In 1775 a school for miners and foundry workers was established in Clausthal which developed into a world-famous mining college. Luneburg gained prominence because of local salt deposits, and the potash industry is a major branch of Lower Saxony's economy. Salzgitter is the centre of Europe's third largest iron-ore deposit. Brunswick is home to the Federal Institute of Physics and Metrology, the national authority for the testing, standardization and licensing of materials. Emden has Germany's third largest port on the North Sea.
Famous companies produce container vessels and automobiles there.
Wolfsburg, home of the famous Volkswagen. Volkswagen is the biggest company in the region and its foundation the largest non-governmental scientific institution in Germany. Hanover and the industrial fair, Gottingen and its university. Half a million of this state's 7.3 million inhabitants live in the capital, Hanover. Every year they show the present generation the world of tomorrow.