Munich plays an important role in the German financial sector, an several banks and insurance companies have their company headquarters and subsidiaries here. Munich's financial sector also includes other segments such as asset management, venture capital and leasing.

Besides having the largest concentration of publishing companies in Germany and the second-largest in the word, Munich is also home to a number of prominent media enterprises. Munich is an outstanding and dynamic media center with a brilliant future - whether in motion pictures, TV, multimedia or advertising.

• Additional information: Media in Bavaria

The internationally recognized educational and research facilities of Munich's universities, colleges and technical schools are a driving force behind Munich's development as a key biotechnology location. Since the startup boom in the late 1990s, companies located mainly at the Martinsried Campus and the scientific campus in Weihenstephan/Freising have been producing and conducting research in close cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Munich's two major universities and other institutions.

Munich is the uncontested leading high-tech location in Germany.  It is home to more than 20,000 high-tech companies in the electronics, telecommunications, electrical-engineering, machine and automobile manufacturing and aerospace sectors.

The portfolio of services in the Munich economy covers a broad spectrum. Bavaria is the Number 1 tourism region in Germany, so Munich has an important hospitality sector that influences the quality of life and lends the city a special flair that starts with its traditional "beer-garden culture". 

No other city in Germany has as many jobs in the IT, software and communications sectors as Munich. It is ranked in fourth place worldwide, after Silicon Valley, Boston and Tel Aviv.

Munich enjoys an excellent reputation as a retail location: In comparisons with other major German cities, Munich tops the list when it comes to both retail space as well as sales and space productivity. Upper Bavaria also has some 60,000 handicraft businesses with far more than 300,000 employees.