One of the main reasons for Leipzig’s emergence as a hub of trade was its location at the crossroads of two great continental trade routes, the east–west Via Regia and the north–south Via Imperii. Nowadays, the city’s efficient transport network is an important basis for both its future economic development within the European Union and a higher quality of life for everyone living and working there. Key aspects include smooth public transport, plentiful cycle lanes, the upgraded orbital motorway, Leipzig’s integration into the Intercity-Express railway network (Berlin is just an hour away, while Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Munich can be reached in three hours), and Leipzig/Halle Airport, which is home to DHL’s European air freight hub operating 24/7. Then again, with most of Leipzig’s research institutes just a stone’s throw away from each other, collaboration often starts with a five-minute walk!

Leipzig hosts some outstanding life science incubators combining affordable office space with shared laboratory facilities. BIO CITY LEIPZIG has 20,000 square meters of office and lab space as well as state-of-the-art facilities for biotech startups. It’s next door to BioCube Leipzig, which contains S1 and S2 laboratories as well as office space, production facilities, and storage areas. The symbiosis created by the entire BioCity Campus generates excellent opportunities for R&D partnerships for all the companies operating there and allows them to benefit from the resulting synergy. Medical Forge is an accelerator for smart medical products and therapies set up by biosaxony to help foreign startups and SMEs enter the German healthcare market. And the SIKT Saxon Incubator for Clinical Translation, which develops innovative, personalized biomedical solutions, cooperates closely with Leipzig University’s faculties of human and veterinary medicine as well as the University Hospital and Helios Heart Center.