German-Chinese Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation

BIO Deutschland attended the German-Chinese Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation in Berlin on 10 October 2014. The association has been working with other trade associations and representatives of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy in the international Working Group for Medical Technology and Biotechnology since 2008. Albrecht Läufer, CEO of BIO Deutschland member company Corvay, chairs the Sub-working Group on Biotechnology on behalf of the industry. During the international working group’s meeting he gave a presentation on Germany’s biotechnology industry and called for “cooperation efficiency and the partners’ understanding of each other to be generally enhanced”. Läufer said that there must be a shared understanding of the market access conditions, both for Chinese products in Germany and Europe (REACH, ISO, DIN) and for German products in China’s provinces. He also spoke about the conditions for foreign direct investments in China and the protection of intellectual property. Läufer underlined the need for international consensus in the field of medical biotechnology for the bioeconomy as a whole. In his speech during the biotechnology plenary session, Sigmar Gabriel, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, described biotechnology as an important field for China and Germany’s industrial policy and called for an “innovation partnership” on an equal footing. Su Wei, Deputy Director-General of the National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC) regards Germany as a leader in biotechnology in Europe.