On September 28, 2020 Changzhou National Hi-tech District (CND) held the Sino-Japan and Sino-Swiss Industry Park & Signing Ceremony for Key Projects for the 3rd Quarter of 2020 during which 15 key project agreements were signed.
One of the project agreements signed was for the establishment of the Sino-European Innovation Center, which will be established and operated by LeWorks Changzhou, a joint venture company established by InnoBridge and Swedish company LeWorks International. LeWorks Changzhou is the world’s first co-factory, a new intelligent manufacturing concept, through which companies can establish their own manufacturing with direct control of the factory and sourcing while LeWorks provides staff, equipment, factory space, sourcing support as well as other services needed to setup and manage an efficient factory.
Among the attendants of the event were: Cheng Yonghua, former Chinese Ambassador to Japan; Geng Wenbing; former Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland; Olivier Zehnder, Consul General of Switzerland in Shanghai; Felix Moesner, CEO of swissnex & Science Consul at the Consulate General of Switzerland in Shanghai; Fukuda Takamoto, Deputy Consul General of Japan; Li Yikai, Deputy Director of the MIIT International Economic and Technological Cooperation Center, Shanghai.
The Changzhou National Hi-tech District (CND) is located northern part the City of Changzhou in Jiangsu Province and is part of the Yangtze River Delta region. The GDP CND was 156.3 billion RMB (19.5 billion EUR/22.9 billion USD) in 2019, with companies in the equipment manufacturing and new materials verticals accounting for nearly 70% of the industrial output. Other industry sectors of importance include photovoltaics, life & health, semiconductor devices, and aviation equipment.
1,700 international companies are located in the CND, of which 38 are included in the Fortune Global 500. In 2018, the Sino-Swiss International Industrial Park was opened, and Swiss companies that have already invested in the CND include, Rieter, Mettler Toledo, V-Zug, Givaudan, Medela, and GF AgieCharmilles. CND also includes several major innovation platforms and R&D centers, including the Changzhou Research & Development Center of Genetic Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, AE&M Institute of New Energy Materials, Institute of Automation, Changzhou Institute of Intelligent Robotics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changzhou Industrial Technology Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Sino-German Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Technology Innovation Center.