Jena, Thuringia, Germany

🇩🇪 Jena is a German university city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia. Jena is a centre of education and research; the Friedrich Schiller University was founded in 1558 and had 18,000 students in 2017 and the Ernst-Abbe-Fachhochschule Jena counts another 5,000 students. Furthermore, there are many institutes of the leading German research societies.

Jena was first mentioned in 1182 and stayed a small town until the 19th century, when industry developed. For most of the 20th century, Jena was a world centre of the optical industry around companies like Carl Zeiss, Schott and Jenoptik (since 1990). As one of only a few medium-sized cities in Germany, it has some high-rise buildings in the city centre, like the JenTower. These also have their origin in the former Carl Zeiss factory. Between 1790 and 1850, Jena was a focal point of the German Vormärz as well as of the student liberal and unification movement and German Romanticism. Notable persons of this period in Jena were Friedrich Schiller, Alexander von Humboldt, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Novalis and August Wilhelm Schlegel.

The city's economy is based on the high-technology industry and research. The optical and precision industry is the leading branch to date, while software engineering, other digital businesses and biotechnology are of growing importance. Furthermore, Jena is also a service hub for the surrounding regions.

Jena lies in a hilly landscape in the east of Thuringia, within the wide valley of the Saale river. Due to its rocky landscape, varied substrate and mixed forests, Jena is known in Germany for the wide variety of wild orchids which can be found within walking distance of the town. Local nature reserves are maintained by volunteers and NABU.

Economy Agriculture plays a small role in Jena, only 40% of the municipal territory are in use for farming (compared to over 60% in Erfurt and nearly 50% in Weimar). Furthermore, the Muschelkalk soil is not very fertile and is often used as pasture for cattle. The only large agricultural area is situated around Isserstedt, Cospeda and Vierzehnheiligen district in the northwest. Wine-growing was discontinued during the Little Ice Age around 1800, but is now possible again due to global warming. Nevertheless, the commercial production of wine hasn't yet resumed.

Industry is a great tradition in Jena, reaching back to the mid-19th century. In 2012, there were 80 companies in industrial production with more than 20 workers employing 8,300 persons and generating a turnover of more than 1,5 billion Euro. The most important branches are precision machinery, pharmaceuticals, optics, biotechnology and software engineering. Notable companies in Jena are the traditional Carl Zeiss AG, Schott AG, Jenoptik and Jenapharm as well as new companies like Intershop Communications, Analytik Jena and Carl Zeiss Meditec. Jena has the most market-listed companies and is one of the most important economic centres of east Germany.

With companies such as Intershop Communications, Salesforce.com (after the acquisition of Demandware) and ePages as well as several web agencies, Jena is a hub for E-commerce in Germany. Other IT players with regional offices include Accenture or ESET. Jena-Optronik, a subsidiary of the Airbus Group, develops components for spaceflight or satellites in Jena.

The city is among Germany's 50 fastest growing regions, with many internationally renowned research institutes and companies, a comparatively low unemployment and a young population structure. Jena was awarded the title "Stadt der Wissenschaft" (city of science) by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, a German science association, in 2008.

Jena is also a hub of public and private services, specially in education, research and business services. Other important institutions are the High Court of Thuringia and Thuringia's solely university hospital. Furthermore, Jena is a regional centre in infrastructure and retail with many shopping centres. Together with the photonics lab Lichtwerkstatt and the Krautspace there are makerspaces and hackerspaces enabling start-ups to create their product ideas and realizing their first prototype and business models as well as networking.