Performers entertain the audience during the Happy Summer-Shanghai Show Bund German Beer Festival on Sept 26, 2024. [Photo/Official WeChat account of Shanghai Yangpu via "shanghai-yangpu"]

Home to many German-speaking companies, Yangpu district in Shanghai has made significant efforts to become a hub for German executives.

On the afternoon of Sept 26, the district launched the Yangpu German Innovation Center, followed by the opening of the Happy Summer-Shanghai Show Bund German Beer Festival that evening.

The center, launched during a roundtable conference for German-speaking enterprises, aims to attract foreign investment and promote the development of the intelligent manufacturing industry.

Officials, envoys, entrepreneurs, experts and scholars, including Liu Jinyuan, deputy head of Yangpu district, and Lukas Meyer, German deputy consul general in Shanghai, participated in the launch ceremony.

Liu highlighted the long-standing economic ties between the district and German-speaking countries, praising Siemens and other multinational corporations for advancing the district’s economic development.

In the future, the center will host industry forums, training programs and events that promote sustainable innovation and attract more foreign investment. Liu emphasized that it will also focus on finding solutions to challenges faced by companies in the region.

He further encouraged companies to increase their investment and expand their business in Yangpu, which provides favorable conditions for foreign investment.

The center was established based on the Siemens Process Industry Innovation Center. Since its inception in Yangpu district in 2017, the Siemens center has hosted 38 industry summits and both in-person and online forums, engaging over 10,000 companies and welcoming about 3,600 visits from domestic and foreign officials and trade delegation members.

The beer festival closely mirrored the processes and details of the Oktoberfest in Munich.

After serious business discussions, executives can unwind at the festival, enjoying authentic German beer and delicacies, watching German-style performances, appreciating German culture and admiring riverside views while chatting freely and browsing an on-site fair.

Part of the Shanghai Summer International Consumption Season, the festival will run until Oct 6.

In addition to the beer festival, Yangpu offers support measures for German-speaking talent, including various Sino-German cooperation platforms and educational support for the children of professionals from German-speaking countries.

In 1998, the governments of China and Germany jointly advocated for the establishment of the Sino-German College at Tongji University in Shanghai. In recent years, Tongji University has developed an international cooperation network centered on Germany, with a focus on Europe and global outreach.

The district has also inaugurated a foreign investment service brand called "Nuan Yang Yang", meaning "warm Yangpu for foreigners", to help foreign enterprises in finding new partners, opportunities and growth engines, thereby attracting foreign-funded projects, technologies and investments to Yangpu.