China has been selected as the official Partner Country for CeBIT 2015. Oliver Frese, member of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe, was joined by Dr. Gong Xiaofeng, Executive Vice Chairman of CCPITECC (the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Electronics & Information Industry Sub-Council) in signing the partnership agreement for the IT flagship show on 7 July in Beijing, in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
During Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to Germany at the end of March, China and Germany agreed to make 2015 the year of "innovation cooperation" between the two countries.
"The partnership between the aspiring IT nation of China and the CeBIT show in Hannover is an essential component of Sino-German innovation cooperation in the field of information technology", commented Frese. "It represents a key step towards promoting economic cooperation between China and Germany, particularly with regard to the high-tech sector."
The Partner Country project is moreover expected to have a substantial impact on the innovative dynamics of other sectors of industry, according to Frese. He added that the IT industry was considered a driver and trailblazer for new ideas and developments in the various user industries.
The substantial growth of the Chinese IT market and the upsurge in domestic consumption there have transformed China into a highly interesting sales and partnering market for globally active IT enterprises. At the same time, export-driven China's Partner Country role will provide additional momentum to the current growth dynamic of the Chinese IT market.
"In 2015, China for the first time becomes the Partner Country for CeBIT, the most influential IT expo in today's world. This chance not only embodies good intentions for mutually beneficial cooperation from both China and Germany, but also will play a positive role in promoting China's ICT industry. CCPITECC will leverage CeBIT as a crucial platform for learning and exchanges, actively enhancing cooperation between China's ICT companies and their international counterparts for an ever-deepening Sino-German economic and trade relationship", remarked Dr. Gong Xiaofeng from CCPITECC.
After the United States, China is the world's second-biggest IT market. According to a current study by EITO (the European Information Technology Observatory) the Chinese IT market will grow this year by 8.8 percent, which also makes it one of the fastest-growing nations in the area of information technology and telecommunications.
"China is one of our leading IT and telecommunications trading partners. This status is reflected in the already high volume of investment by German companies in China – a volume which continues to grow. Our ability to network at CeBIT will deepen this close level of cooperation and above all provide SMEs and startups with an opportunity for new cooperative ventures", stated BITKOM President Prof. Dieter Kempf.
Deutsche Messe has enjoyed excellent relations with the world's most heavily populated nation for many years. Since 1999 it has maintained its own subsidiary in Shanghai, and in 2001 the Hannover-based exhibition company took a stake in the SNIEC exhibition center in Pudong/Shanghai, in a joint venture with Messe München International and Messe Düsseldorf.
China is also highly familiar with CeBIT in Hannover. By the early 90s the first Chinese companies were already showcasing their solutions at the flagship IT show. Since that time Chinese participation has grown continually. At the turn of the century the number of Chinese exhibitors went up to 30; by 2003 it was up to more than 100 and by 2009 more than 300. Today, Chinese enterprises have surpassed the 500 mark, with 515 companies occupying display space of some 11,000 square meters at the most recent event in March 2014. Apart from the host nation of Germany, this puts China at the very top of participating nations.
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