Ulm is still a city with is a historic centre. The first document about Ulm is from the year 854, when it was then a king’s palatinate. In 1181 it became a designated town. In the Middle Ages Ulm was the cultural and economic centre of the region and a “Free Imperial City”, until 1802. During the Middle Ages Ulm was a trade centre for cloth and its citizens were important patrons for the arts. In that times Ulm citizens built the famous huge cathedral with its spire of 161meters, which is still the highest in Christian world. The inner part of the City is still in the structure of a medieval town with its guildhouses and quarters for fisherman and other craftsman. In the Second World War this centre was by 85% destroyed, but was rebuilt after the war.

Location:
Ulm is a city in the southwest of the Land Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Ulm is on the river Danube with important trade routes crossing. Ulm is on the southern edge of the Swabian Alb, a low mountain range and a paradise for walking . Ulm is a regional and traffic hub, with two A-Routes crossing and is on the way of the new to be built European Railway connection “Magistrale” from Paris to Budapest. Ulm, as a city on the river Danube has European connections with the cites alongside the river until the Black Sea. Ulm was always the centre of this part of Baden-Württemberg, the next two big cities are Stuttgart and Augsburg, both 100 km away.

Population: Nowadays Ulm has 120 000 inhabitants.

Area: 118,69 km2

Tourism & culture:
Ulm had always European connections along the Danube. Since the Middle Ages Ulm was a centre for trade and for migration for settlers, sailing down the Danube to Hungary and further. Nowadays the connections are more in the field of cultural exchange. Ulm is also the cultural centre of the region. During the last 20 years Ulm started to bring modern architecture into the inner city with a “Stadthouse” designed by the American architect Richard Meier, a pyramid library and the “New Middle”: modern buildings were once big streets divided the city. The latest building is a gallery for modern art in this “New Middle”. Ulm has various museums, galleries and theatres.

Local economy:
Ulm is the logistic and technology centre of the region. In Ulm you find two universities, one of applied sciences. Ulm is a “Science City” with a Science park, which is run by the municipality. Important international enterprises like Daimler, Siemens, Nokia are part of this Science City, but also start ups find their way to it. Science City exists since 30 years now. Ulm is part of many clusters around the region: life science, bio, automotive, logistic and more. The backbone of Ulm’s economy are the small and middle sized enterprises. Together Science City and SME offer 80.000 jobs in the region around Ulm.