Economy of Dresden

Dresden became a centre in the allocation of the former socialist combines that were centrally planned on the one side and had disposal of regional subunits of nationally-owned enterprises.

Direct lines are running to Berlin, Prague, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Budapest and Vienna.

Nevertheless, Dresden is the city that has developed the most effectively in all of East Germany and has raised its GDP per capita to 31,100 Euro, which is equal to the GDP per capita of some poor West German communities (the average of the 50 biggest cities is around 35,000 Euro).

[1] In the discussion of alternatives in the policy of promoting the weak states of the former GDR, Dresden is often cited as an example of successfully subsidising the better-developed centres and regions.

[citation needed] With about 20% of its employees having a university degree[2] and the city being the home of many research institutes, the economy differs from the low-priced subcontracting that is often criticized in East Germany.

Due to its dynamism, among other factors, the economy of Dresden is ranked among the best ten cities in Germany to live in.

The labour force's knowledge and education in technology, as well as intensive subsidies, has drawn other enterprises and global players such as AMD, Infineon Technologies (now partly owned by Qimonda), and Toppan Photomasks to site some of their production capability in Dresden.

The factory also produced luxury cars such as the VW Phaeton and the Bentley Flying Spur.

The Sächsische Zeitung was established in 1946 and became the press media of the socialist party SED in the district of Dresden until 1990.

Dresden is the home of the Saxon Broadcasting Center which is a subunit of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk and hosts the regional studios.