on the morning of april 24, the 2016 sino-german industry 4.0 summit and business executives seminar, sponsored by invest shenzhen, hannover messe and the german-chinese alliance for industry 4.0 and organized by the german federal association for economic development and the foreign trade and the modern business development and research center, was successfully held in hannover, germany. with shenzhen as its partner city, the seminar was the first formal event at this year's hannover messe. addresses were made by mr. wang huaben, executive president of the shenzhen investment promotion association and deputy general manager of shenzhen investment holdings co., ltd., dr. zhou xiangqian, founder and chairman of the german-chinese alliance for industry 4.0, mr. thomas rilke, ceo of the robotation academy of german exhibition ltd., mr. michael schumann, president of the german federal association for economic development and foreign trade, mr. qiu wen, director of invest shenzhen, and mr. wang zhiyi, director of the strategic emerging industries office of the shenzhen municipal economic and trade information committee. other participants included more than 200 representatives from political and business associations like fraunhofer-gesellschaft, the economic and technological cooperation center, sap, pepperl fuchs, festo, as well as industrial manufacturing enterprises, professional researchers and investment funds.
during the summit, the sino-german micro-manufacturing and investment cooperation framework agreement was signed by invest shenzhen, the german-chinese alliance for industry 4.0 and the modern business development and research center, marking a major step in advancing the “shenzhen-german innovation and entrepreneurship express". according to the agreement, they will launch projects related to the pearl river delta micro-manufacturing & innovation center and cooperate to promote the use of advanced manufacturing technologies from germany as part of shenzhen's industrialization. in addition, it was officially announced at the summit that the german-chinese alliance for industry 4.0 would open an office in shenzhen.
the first sino-german summit this year garnered great attention in germany. participants from both political and commercial circles in germany were drawn to shenzhen's favorable environment for innovation and entrepreneurship and the great potential for cooperation between chinese and german enterprises. many german companies and institutions specializing in smart manufacturing, such as fakt ag, itelligence ag, pepperl fuchs and festo, showed strong interest in investing in and cooperating with companies in shenzhen. invest shenzhen, hannover messe and german-chinese alliance for industry 4.0 held important discussions on a number of topics including the establishment of an international branch of hannover messe in shenzhen to further cooperation and to improve the smart manufacturing skills of shenzhen enterprises.
