November 6, it marked the start of our fact-finding mission entitled “(Re)discover China: from World Factory to Global Innovator?”

Until November 11, in #Shanghai, #Hangzhou and #Shenzhen, we are pursuing the dual objective of:
1️⃣(Re)#connect with #China, a country that has been virtually isolated for almost 3 years;
2️⃣to discover a little-known aspect of China, namely the #innovation capabilities of companies based there, both Chinese and foreign.

14 participants joined our CEO Zhen Xiao and our China Market Access Manager Romain Barrabas for a program we hope will be as informative as it is inspiring: Matthieu Aubert, Vincent von Arx, Frederic Reymond, Christophe SAAM, Fabio Ventura, Jens Kruse, Elisabeth P., Anh Nguyen, Juan Quintero, Fedor Poskriakov, Xin Ye, Samuel Hilger, André ROLAND and Vincent Subilia.

🛗On this first day, we visited Schindler City, Schindler Group China’s headquarter since 2017. The modern campus with around 325’000 m2 is home of a 200m test tower, several factories, an R&D center (the biggest of Schindler worldwide) and a training center.

We were welcomed by CEO Daryoush Ziai and colleagues Robert Boog, Franz Arnold, George Ma and Frederic Mellinand. Juerg Burri, Swiss Ambassador to China, and Sacha Bachmann, Swiss Consul General in Shanghai, did us the honor of joining our delegation.

ℹ️Established in 1980, Schindler is no less than the first industrial joint venture in China. 43 years later, China is the most important market for this flagship of Swiss industry, with nearly 200 branches and offices covering all major cities.

🏙️To round off the day in style, we organized an exclusive dinner on the rooftop of the iconic #Swatch Art Peace Hotel, inaugurated in 2010, which offers one of the most spectacular views of Shanghai. An opportunity for our delegation to immerse themselves in the unique atmosphere of the Bund, while contemplating the megalopolis’ skyline by night.

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