacts, and new impulses for Indo-German cooperation.
www.india-karlsruhe.com
Karlsruhe: UNESCO City of Media Arts
In 2019, Karlsruhe became the first and so far only city in Germany to be awarded the title Creative City of Media Arts by UNESCO and to join the international UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). As a UNESCO Creative City, Karlsruhe is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the role of creativity and culture in building sustainable urban societies.
Karlsruhe is a city where media art in its various forms is part of life. With the ZKM | Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe is home to one of the most important media art institutions worldwide. The ZKM’s research, teaching, and innovations are leading and recognized worldwide. The ZKM is also curatorially involved in the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe, a media art spectacle that delights tens of thousands of visitors every summer with impressive projection mapping shows and makes media art in public spaces an experience for everyone. The Seasons of Media Arts also present digital, interactive, and virtual art in public spaces and transform the city of Karlsruhe into a stage of innovative, cooperative, and networked media art open to all.
The city of Karlsruhe and its creative actors contribute to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in a variety of ways and carry innovations and know-how from the mutual relationship between media art and the fields of cultural and creative industries, IT, science and research, as well as democracy and fundamental rights into the member cities and the global context.
www.cityofmediaarts.de
INDIA SUMMER DAYS Karlsruhe (Günther-Klotz-Anlage, 21 – 23 July 2023)
Colors, scents, sounds: sensory perceptions play a major role in India. Add to that liveliness, cheerfulness, and joie de vivre. All this can be experienced at the INDIA SUMMER DAYS, which take place parallel to southern Germany’s largest family festival DAS FEST, in Karlsruhe’s Günther-Klotz-Anlage. With free admission, the INDIA SUMMER DAYS present India’s diverse culture and celebrate the strong German-Indian partnership of many years.
In addition to a stage program lasting several days with dance, live music, and shows, visitors to Karlsruhe will also have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Indian culture, among other things at the program in the Indian village and with free yoga offers. In addition, Indian handicrafts, books, jewelry, textiles, and, of course, spices await guests visiting the bazaar during the festival weekend. And of course, the authentic Indian cuisine on offer also invites visitors to experience India by taste.
The INDIA SUMMER DAYS Karlsruhe are under the patronage of the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann.
www.indiasummerdays.de
Karlsruhe – A city to fall in Love
Having been 5 times to Karlsruhe, it’s a city that you can’t fail to fall in love with. Lots of greenery, palaces, world’s first interactive museum, dynamic marketplace, convenient to reach most locations by local transport of the green transport – cycle. Add to this it’s a tech savvy city with lots of educational institutes. Karlsruhe is in the shape of a fan with a geometrical focal point from where 32 streets and paths radiate like the rays of the sun. Then there’s the ZKM: the world’s largest culture factory and the world’s first interactive museum. Karlsruhe’s market square (Marktplatz) is the heart of the city where visitors can admire the symbol of the city of Karlsruhe, a pyramid of red sandstone measuring some seven metres in height. The unusual structure covers the tomb of Margrave Karl Wilhelm. The city has all the clubs, bars and pubs that a night owl could ask for including traditional brewery pubs The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Museum) is one of the oldest and most important art museums in Germany. Opened in 1846, it is one of the few early German art museums that has still largely retained its original structure and furnishings. The collection, which features works from seven centuries, focuses on German, French and Dutch painting. The Karlsruhe Municipal Gardens (Stadtgarten) contain a zoo and are one of the largest downtown parks in Germany. The Palace Gardens (Schlossgarten) are another popular destination. In addition to extensive green spaces and fountains and sculptures from a variety of eras, the grounds feature an idyllic lake. Shopping
opportunities are plentiful in Karlsruhe, including Ettlinger Tor, southern Germany’s largest indoor shopping centre, and Kaiserstrasse, Baden’s longest shopping street.
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