Austrian enterprises seek cooperation in NEVs

A business delegation of 16 Austrian enterprises with investments in China, headed by Birgit Murr, consul of commercial affairs and head of the Austrian Consulate General in Guangzhou, ended their two-day visit in the city Thursday.

Birgit Murr, consul of commercial affairs and head of the Austrian Consulate General in Guangzhou, tries an electric-powered vehicle at BYD Global Headquarters in Pingshan District on Wednesday. Shenzhen CCPIT

In two days, the 35-member delegation visited three Shenzhen automakers — BYD Automobile Co. Ltd., Skywell Shenzhen Vehicles Co. Ltd. and Baoneng Group, and attended seminars to learn about the business environment and development of the city’s new energy vehicle (NEV) industry.

The activity was the first of the Multinationals Trips in Shenzhen series that was masterminded and organized by the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (Shenzhen CCPIT) to serve local enterprises and expand their global links.

The 35-member business delegation of 16 Austrian enterprises takes a group photo.

During an interview, Murr said that Austrian enterprises are turning their attention to South China with the development of new energy vehicles in China. The activity served as a platform for Austrian-funded enterprises, especially those engaged in the upstream and downstream of the auto industry, to match with automakers effectively and create new business opportunities.

The Austrian enterprises hoped to strengthen cooperation with the three automakers in Shenzhen in terms of manufacturing, spare parts and logistics.

“I was impressed with the battery experiment at BYD and learned more about the automaker,” said Betty Chen, general manager of Cargomind (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., which hopes to provide logistics services to the three companies.

According to Murr, Austria has great potential in intelligent manufacturing, information telecommunication, quantum information and medical health. Its business strengths in such fields coincide with Shenzhen’s effort of building 20+8 industrial clusters. Shenzhen issued guidelines in June this year on developing strategic emerging industrial clusters and fostering future industries. The 20 strategic emerging industrial clusters cover such fields as network and communications, semiconductors and integrated circuits, ultra-high-definition video display, intelligent terminals, smart sensors, software and information services, digital creativity, fashion, machine tools, and intelligent robotics. The eight major development directions for future industries identified include synthetic biology, blockchain, cells and genes, aerospace technologies, neuroscience and brain-inspired intelligence, underground and deep-water explorations, visible light communication and optical computing, and quantum information.