18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

dotSaarland GmbH, the company behind .SAARLAND, is committed to provide a platform that will: serve the needs of the regional community of the Saarland, provide a common internet address to the community, and promote the region and its people, services and regional attractions to all who share an interest in it.

The term “Saarland” refers to a federal state within Germany and is a regional identifier for a community consisting of those who live, have lived, work or have spent time in the Saarland region, those who want to promote the different cultural or economic aspects of the Saarland online, and⁄or those who want to address their online communications to that community.
The Saarland is one of Germanyʹs forerunners in the areas of economic growth and the concentration of apprenticeship training positions. Vehicle construction, mechanical engineering and the local steel industry are the core areas of economic activity. Complementing these sectors is an active mixture of research institutes and spin-offs from all areas of IT and nanotechnology.
In addition, Saarland is a major site of European industrial culture, including a UNESCO World Heritage site, the “Völklinger Hütte”.
The Saarland is located at the heart of “Saar-Lor-Lux” region, an economic metropolitan area including parts of France, Germany and Luxemburg with classic industrial locations; the federal state Saarland is a leading IT research location in Germany.
The mission of the Applicant, dotSaarland GmbH, is to provide a secure Internet space for the region that will facilitate the distribution and exchange of information among Saarland stakeholders by means of for example websites, social networks, email and other technologies that will reside within the .SAARLAND domain name space. In addition, and as technology needs advance and change, ancillary services may be provided in relation to registration of domains within the TLD, including but not limited to website hosting, SEO, marketing and consulting services. With .SAARLAND, online content can be targeted directly at the Saarland community: The .SAARLAND TLD will act as an identifier for regional content, enabling local businesses, organizations, and individuals to present their content in a fashion that makes it easy to discover and locate for Internet users seeking content and information related to the region.
With .SAARLAND, all Saarland people, communities, organizations, companies, and many more will find a common space in the virtual world, enabling them to register domain names which are currently not available in current gTLDs and ccTLDs such as .com with over 90 million registrations and .de with more than 13 million registrations. .SAARLAND domain names will help them establishing their online life or business using attractive 2nd level domain names.
Starting in April 2008, the founders of dotSaarland GmbH have been involved with the local government in talks about creating a specific TLD for the Saarland region.
The dotSaarland association was founded in 2009 as a supporting organization to facilitate the launch of .SAARLAND, to generate public interest in the creation of the regional TLD and to create a forum for the local community to be directly involved in the proposed policies and uses.
The dotSaarland GmbH (limited liability company) was founded in 2011 to apply for and later operate the TLD. The dotSaarland registered association is represented through a permanent seat in management board meetings according to the company statutes to ensure that the operator and the community coordinate their efforts to the benefit of the regional community.
.SAARLAND corresponds perfectly with the high ranking, politically supported campaign „Umbrella Brand Saarland“ (see http:⁄⁄www.saarland.de⁄6867_87814.htm). The government initiative to strengthen the marketing capacities of local brands through providing a state aided platform to increase employment and attract experts. Thus providing a means of communication and the possibility to use .SAARLAND will support the umbrella brand Saarland as well as attracting further users for the name space.
The .SAARLAND association is an active part of the political, social and public life in the federal state and the domain extension .SAARLAND is eagerly awaited by many players and citizens in various fields.

This can be seen as positive and written feedback, which is listed below. There are more letters of support reaching DotSaarland Association daily, so this list is far from being complete:
- Industrie- und Handelskammer des Saarlandes, Saarland Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Handwerkskammer des Saarlandes, Saarland Chamber of Crafts
- gwSaar, Saarland economic promotion corporation
- Vereinigung der saarländischen Unternehmensverbände e.V., Parent organization for business associations in Saarland
- Unternehmensverband Saarland e.V., Business association Saarland
- Verband der Metall- und Elektroindustrie des Saarlandes e.V., Association of the metal and electrical industry in Saarland
- SHS Foundation, Association for the cultural and economic promotion in Saarland
- Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, Publishing company for the regional newspaper Saarbrücker Zeitung, the internet portal sol.de and the radio station bigFM Saarland
- RADIO SALÜ Euro-Radio Saar GmbH, Operator of the regional radio station RADIO SALÜ and the online portal salue.de
- Landessportverband für das Saarland, Regional sports association, corporation under public law
- Saarländischer Turnerbund e.V., Regional gymnastics organization
- Saar Connect GmbH, Operator of saarshopping.de, a reginal online shopping portal
- Key-Systems GmbH, Saarland domain registrar
- Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Dury, Law firm
- Private Care, Insurance intermediary
The letters are attached as Q21b_Fig3_supporting_letters.

The support of .SAARLAND is also expressed by a quote of the Minister of Economic Affairs (also the signatory of the letter of endorsement, see question 21): „Das Wirtschaftsministerium unterstützt die Initiative für die Einführung der Top-Level-Domain .SAARLAND. Mit .SAARLAND unterstreichen wir unsere Bedeutung als innovativer IT-Standort. Zudem können Saarländer und Saarländerinnen mit dieser Internet-Endung für ihr Bundesland werben.“ [Peter Jacoby, Saarl. Wirtschaftsminister] The closest English translation of this statement would be: ʺThe Ministry of Economy supports the initiative for the introduction of the top-level domain .SAARLAND. With .SAARLAND we emphasize our role as an innovative IT location. In addition, all Saarland people may advertise for their state using this internet extension.ʺ (Peter Jacoby, Minister of Economic Affairs)
Users of .SAARLAND will benefit from the elevated recognition in their target markets and identification with their native region. With .SAARLAND users will be able to step ahead of the competition and distinguish themselves from said competition.
Companies, individuals and associations will be enabled to build a targeted regional internet presence. The regionally targeted user experience will support our goal of communicating a message of regional identity.
From public information and industry knowledge, dotSaarland GmbH expects that numerous regional TLD name spaces will be applied for and the use of regional name spaces will be a natural and common experience for internet users.
The dotSaarland GmbH intends that .SAARLAND names will be mainly registered and used by persons and entities within the Saarland region or persons who maintain an affinity towards the region. However, .SAARLAND domain registrations will not be restricted to such persons and entities. Our goal is to promote the Saarland region and culture in general and as such anyone will be able to register a .SAARLAND domain name. We have therefore decided not to apply for a community TLD.

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