2. higher education activities in these sectors (E/IT Academy, expansion of the
existing departments in the universities, a campaign at the high schools of the region
to increase student intake),
3. start-up promotion via start-up competitions, business angel programs and venture
capital companies,
4. creating a specialised business community in the new sectors by organising
associations, networks and events.
Advanced studies of the clusters and dimensions of the “New Economy” and its
regional impact in the eastern part of the Ruhr show very clearly that the city of
Dortmund is a very important location for these clusters, that nearly all conditions of
research and higher education for this sector are located in this city and that the local
politicians and the business world are very conscious of this opportunity to develop
these new anchor industries (see Arbeitnehmerfraktion im KVR, 1997; DGB
Dortmund, 1999, Bomer, 2000 b, Roland Berger, 2001).
Table 2: Employed people in the city of Dortmund in the years 1970, 2000 and 2010
|
1970_____________ |
2000_____________ |
2010 (forecast**) | |
|
basic industries |
80,000 (coal, |
28,000 (IT, MST*, 5,000(coal, mining, |
additional 60,000 |
|
All sectors_________ |
277,000 |
225,000___________ |
295,000 |
*MST: microstructure technology (incl. nanotech.); ** forecast by McKinsey, the
official project managers of the Dortmund project and the local mayor
Source: Stadt Dortmund, 2001, page 4
III. The political economy of the new economy crisis2
1. The stages of the cycle: boom and contraction
The hype of the new economy speculation wave finished in March 2000. Key players
of this poorly defined sector are the telecom companies which use the products of the
network suppliers (like Cisco, Nokia and Siemens etc) and mobile phone producers
(Nokia, Ericson, Siemens etc) and the software suppliers (Microsoft, Norton, SAP,
Materna). Another key group - partly the same as the first group - is the internet
providers, their software-producers and web-designers. In my paper “The regional
impact of the „hostile“ takeover of Mannesmann by Vodafone on the Rhine-Ruhr
Region” (Bomer, 2000a) I described the mechanisms of speculation in the field of
2 For a wide theoretical and empirical treatment of this theme from a political economy point of view
see Bischoff, 2001.