The city of Voronezh, which celebrated the 425th anniversary of its foundation in 2011, is located in the valley of the River Don and the River Voronezh, at the intersection of main highways. Its population is just over 990,000.
The city's industrial potential is driven by the high-tech and labour intensive industries of engineering and metal working, the chemical and petrochemical industries, light industry and the food industry. Around 1,500 industrial enterprises operate in Voronezh, including 150 major companies. Over 150 companies are registered with foreign capital.
There are 39 higher education establishments in the city and 40 institutions of secondary vocational education. The local universities are leaders of Russian higher education, training specialists in more than 300 different fields, many of which are connected with the priority directions for the country's technological development. Over 125,000 students are studying at universities in Voronezh. About 35% of students are from outside the city, including 4% of foreign nationals. In terms of concentration of highly qualified scientists per capita the city comes near the top of the national rankings: it has more than 4,000 PhD's and doctoral candidates.
In Voronezh serious attention is paid to sporting achievements and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. There are over 50 sporting establishments in the city, including 29 special schools for Olympic reserves and 2 training centres for national teams. The city's sports complexes offer classes in 14 various competitive and 51individual sports. One hundred and ninety-four athletes from Voronezh are members of a national team. Forty athletes born and raised in Voronezh have competed in the Olympics, among them 14 gold medallists, five of whom are two-time Olympic champions.