2014 ZEW Economic Forum: China: A World Leader in Technology – Wishful Thinking or Reality?

At the 2014 ZEW Economic Forum, some 160 participants from the realms of politics, business and academia discussed the challenges facing the German economy that arise from China’s growing technological competitiveness. The opportunities and risks associated with cooperation with Chinese companies and research institutions were also a subject of debate.

Keynote lectures by Professor Andrew Tylecote from the University of Sheffield and Dr. Georg Schütte, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, opened the 2014 Economic Forum. Tylecote discussed the openness of the Chinese innovation and research system in a historical perspective, while Schütte addressed cooperation between Germany and China in innovation policy as a response to globalisation in research and development. 

In the subsequent panel discussion, Professor Dieter-Heinz Hellmann from the KSB Foundation and Dr. Albert Heuser from BASF SE joined the two keynote speakers in a debate on China’s position in the global technology race and the resulting challenges for Germany.

The afternoon part of the 2014 Economic Forum started with lectures by ZEW researchers on the China Economic Panel, a cooperation project of the Centre for European Economic Research and Fudan University, on the catching-up process of Chinese firms in the technology race, and on China’s climate policy.

Dr. Ralf Krieger, a member of the management board of Freudenberg SE, concluded the 2014 Economic Forum with a speech on the risks and challenges of economic activity in China from the perspective of a German company.