About us

The dialogue on economic developments in Southeast Asia at the Asia-Pacific Conferences in the 1990s included the question of how to make it easier for German companies to gain a foothold in difficult but exciting markets. With great foresight and vision, companies from Baden-Württemberg, in particular Prof. Berthold Leibinger, managing partner of Trumpf GmbH&Co. KG, developed the concept of German Centres in cooperation with Baden-Württemberg’s politicians and SüdwestLB, a predecessor institution of today’s LBBW.

The starting signal for the realisation of the German Centres was the foundation of the German Centre for Industry and Trade GmbH headquartered in Stuttgart.

The South-East Asian tiger economies set out to take off. The business-friendly and politically stable city state of Singapore is a hub in the region from which German companies tap into the surrounding markets. In the pilot project German Centre Singapore, companies find the perfect place and mentor to set up their local unit, present their products and benefit from the experience and exchange in the German Centre business community.

In the late 1970s, China’s economic rise onto the global world stage begins. The world’s most populous country that time becomes attractive to international companies for production, sales and purchasing. Companies from Germany now have a contact point in China’s important business metropolis Shanghai.

In the political centre of China, German Centre Beijing is a location for companies from various sectors, institutions such as the Chamber of Commerce Abroad, associations such as the BDI and research and science institutions such as Fraunhofer. Located on the Third Ring Road, it is easily accessible and in the middle of the “German Corner” with the nearby embassy and other institutions of the German community.

Mexico’s attractiveness as a production and sales location is strongly influenced by the large number of free trade agreements, especially NAFTA, the predecessor agreement of today’s UMSCA, which sustainably simplifies trade between Mexico, the USA and Canada. Automotive suppliers, plant and machinery manufacturers, but also companies from future-oriented sectors such as life sciences, environment and sustainability or medical technology have chosen the German Centre as a partner for market entry.

Tier2 and Tier3 cities away from the large metropolises of Shanghai and Beijing are attractive locations for setting up production facilities. German Centre Taicang hosts many service companies such as logisticians, lawyers, HR and tax consultants that German companies need at the location.

To provide space for more German companies, the German Centre expands its office space and conference facilities and establishes a second location in the DRC Liangmaqiao Diplomatic Office Building, just a ten-minute walk from its location in the Landmark Towers.

Through the cooperation of the German Centres with the German Business Incubator Ho Chi Minh City, a project of AHK Vietnam, the German Centres Worldwide network expands its contact points for German companies in Vietnam.

The clients and community of German Centre Beijing are growing together – and gathering in the much newer and higher quality DRC Liangmaqiao Diplomatic Office Building, where space has been expanded.

Collaboration, networking and exchange play an increasingly important role in enabling companies to succeed abroad. Together with Waldner Laboreinrichtungen, German Centre Singapore has set up a platform where companies from the medical technology, biotechnology and food technology sectors can exhibit their products in a fully functional laboratory, test them in live operation and adapt them. Users and testers of this growing “Life Science Incubator” ecosystem are also start-ups that research and develop innovative and sustainable solutions here.

During a delegation trip to Southeast Asia, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the Life Science Incubator at German Centre Singapore. He is impressed by the innovative facility where around 30 German companies have created a universe for science and share not only their products, but also their know-how, expertise and experience.