The 2022 Beijing China-Germany Forum for Industrial Cooperation and Development was held at the Beijing China-Germany International Conference and Exhibition Center on July 28. The forum was co-organized by the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the German Chamber of Commerce in China (GCCC) and the People's Government of Shunyi District with the support of the NDRC and the Beijing Municipal Government.

More than 300 representatives from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the German Embassy in China, the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA, Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau), the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF), the International Technology Transfer Network (ITTN), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ, The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), NRW.Global Business, and other organizations participated in the forum at the Beijing venue or via a video link. A sub-forum was held at the same time in Frankfurt, Germany, and was broadcast live globally through various platforms.

With the theme of "Joint Innovation, Integrated Development", the forum aims to showcase the innovative achievements of the Beijing China-Germany Economic and Technical Cooperation Pioneer Demonstration Zone since the approval by the National Development and Reform Commission in economic and technical cooperation as an important window and carrier of open-up and cooperation with Germany in the past year. 

The forum has brought keynote speeches and presentations on topics such as "Prospects for Sino-German Economic and Technological Cooperation", "Innovative Exploration of Sino-German Industrial Integration and Development", "New Opportunities for Sino-German Cooperation in Intelligent Manufacturing" and "The Road of Sino-German Cooperation in Automotive Industry under Global Green Transformation". Six senior entrepreneurs and industry leaders from both countries engaged in bilateral cooperation carried out a summit dialogue on the topic of "Sino-German industrial joint innovation" and talked about the direction of innovative integration and industrial development.

Advantages in various fields adopted in the Demonstration Zone will be given full play so that the industries, talents and capital will be ensured, all-factor high-quality product and service systems will be built, and free and convenient investment and trade will be facilitated, said Jin Wei, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Beijing. 

Paths of economic and technological cooperation will be explored, and more efforts will be made to co-build the industrial system, share the results of development and achieve a win-win future with German enterprises, Jin said.

The demonstration zone will become a major location in spotlight for Sino-German automobile cooperation, and promote learning and exchanges between the industries in China and Germany to achieve win-win cooperation and mutual benefit for bilateral economic and technological cooperation, said Professor Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of Automotive Research Center, University of Duisburg Essen.

At the forum, leaders from both countries unveiled the China-Germany Industrial Cooperation Dual Center of the Beijing China-Germany Industrial Park, aiming to build a sci-tech innovation incubation center and a sci-tech achievement transformation center in industries of Sino-German cooperation. The two sides will, by playing their own advantages, carrying out exchanges, docking innovation resources, and broadening cooperation fields, achieve a win-win development in economic and technological cooperation. 

With the team of experts and scholars led by famous academicians as the foundation, it was announced at the forum that the expert committee of the think tank supported by the demonstration zone have included five more experts and entrepreneurs, and the number of the committee has exceeded 120, injecting new impetus for Sino-German industrial cooperation.

Group signing of contracts and achievements display were held during the forum. Contracts of 8 key physical projects, such as Adler Pelzer Andy New Energy Intelligent Vehicle, Vastalta Circular Technology, Trimeta Software, and Ewellix, were signed, with a total expected investment of 2 billion yuan and a total annual industrial output value of 11.5 billion yuan after becoming operational. A consensus has been reached on cooperation involving 9 R&D platform projects including the China-Germany "Dual Carbon" Joint Innovation Center and China-Germany Medical Valley to jointly promote economic and technological exchanges and cooperation among enterprises in the demonstration zone.

The Beijing China-Germany Economic and Technical Cooperation Pioneer Demonstration Zone, as the regional carrier platform of Sino-German economic and technical cooperation mechanism, boasts prominent advantages in location, business environment, policy and an international community. Focusing on new energy intelligent vehicles, intelligent equipment, digital economy and advanced manufacturing services as the "3+1" pattern of industrial development, the zone has attracted 90 German enterprises such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Ameco, with a total investment of 4.5 billion euros and an annual output value of 30 billion yuan. Among them, 27 are hidden champions. And more than 120 German executives and engineers work here. 

More and more German enterprises are gathering here, witnessing steady business growth and continuous technological innovation, and gaining firm confidence in their investment, which is best practice of "common development and mutual achievement" of Sino-German economic and technological cooperation.

Bilateral cooperation between China and Germany has witnessed rich fruits since the two countries established diplomatic ties 50 years ago. Adhering to promoting high-level opening-up driven high-quality development as its primary guiding principle, Beijing China-Germany Industrial Park takes equality, mutual benefit and pragmatic cooperation as the core, highlights open innovation, integrated development and industrial promotion, continuously consolidates the industrial foundation, innovates policy initiatives, optimizes the development environment and explores to gain leading experience in economic and technological cooperation with Germany, so as to build into an innovative model of China’s economic and technological cooperation with other countries.