On September 7, the Eintracht Frankfurt (Shenzhen Nanshan) International Exchange Center was inaugurated. Meanwhile, the 2025 Frankfurt–Shenzhen Nanshan International Symposium was held.
At the symposium, representatives from the Chinese and German governments, enterprises, institutions, and industries conducted exchanges around the theme of "Football·Technology·Business·Culture" and jointly explored ways to deepen practical cooperation between Shenzhen and Frankfurt, Germany, in multiple fields.
"While it begins with football, it has never been only about football," said Axel Hellmann, CEO of Eintracht Frankfurt Football AG. He explained that the center would serve as a platform to promote practical cooperation in various fields, including commerce, technology, and culture. This would involve facilitating business exchanges and industrial synergy, supporting technology and project collaboration between research institutions and tech companies, and enhancing cultural and educational exchanges to deepen mutual understanding and integration between the two cities.
He further highlighted that both Frankfurt and Shenzhen, as leading hubs for innovation in areas like digitalization and artificial intelligence, hold significant potential to deepen their complementary strengths in sectors such as finance, logistics, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing.
During the symposium, focusing on topics such as China-Germany political mutual trust, commercial and trade cooperation, and sports and cultural exchanges, guests from both sides shared the friendly development trajectory since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany, the achievements of non-governmental exchanges, and new opportunities for sports, economic, and trade cooperation.
The guests agreed that sports, particularly football, have served as a vital bridge enhancing people-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding between China and Germany. They also noted that corporate partnerships and local economic engagements have been expanding the breadth and depth of bilateral relations. These exchanges have further strengthened mutual trust and cooperation across multiple levels and sectors, injecting fresh momentum into the future development of China-Germany relations.
Going far beyond "bonding over football," Nanshan District's cooperation with Germany in recent years has extended beyond traditional trade and moved toward the deep integration of industrial and innovation chains. Nanshan-based companies such as Mindray, SonoScape, and Sinescel have embedded themselves in the European market through their German subsidiaries. Meanwhile, German companies like Siemens Healthineers and trinamiX GmbH have established a strong presence in Nanshan, setting up joint R&D platforms with local universities and enterprises.
This symposium is not only a platform for Chinese and German enterprises to connect but also an important step for Nanshan District in building a world-class modern innovative urban area. In the future, Nanshan District will continue to rely on platforms such as the Go Global Service Center to expand its cooperation network with Germany and other European countries and promote more enterprises to achieve the two-way development of "going global" and "bringing in."
Reporter: Zhang Siyu, Liu Qianxi
Photo: The Eintracht Frankfurt (Shenzhen Nanshan) International Exchange Center
Editor: Wei Shen, James Campion, Shen He
