Under the motto „Innovation leads to a green future“, the 5th German-Chinese Automotive Congress took place on 19 October, organised by the China International Investment Promotion Agency (Germany), Automotive Berlin Brandenburg, Changchun Automotive Economic and Technological Development Zone, AutoZone (Germany) and the German-Chinese Working Group for the Promotion of the Automotive Industry, and supported by the Berlin Business Liaison Office in Beijing. The main event was hosted in Changchun this year, while the German forum was held simultaneously in Berlin.
The German-Chinese Automotive Congress, which was launched in 2017, has become one of CIIPA’s most important events in terms of building a cross-border industry platform. This year’s congress followed the development of the 14th Five-Year Plan and focused on the topics of renewable energies, internationalisation, electrification and intelligentisation of the automotive industry and as such formed an effective platform for German and Chinese industry to exchange opinions as well as present new ideas and actively establish contacts between companies from both countries as a basis for new cooperation.
Two panel discussions were also held in Berlin between representatives of Chinese and German companies and renowned scientists on two topics: the transition to smart production and smart networking. The two dialogues were moderated by Prof. Dr. Thomas Thiessen from the Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Centre and Prof. Dr. Hagen Ringshausen, Chairman of Pro IT Car. Participants in the discussion rounds included Kai-Uwe Witthöft, Managing Director of MVI ProPlant, Sascha Rybartzyk, Member of the Board of Botspot, Matthias Zentgraf, President of Nintec Europe, Jochen Tueting, Managing Director of Chery Europe and Dr Benjin Luo, Chief Scientist of the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI). The guests exchanged views on the extent to which the switch to intelligent production will be necessary for automotive suppliers in the future and how Chinese and German companies can learn from each other in terms of digitalisation and the intelligentisation of the automobile.
