To intensify the exchange with China and to discover innovative ideas for the future of metropolises, Sebastian Stietzel, President of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), is visiting China from June 7-10. To learn more about the expectations and needs of Chinese investors regarding Berlin as well as the opportunities and challenges for companies from Berlin in China, Berlin’s overseas economic office in China, the BBDC, has been the first destination for Mr. Stietzel directly after his landing in Beijing, where a special get-together has been organized for him.
After introducing the main activities of the BBDC to Mr. Stietzel, we had very interesting exchanges regarding how to improve the business environment in Berlin and which kind of political support Berlin companies would like to have on the Chinese Market together with Beatrice Han, Deputy General Manager, ALBA China, Kevin Tu, Managing Director of Agora Energy Transition China, Mr. Ju, Xueming, CEO of LiangDao Intelligence, Mr. He, Xuanbin, Cofounder & COO of Jina AI, Mr. Tilman Lesche (Ur-Berliner, active as KOL in the Chinese live-stream E-Commerce market and Berlin in China Ambassador).
The Chinese entrepreneurs in Berlin, Dr. Ju and Mr. He, emphasized the rich pool of talents and the vivid ecosystem for SME´s in Berlin as some of the big plus points, but unfortunately a lot of people are still not aware of these advantages of Berlin. We still need to do more marketing communications for Berlin in China. Keven Tu and Beatrice Han as representatives of Berlin Companies said that they still see a huge potential for their companies in China and as a company with German origin they still enjoy a lot of favor from the Chinese customers and government. A stable Sino-German relationship is very important for the business development of the companies from Berlin in China. However, in case of certain governmental projects, as WFOE they do have some disadvantages compared to the Chinese competitors.
Mr. Stietzel said that Berlin is actively inviting Chinese companies to settle down in Berlin to benefit from the excellent local research and business infrastructure and that Berlin also supports thriving Tech companies like LiangDao and Jina AI with funding and many other measures. At the same time, a closer collaboration with the Berlin Sites of the Future (Zukunftsorte, e.g., Urban Tech Republic) has also been recommended by him, since they offer flexible regulatory testing environments and technological resources for the development of innovative products and services for future smart city solutions.
We thank our Berlin in China entrepreneurs for contributing to this important meeting with the CCI Berlin and give a special shout out to Tilman Lesche, who shared his insights with us, especially regarding the speed of innovation and expansion opportunities in the Chinese E-Commerce market.
Finally, we wish Mr. Stietzel a successful further stay in China and even more inspiring meetings in the Sino-German business community.
