CeBIT, the world's leading trade fair for information and communication technology, will be held this year during March 16-20. More than 3,400 companies from 70 countries regions are expected to showcase thousands of innovations from the digital world.
China is the official partner country of CeBIT 2015. Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai attended the opening ceremony of CeBIT 2015 on Sunday and gave a keynote speech.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged closer high-tech cooperation with China as she opened a major IT business fair where the Asian giant is the official partner country. "German business values China not just as our most important trade partner outside of Europe but also as a partner in developing sophisticated technologies," she said.
"Especially in the digital economy, German and Chinese companies have core strengths... and that's why cooperation is a natural choice." Merkel was speaking at the opening the CeBIT fair in the western city of Hanover, where more than 600 Chinese companies will exhibit their tech marvels this week, showcasing the country's rise as an IT power. Top IT business fair CeBIT 2015, which features a strong Chinese presence, opened on Sunday in Hanover Germany.
CeBIT, the world's leading trade fair for information and communication technology, will be held this year during March 16-20. More than 3,400 companies from 70 countries regions are expected to showcase thousands of innovations from the digital world. China is the official partner country of CeBIT 2015.
Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai attended the opening ceremony of CeBIT 2015 on Sunday and gave a keynote speech. During her address at the ceremony, German chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Chinese companies coming to CeBIT 2015, saying China's role as partner country of the fair is an essential component of German-Sino innovation cooperation. "China is not only the biggest trade partner (for Germany) outside Europe, but also a partner in developing complex technologies," she said.
Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba, also gave a speech, focusing on the development of internet companies and future trends in relation to information and communication technology. "We are sure that the whole world in next 30 years will be changed," he said. "If the first and the second innovation of the technology revolution liberated human strength, physical strength, this revolution liberates the strength of the human brain."
He said the future world will be connected by data, instead of oil or other things. Over 760 exhibitors from China, featuring a wide range of high-tech firms, including big names like Alibaba, Huawei, Xiaomi and ZTE, are taking part in this year's CeBIT show, with a theme of "Innovation, Convergence, Cooperation."
On Monday, when the trade fair opened to visitors, an IT summit between Germany and China will also be held. Earlier on Sunday, the fair's chief Oliver Frese said in a press conference that China would show its IT power via the exhibition and present "the strongest partner country presentation we've ever seen at CeBIT".
China's information and communication technology has bucked the country's wider slowdown in economic growth and is booming in what is now the world's biggest smartphone market with the highest number of Internet users. For Germany, Europe's top economy, the event aims to further cement business ties with fellow export power China as both seek to adapt to the sweeping digitisation of the world economy.
Germany is already by far the biggest European economic player in China. Two-way trade last year reached 150 billion euros ($206 billion). Both countries have declared 2015 the year of their "innovation partnership". Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in a video message praised Germany as "an industrial powerhouse and land of thinkers" and said he looked forward to more German-Chinese cooperation in "web-based, digital and intelligent technologies".
He said both countries' digital strategies complement each other and that he hoped "to further strengthen our comprehensive strategic partnership and embark together on a path of win-win cooperation and joint prosperity in the world". Nearly 500 million smartphones will be sold this year in China, about one third of global sales, and 85 percent will be made by Chinese companies, say market analysts IDC.
More than 680 million Chinese people will be online in 2015, over double the number in the US. Some Western countries resist opening their doors to big Chinese players such as Huawei, over fears of military links and industrial and other espionage.
“If the Chinese side gains access to the data from sensors, for example in cars, then this impacts the trade secrets and patents of German companies,” said Hauke Gierow of Germany’s Mercator Institute for China Studies. “Because of these security concerns, many foreign companies are so far shying away from using Chinese Cloud and Big Data providers. ”
