Northeast of Beijing Capital International Airport, the Beijing China-Germany Economic and Technological Cooperation Pilot Demonstration Zone (hereinafter referred to as the "China-Germany Demonstration Zone") is thriving as a "testing ground" and "new paradigm" for economic and technological cooperation between China and Germany, and even between China and Europe. As preparations for the 2025 China-Germany (Europe) Hidden Champions Forum intensify, the international DNA and innovative vitality of the China-Germany Demonstration Zone are once again drawing attention.
Pilot Demonstration: Building a China-Germany "Innovation Workshop"
Entering the Beijing China-Germany Building, one is greeted by a harmonious blend of German-style curtain wall architecture and meticulously landscaped gardens. Road signs display Chinese, English, and German, and inside the building, German executives and Chinese R&D professionals are often seen working side by side.
As the first Sino-German cooperation park in China with a theme centered on "economic and technological cooperation," the zone has attracted 120 German companies since its approval by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2021. These include the Bosch Industry 4.0 Innovation Center and the Mercedes-Benz new energy vehicle factory. The zone is accelerating the formation of industrial clusters where Chinese and German (European) strengths complement each other, particularly in smart connected new energy vehicles, intelligent equipment, digital economy, and advanced manufacturing services.
The zone’s strategic location has fostered an integrated innovation ecosystem. By deploying innovation chains around industrial chains and implementing policies and reforms to facilitate foreign enterprises, the zone has created an "innovation workshop" for Sino-German economic and technological cooperation. Companies like Rhein-Koster's China operations headquarters, mediCAD's China headquarters, China’s first wholly foreign-owned insurance asset management company, and Beijing’s first foreign-invested vocational training institution for smart manufacturing have set up operations here. These "firsts" and "debuts" are telling the story of the China-Germany Demonstration Zone’s development.
How was this "golden招牌" forged? Wei Lan, a digital expert at Epart Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd., said, "The strategic layout, policy support, and industrial ecosystem in the digital economy sector at the China-Germany Demonstration Zone have shown us promising market prospects. Since settling here in 2022, our company has achieved rapid growth in the Chinese market. The zone has actively helped us connect with market resources, and we look forward to collaborating with more partners here."
As new trends in cooperation—centered on SMEs, technological innovation, and supply chain clusters—continue to emerge, the China-Germany Demonstration Zone adheres to the principle of "specialization, refinement, and effectiveness." It innovatively hosts the China-Germany (Europe) Hidden Champions Forum, expands its global network, and continues to burnish its reputation as a benchmark for Sino-German (European) cooperation in Shunyi.
In June 2023, Shunyi District, where the China-Germany Demonstration Zone is located, was invited to participate in the 11th Sino-German Economic and Technological Cooperation Forum in Berlin. During the event, Shunyi reached a cooperation consensus with the European Economic Senate (EES) to jointly promote the "German Global Market Leaders (World Hidden Champions) Summit," known as the "Davos Forum of the Industry," to be held outside Germany for the first time in the China-Germany Demonstration Zone.
In May 2024, Shunyi District, in collaboration with the NDRC International Cooperation Center, the EES, and other partners, co-hosted the "Beijing China-Germany Industrial Cooperation Development Forum—2024 China-Germany (Europe) Hidden Champions Forum." Nearly 100 representatives from German and European political and business circles, as well as leaders of hidden champion companies, attended the event in Beijing. They discussed hot topics in economic and technological cooperation, exchanged ideas on development, and shared innovative experiences, collectively writing a new chapter in Sino-German (European) economic and technological exchange and cooperation.
Forum Dialogue: Building a Transnational "Golden Bridge of Cooperation"
The 2025 China-Germany (Europe) Hidden Champions Forum is scheduled to take place in the China-Germany Demonstration Zone in late May. This year’s forum will be upgraded in all aspects and, for the first time, adopt a "1+5+N" multidimensional event model:
1 main forum focusing on cooperation opportunities under global industrial chain restructuring;
5 thematic events covering industrial chain innovation and integration, open policies, dialogues between Chinese and foreign hidden champions and specialized SMEs, smart connected new energy vehicles, and pharmaceuticals and health;
N supporting activities, including enterprise "one-on-one negotiation sessions," "Learning Excellence—向最好的学习" (Learning from the Best) China-Germany (Europe) economic and technological exchange exhibition, and Shunyi District’s key application scenario open day.
"Providing what enterprises need" is a highlight of this year’s forum. Hidden champion companies are concerned about hot topics such as "factor acquisition, national treatment, and intellectual property protection" for operating in China. The forum will facilitate exchanges on cross-border business experiences, sharing insights on financial investment, scenario orders, and industrial chain support. German (European) companies seeking便利化 measures for entering the Beijing market will benefit from the "Service Measures便利化" supply-demand meeting, smoothing the "last mile" for their landing in China.
"Joint Innovation and Integrated Development" has become a foundational consensus for Chinese and German (European) enterprises promoting economic globalization. The five thematic events will focus on policy environments of interest to specialized SMEs and hidden champions, as well as industries such as smart connected new energy vehicles and pharmaceuticals and health. These events will foster practical exchanges, deepen cooperation, create opportunities, and pioneer new models of transnational collaboration centered on "technology sharing, market cooperation, and成果 sharing."
The "China-Germany Industrial Chain Innovation and Integration Roundtable" is one of the forum’s thematic events. The NDRC International Cooperation Center will host exchanges on the open cooperation mechanism for Chinese and German SMEs, building a practical cooperation ecosystem integrating government, industry, academia, research, and finance. The event will invite German political and business leaders, hidden champion companies, and various institutions to create an efficient对接 platform for upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain. The roundtable will also focus on green transformation, intelligent upgrading, health cooperation, and financial empowerment, balancing policy guidance and market practice to promote the deep transformation of innovation achievements from theory to practice.
The "Open Policies and Access Measures Interpretation Thematic Event" will feature relevant national ministries, municipal, and district departments explaining open systems and innovation environments at all levels. This will provide foreign enterprises with a full-chain policy interpretation from national strategy to local practice, ensuring authoritative information precisely meets the needs of German (European) companies. Key German (European) enterprises in Beijing will be invited to share their development experiences, vividly illustrating how policy dividends can be transformed into market opportunities and providing replicable pathways for German (European) companies to布局 China. As a core承载地 of Beijing’s "Two Zones" construction, Shunyi District will also highlight the "policy precision breakthrough + industrial ecosystem building" model, systematically showcasing innovative practices across multiple fields.
The "Dialogue Between Chinese Specialized SMEs and World Hidden Champions Thematic Event" will provide a platform for exchange and cooperation between Chinese specialized SMEs and German (European) hidden champion companies. The DEZ German European SME China Cooperation Center and the ADWM German SME World Hidden Champions Association will organize in-depth dialogues between hidden champions and specialized SMEs, sharing experiences and exploring cooperation opportunities. Centered on "hidden力量" and "精细 innovation," the event will promote technological synergy, mutual learning, and ecosystem co-building, exploring integration paths between German craftsmanship and Chinese digital innovation to accelerate the international development of Chinese SMEs.
The "Smart Connected New Energy Vehicle Industry Thematic Event" will feature in-depth discussions on new energy connected vehicles and advanced automotive manufacturing by the Zhongguancun Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei New Energy Vehicle Collaborative Development Promotion Association and the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Leveraging Shunyi District’s advantage as Beijing’s core承载区 for the smart connected new energy vehicle industry, the event will connect upstream and downstream resources in the industrial chain, promote technological collaborative innovation and market互通, and build a globally competitive smart vehicle industry ecosystem. Simultaneously, the event will focus on full-chain collaboration from technology R&D to commercial application, addressing cutting-edge topics such as intelligent driving, technical standards, and supply chain synergy to accelerate the transformation of cooperation成果 into industrial momentum and contribute "China-Germany solutions" to the global automotive industry’s low-carbon and intelligent transformation.
The "Pharmaceuticals and Health Industry Thematic Event" will feature in-depth exchanges on high-quality development in hot fields such as biomedicine technology and health by the Capital Airport临空 Economic Zone Management Committee and the German-Chinese Health Organization. Leveraging Shunyi District’s national-level open platform and pioneering policies for rare disease drugs, the event will attract international cutting-edge technology resources through the "trade-R&D-production-diagnosis" innovation model. It will promote transnational cooperation in areas such as rare disease drug保障 and dental medical devices, facilitate learning and exchange of advanced European medical technology and management experience, and help local enterprises benchmark international standards to accelerate technology transformation and industrialization.
Foreign Enterprises: Long-Lasting Friendship and a Win-Win Future
From the start, the forum has been sprinting. The China-Germany (Europe) Hidden Champions Forum has established a system that promotes industry through events, implementing an industrial promotion model of "pre-event对接 + in-event meetings + post-event follow-up." Focusing on "German (European) hidden champions and SMEs," it has built an international exchange platform with economic and technological cooperation as its theme and participation from diverse overseas entities.
It is reported that the forum’s organizing committee secretariat has specially established an industrial promotion working group, formulated a special industrial promotion plan, and created three lists: "under negotiation,意向, and reserve." These will facilitate industrial project落地 negotiations, helping German (European) enterprises find investment, scenarios, and partners in Beijing.
Simon Frank, Secretary of the Council Secretariat of the European Economic Senate, said, "After years of积累, the German Global Market Leaders (World Hidden Champions) Summit was held outside Germany for the first time last year in Shunyi, Beijing, bringing a message of open cooperation. The international influence of the 2025 forum continues to grow, attracting widespread attention from German (European) industrial circles. Many companies and institutions have proactively signed up, seeking new growth points and交汇点 for Sino-German (European) industrial cooperation."
The forum is not merely about "setting the stage for a show" but aims to precisely address the pain points of enterprises in cross-border development. In February this year, Shunyi District’s investment promotion delegation visited Germany and Austria for face-to-face exchanges with political and business figures, sharing China’s development story and the case of the China-Germany Demonstration Zone. They sincerely invited friends from all sectors, including the German Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE) and Baden-Württemberg University of Applied Sciences, to visit China and the China-Germany Demonstration Zone.
From technological breakthroughs to people-to-people bonds, the forum is building a foundation of innovation and trust, continuously strengthening the Sino-German industrial cooperation ecosystem. "Last year, the first China-Germany (Europe) Hidden Champions Forum provided us with a platform for in-depth exchanges with German hidden champion companies, helping us expand technological cooperation and business对接," said Bremser Nils, an international expert at Rhein-Koster. "This year, we hope to continue strengthening cooperation with German SMEs in smart manufacturing and vocational education, showcase our new成果 at the forum, and seek more practical落地 projects."
Higher-level, broader, and deeper对接联系 will further explore new hot topics and trends in Sino-German (European) economic and technological cooperation at the 2025 forum. As Walter Döring, Executive Chairman of the European Economic Senate and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the German Global Market Leaders (World Hidden Champions) Summit, said, "The forum continues to provide a stage for German companies to strengthen cooperation with China and engage in mutual learning. The Chinese market is large enough to accommodate many German companies for development here."
The scale of the opening ceremony and main forum is expected to reach 600 people, including about 200 foreign guests, with enterprise representatives accounting for about 70%. The cumulative participation is预计 to reach 2,000人次, a 50% increase from the first forum.
When Germany’s "hidden champion" enterprises meet China’s "specialized SMEs" known for "China efficiency," this dialogue across mountains and seas will jointly write a new chapter of open cooperation and mutual benefit.
