Jiaozhou seeks cooperation with German Industry 4.0

Jiaozhou, a county-level city in Qingdao, Shandong province aiming to join hands with "German Industry 4.0", held a Sino-German enterprises investment conference on April 24.

The event attracted 13 German enterprises and more than 100 local companies. They sought cooperative opportunities in such fields as construction, machine manufacturing, bioresearch and electronics.

During the conference, Jiaozhou signed a strategic cooperative agreement with the Economic Council of the Christian Democratic Party, or CDU, a major political party in Germany.

"Jiaozhou has a long history of international trade and as a new international airport based here will be operating in full swing in 2019, interconnecting with developed land and sea routes, the city's transportation advantage will be prominent," said Daniel Imbäuser, in charge of the Economic Council of CDU.

"Jiaozhou is also an important pivot under China's Belt and Road Initiative with a promising future," said Imbäuser, hoping the conference will become an effective platform for enterprises from both countries.

Christine Neumann-Martin Mdl, a representative from the German state of Baden-Württemberg, said Jiaozhou has made big achievements in industry and trade and has special superiority in new energy and high-tech.

Wei Zhenwen, chairman and CEO of Jiaozhou-based Doright Co Ltd, a company specializing in environmental protection, said his company wants to learn more about German high-end technologies.

"Our company had a discussion with representatives of Pilz GmbH & Co KG Company in Germany and we were impressed by their super research and development capability of machinery manufacturing and automation," said Wei.

"We are planning to visit Germany soon to learn more about international standards," he added.

According to Jiaozhou's mayor Zhang Youyu, the city has 895 industrial enterprises above a designated size and 19 major technical equipment projects, ranking first in Shandong province. The city also has 12 "hidden champions" enterprises, topping all 10 district and county-level areas in Qingdao.

Zhang said projects brought by the German side will have a perfect fit with the city's industrial orientation in the future and hopes both sides will enhance exchange and accelerate their complementary advantages in industry chains.

The conference helped five local enterprises find potential partners from Germany. More win-win results are expected, local officials said.