Duisburg thrives on economic exchange. With the largest inland port in the world, Duisport, and as the largest steel location in Europe with Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, Hüttenwerke Krupp-Mannesmann and ArcelorMittal, Duisburg is a hotspot for the transformation to a climate-neutral industry. Duisburg-based cutting-edge research is also working intensively on this with the Center for Fuel Cell Technology ZBT and the University of Duisburg Essen. Both are leading the way in replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen in industry and transport and are therefore building the Technology and Innovation Center TrHy, where hydrogen applications will be tested on 18,000 square meters until they are ready for use.
Duisburg Business & Innovation GmbH (DBI) maintains a constant exchange with its Duisburg partners from business, science and administration in order to forge international win-win coalitions.
China is an important trading partner for Germany. As the start and end point of the Silk Road, Duisburg is the first city in Europe to have a daily train connection to China, which is used to exchange goods that are too expensive to transport by plane and too slow to ship. There are 60 to 70 trains a week between China and Duisburg.
The foundation stone for the close cooperation between Duisburg and China was laid 40 years ago with the city partnership between Wuhan and Duisburg. Today, 1,300 Chinese nationals call Duisburg their home and over 2,000 Chinese students are enrolled at the University of Duisburg-Essen. This is taken into account with regular, high-quality events such as the China Reception and China Festival to honor the close partnership.
The DBI is the office of the China Business Network Deutschland e.V. CBND. It brings together all the key China players in Duisburg. The network offers a platform for cooperation for the local China business community as well as customized services for local Chinese companies, networking for those active in China business and knowledge exchange on China topics for the local economy.
With a population of 9 million, Israel is the high-tech startup hotspot in the Middle East and is therefore a regular destination for high-ranking delegations from Duisburg, as well as alternately to ensure an exchange of experience with science and industry, especially in the common future field of hydrogen.
Israeli start-ups and scientists work together with local institutions such as the University of Duisburg Essen and the Center for Fuel Cell Technology as well as representatives of Duisburg-based companies and SMEs on technologies, products and services for the climate-neutral and secure digital industry of tomorrow.
Reliable partners include the German-Israeli Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Israeli Economic and Trade Mission in Germany and the Elnet network, on whose advisory board the Managing Director of DBI, Rasmus C. Beck, is represented.
Sometimes good things are close at hand - and the Netherlands is more than just a good neighbor. The innovation hub Arnhem is just as easy to reach by car and train as Münster. The goods that are handled in Duisburg mostly come from the North Sea ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. It therefore makes sense, in the literal sense of the word, to maintain regular close contact with business contacts on the other side of the border. The best example of this is the Dutch energy city of Arnhem, where the transition to renewable energy sources is being accelerated. Membership and cooperation in the German-Dutch Chamber of Commerce (DNHK) and the German-Dutch Business Club Gelderland (DNBC) serve to promote intensive exchange. The Lord Mayors of Arnhem and Duisburg confirm a Letter of Intent (LOI) in 2023: The aim of this mutual declaration of intent is targeted, even better cooperation in the relevant subject areas.
Duisburg has almost 40,000 citizens of Turkish origin and is twinned with Gaziantep, the sixth largest city in Turkey with a population of 2.1 million. In over 50 years, Duisburg has developed a close network with the local Turkish community and Turkey, exemplified by the Turkish-German Association of Entrepreneurs and Academics (TIAD e.V.). Delegation trips to deepen the network are a regular feature of the DBI's program.
