Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

🇩🇪 Kaiserslautern is a city in south-west Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is 459 km from Paris, 117 km from Frankfurt am Main, 666 km from Berlin, and 159 km from Luxembourg.

Kaiserslautern is home to 45,000 NATO military personnel based in the city and its surrounding district (Landkreis Kaiserslautern), contributing approximately US$1 billion annually to the local economy.

Universities • The Technical University of Kaiserslautern was founded on 13 July 1970. Earlier, it was part of the twin University of Trier/Kaiserslautern. It started with the departments of Mathematics, Physics and Technology. Later many more faculties were added. • University of Applied Sciences, Kaiserslautern was founded in 1971. The main departments including Applied Logistics & Polymer Sciences, Building and Design, Business Administration, Engineering and Computer Sciences / Microsystems Technology.

Research centres • German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence • Fraunhofer IESE • Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics • Max Planck Institute for Software Systems • Association Internationale pour les Technologies Objets.

Businesses Kaiserslautern has a broad-based commercial economy. Among the big companies located in the city are: • Adam Opel AG (engines and components factory) • AMEC Earth & Environmental (environmental consulting and engineering) • Avid Technology (formerly Blue-Order) • Empolis GmbH (content & knowledge management software) • General Dynamics European Land Systems-Germany (until 2002 Eisenwerke Kaiserslautern; amphibious vehicles, mobile bridges for military use) • IKEA • John Deere Research and Development branch • Johnson Controls, formerly Keiper (carseats) • Pfaff Industrie Maschinen AG (sewing machines) • EuroMaint.