Li Ping, a Party member of China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) [Photo provided to China Daily]

Li Ping, a MOST official, used his speech to emphasize China and Germany's deep policy alignment on science and technology innovation, pointing to the prospering China-Germany centers and industrial parks in Shenyang, Qingdao, Taicang and Jieyang, as well as the similarity between China's "Made in China 2025" plan and Germany's "Industry 4.0" strategy.

The countries' research communities are also growing closer each year, according to Li. Around 450,000 Chinese students are currently studying in Germany and more than 30,000 German experts work and live in China. The Chinese and German governments are also working on a "China-Germany interns" project, which MOST is promoting enthusiastically.

Wang Qin, head of Jiangsu Science and Technology Department [Photo provided to China Daily]

Germany has become a particularly important partner of Jiangsu province, said Wang Qin, head of Jiangsu Science and Technology Department. A number of famous German brands including Siemens, Bosch, Basf and Adidas have built branch offices and institutes in Jiangsu, while Siemens, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research have all established research institutes in the province.

Siemens created its subsidiary research institute in Suzhou, Nanjing and Wuxi, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology founded its affiliated institution in Suzhou, Germany even Europe's biggest Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research in the field collaborated with Jiangsu on intelligent manufacturing. Additionally, Wang added, Jiangsu groups like Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co Ltd (SCMG), also made it to expand business and global market share in Germany.

Jiangsu companies like Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co Ltd have also begun to expand their operations in Germany, Wang added.

Volker Rieke, director general of the ‘European and International Cooperation in Education and Research' of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Germany [Photo provided to China Daily]

 Volker Rieke, director general of BMBF in Germany, said, China and Germany is becoming closer and closer in increasingly frequent communications and cooperation, proving their mutual trust. And he believed more opportunities for the two nations to collaborate on.