30 years «Bonding in Bremen»: Invitation to the China-Germany (China-Europe) Hidden Champions Forum 2024 from 12 - 14 May 2024 in Beijing (China)

The first step towards developing the internationalisation of adhesive bonding personnel qualification was taken with the cooperation between Fraunhofer IFAM/Training for Adhesive Bonding Technology and the YIFA Institute for Bonding & Composites in 2010; a cooperation that is still very successful today.

The EWF training courses are conducted in Chinese by our Chinese co-operation partner in China with the Fraunhofer IFAM teaching/learning material under the above-mentioned conditions. Only weeks 7 and 8 of the EWF qualification as a European Adhesive Engineer - EAE and the associated final oral examinations are regularly held at Fraunhofer IFAM in English with translation into Chinese. These two weeks in Bremen are a special "goodie" for the Chinese EAE participants.

Against this background, at the instigation of our cooperation partner Innotech Marketing und Konfektion Rot GmbH, represented by its CEO Joachim Rapp, member of the Academy of German World Market Leaders and "Senator for Economy" of the "Senate of Economy Europe", his company and Fraunhofer IFAM, represented by Prof Dr Andreas Groß, were officially invited as members of the German delegation for the "China-Germany (China-Europe) Hidden Champions Forum 2024" (12 - 14 May 2024 in Beijing).

The German delegation was led by the former Federal Minister of the Interior and current Chairman of the German-Chinese Parliamentary Committee in the German Bundestag, Hans Peter Friedrich, the former Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Peter Altmaier, and Dr Walter Döring, former Deputy Minister President and Minister of Economic Affairs of the State of Baden-Württemberg and current Managing Director of the aforementioned Academy of German World Market Leaders.

The aims of the event included:

• 1. Presentation of successful German-Chinese co-operations

The successful German-Chinese cooperation in the field of adhesive bonding technology personnel qualification was presented on 13 May 2024 as part of the session

"Openness and win-win" dialogue between Chinese and German SMEs (roundtable discussion on innovation-driven development between German and Chinese companies)

by Prof Dr Andreas Groß (Fraunhofer IFAM). 

As one of the key activities for government-business dialogue under the open cooperation mechanism between SMEs from China and Germany, this session focused on the multi-directional orientation and integrated development between Chinese and German companies. It was discussed how to cultivate a healthy development ecosystem for SMEs in both countries, build an innovative platform for cooperation with Germany, and break new ground for in-depth and pragmatic cooperation between Chinese and German companies as a gateway to cooperation with Germany and Europe.

The long-standing co-operation between Fraunhofer IFAM and YIFA Institute for Bonding & Composites, which has been successful for both sides as well as for technology development, served as a significant example of this. 

• 2. Initiation of new German-Chinese co-operations

Our cooperation partner Joachim Rapp (Innotech Marketing und Konfektion Rot GmbH) presented a new promising cooperation to the auditorium on 14 May 2024 as part of the session

China-Germany (China - Europe) Hidden Champions Forum for Economic and Technological Exchange and Cooperation.

German and European hidden champion companies, industry experts and scholars, representatives of industry associations, executives of well-known domestic and foreign companies, executives of investment institutions and others were invited to attend this session. Based on the trend of economic and technological development in China, Germany and Europe, the event focused on promoting the cooperation of industrial projects between China, Germany and Europe.

The new cooperation between Innotech Marketing und Konfektion Rot GmbH and the YIFA Institute for Bonding & Composites (starting 1 January 2025) presented by Joachim Rapp relates to manual adhesive application, with which Innotech is very successful in Germany and Europe and will now further develop this market segment together with YIFA in China.

Both co-operations were noted with great attention and favour by politicians on both the German and Chinese sides. 

For all participants in "Adhesive Bonding Technology " (Fraunhofer IFAM, Innotech and YIFA Bonding) it was a further step towards further anchoring the key technology "Adhesive Bonding", also in the awareness of politicians.