MANAGING THE WORLD IN POCKET FORMAT
Düsseldorf is the most important location for foreign direct investment and start-ups in North Rhine-Westphalia. In response to this high degree of internationality, Düsseldorf's Office of Economic Development has a multilingual team of experts from the International Business Service (IBS). VIVID spoke with IBS Director Annette Klerks about Asian and US companies in particular.
Dear Ms Klerks, let's start with Düsseldorf's oldest and longest-standing partner in Asia: Japan. What does your work at IBS entail in this regard?
Whereas the focus used to be purely on attracting new businesses, today the emphasis is on supporting existing companies, particularly in their transformation and innovation processes. This is because it enables potential expansion investments to be implemented. This approach has been very successful in recent years, as demonstrated by our work with Asahi Kasei, Komatsu, Epson and Toshiba, which has an R&D centre here. Start-ups are also a key focus for us. For instance, Düsseldorf remains the global acceleration hub for JETRO. Seven start-ups from Japan will be visiting us for the Future Tech Fest. Most recently, we connected start-ups from the region with Japanese companies for the first time.
The China Competence Centre has been operating for over 20 years to support Japan's large neighbour China. What does cooperation look like here?
This joint venture project was launched by the city in collaboration with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Messe Düsseldorf. As an economic development agency, we support Chinese companies in establishing themselves in Düsseldorf and operating in the German and European markets from here. Whereas the focus used to be on industries such as steel, electronics and telecommunications, today it is increasingly on companies that provide products and solutions for the energy transition. When you consider PV systems and smart home products, for example, it is reasonable to assume that a significant proportion of China's exports to Germany pass through Düsseldorf.
The India Competence Centre Düsseldorf was recently launched. Why is India so important for Düsseldorf and North Rhine-Westphalia?
India has long since ceased to be a low-cost outsourcing destination, becoming instead a leading innovation hub with numerous development centres and a vast pool of highly skilled engineers. This is often underestimated. India is now an indispensable innovation partner for our region's economy, helping us to quickly and efficiently overcome the major challenges of digitalisation and green transformation.
The recruitment of Indian skilled workers also plays a part.
Absolutely. India has a young, rapidly growing population that cannot be absorbed by the Indian economy alone. The state is therefore pursuing a strategy of placing trainees and skilled workers specifically in Germany. Alongside the well-established IT sector in universities, new occupational fields are emerging in close collaboration with our local authorities, such as nursing and technical training. At the beginning of July, we welcomed a delegation from Bangalore (Karnataka), and linked a local training college with the Heinrich Hertz Vocational College in Düsseldorf. Through such initiatives, we aim to take concrete action and actively shape Indian immigration in the interests of Düsseldorf and North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Korea Desk was also launched in autumn 2024. What distinguishes the South Korean market for Düsseldorf?
South Korean companies are characterised by their incredible speed of implementation, known as 'K-Speed'. Seegene, for example, was the first company to launch a coronavirus test during the pandemic, which it sold from the Düsseldorf Life Science Centre. The Korean community in North Rhine-Westphalia is growing, particularly in robotics, green technology, and life sciences. As the state capital, Düsseldorf is an ideal focal point for bringing together this expertise and K-Speed. With the new Korea Desk, we can achieve this in an even more structured and efficient manner.
The US market, which we are examining in this VIVID, is also of enormous economic importance to the region. There are over 400 US companies in the Düsseldorf Chamber of Industry and Commerce district alone.
The daily press currently focuses primarily on the USA because of the challenges that German companies face in terms of trade policy. However, for Düsseldorf, the USA has always been, and continues to be, one of the most important source markets and most reliable partners in terms of company relocations. In recent years, we have seen several major relocations, including Boston Scientific from Ratingen, GE Healthcare from Solingen, and Cargill from Krefeld. These companies deliberately chose the state capital because it offers the right infrastructure and makes it easier to recruit skilled workers for key positions. This is complemented by numerous smaller companies and US start-ups that serve the European market from Düsseldorf. As an economic development agency, we work closely with the US Commercial Service, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and many regional partners to strengthen transatlantic economic relations further.
In the face of all the global geopolitical challenges, how can we continue to successfully manage the world in the form of a pocket-sized location?
One major advantage for Düsseldorf is that we have experienced teams who closely monitor both foreign markets and local developments. Now, especially as global value chains are being reorganised, we see these geopolitical developments as significant opportunities for the state capital to attract new businesses. Our focus areas are GreenTech, connectivity and life sciences – topics that we are promoting internationally, with a particular focus on GreenTech at all major overseas events. We also intend to strengthen our collaboration with our industry teams to attract innovative companies to Düsseldorf more effectively.
From left to right: Juliane Neu – Japan Desk, Felix Fröhlich – India Desk, ASEAN, Thomas Scheler – Korea Desk, Eastern Europe, Annette Klerks – Head of International Business Service, Judith Ly – Korea Desk, International Specialists, Simone Menshausen – China Competence Centre, Qi Xia – China Competence Centre, Benjamin Leonhardt – Japan Desk, Monika Bosbach – Western Europe, Turkey, Israel. Not pictured: Elisabeth Inhester – Western Europe, Turkey, Israel, Alexandra Mahmoud, USA,
Bettina Löhr – India Desk
Trinational Rakuten Symphony Project
The collaboration between 1&1, Rakuten Symphony (Japan) and Tech Mahindra (India) in Düsseldorf is a significant development in Germany's mobile communications market and is regarded as a pioneering digital project. Europe's first fully virtualised, cloud-native Open RAN 5G network is being implemented here. Rakuten Symphony is contributing its extensive experience of building a similar network in Japan, and manages the innovative communication platform and system integration. Tech Mahindra is complementing this with global services and interfaces as a system integrator, supporting operational processes and marketing the flexible Open RAN solutions worldwide. The result is an innovative mobile communications solution that makes the most of the opportunities offered by 5G, providing an excellent foundation for growth and digitalisation in the Düsseldorf economic area.
Words: Tom Corrinth
Pictures: Wirtschaftsförderung Düsseldorf/ Michael Lübke