Dresden is the capital of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is located in a valley of the Elbe River, close to the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxony Triangle metropolitan region with 2.4 million inhabitants.

Nowhere else in Germany are so many scientists and research institutions to be found in such a small area, there is hardly another city in Europe where research is as intensive as in Dresden.

Dresden does more research than any other city in Germany. Both in terms of scientific staff and the number of research institutes, it is at the top of the list of major German cities. A comparison of the number of scientific staff employed shows Dresden to be the front-runner. In terms of the number of research institutes, Dresden is in fifth place with 46 institutes. All the major non-university research institutions can be found here, as well as universities and colleges and research institutions in cooperation with industry. In addition, the Technical University of Dresden is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and is part of the Excellence Initiative of German universities.