History and goals
Immerse yourself in the dynamic history and common goals that have been connecting Erfurt, Jena, Weimar and Weimarer Land since 1999.
History
In preparation for Weimar’s year as the European Capital of Culture in 1999, a Regional Advisory Council was established with representatives of the cities of Erfurt, Weimar and Jena and Weimarer Land district. The aim was to maximise the benefits of this special event through joint projects. Important event dates were agreed and a cultural calendar was published as an annual overview. Local public transport companies in the region created a joint tariff of fares, the Regiomobil-Ticket, for the first time.
On this basis, the cooperation intensified over the following years and extended to other activities. Keywords here are joint “Museum Nights”, the introduction of the “Verbundtarif Mittelthüringen” tariff of fares or joint marketing activities. But projects such as the establishment of the Sparkasse Mittelthüringen in 2003 or the conclusion of a special-purpose agreement for residual waste treatment between Erfurt, Weimar and Weimarer Land district also contribute to strengthening the cooperation.
This process was continued with the founding of the “Region Erfurt-Weimar-Jena” municipal working group. The cooperation agreement based on the Law on Municipal Community Work (ThürKGG) was signed by the three mayors and the district administrator at a ceremony in the presence of Thuringia’s Minister President Dieter Althaus on 23 June 2004. The cooperation continued in a new dimension on this basis.
The “Die Impulsregion” association was finally founded on 5 December 2016. The local authorities of Erfurt, Jena, Weimar and Weimarer Land, as well as the acting mayors and the acting district administrator, founded the association to boost the region’s future and development opportunities through cooperation and to make it possible to welcome other members who support this goal.
Die Impulsregion association members
- City of Erfurt
- City of Jena
- City of Weimar
- Weimarer Land district
- Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH
- Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft Jena mbH
- weimar GmbH
- Weimarer Land Tourismus e. V.
In 2024, the chairperson of the Die Impulsregion Executive Board is Peter Kleine, mayor of the city of Weimar. Christiane Schmidt-Rose, district administrator of Weimarer Land district, is currently the deputy chairperson of the Executive Board.
Goals
The aim of the cooperation from the offset was to compensate for the lack of agglomeration benefits found in metropolitan regions through the cooperation of three large Thuringian cities and the district, and thus to become the nucleus of an independent region that is recognisable on a German and European scale. At the same time, an intermunicipal division of labour is intended to leverage synergies and conserve resources. This strategy corresponds to the statements in the regional development plan LEP 2004 on the need for cooperation to strengthen the Free State of Thuringia’s development potential.
Today, the Impulse Region in the heart of Thuringia possesses the state’s essential development potential. Intensifying the cooperation is to concentrate this even more. Together, the partners want to assume the role of a growth engine for Thuringia and the greater area of Central Germany.