Contato do representante

26/08/21

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Visit of the Chinese Ambassador

Nowhere are so many automation projects currently being implemented as in China. During his visit to the COPA-DATA HQ, Ambassador Li Xiaosi was able to get an idea of the innovative power of zenon.

China, with its emerging economy and its 1.4 billion inhabitants, is a particularly important growth market for European technology companies – not least COPA-DATA. In order to strengthen and expand the existing economic relations between China and Austria, a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Austria, H.E. Li Xiaosi, took place in mid-August at COPA-DATA's headquarters in Salzburg, Austria.


Shared growth potential


With its zenon Software Platform, COPA-DATA supports manufacturing and the energy industry worldwide in the digitalization and automation of production and distribution processes. Founder and CEO Thomas Punzenberger sees much potential in the cooperation: "We want to continue to grow and for this we need large and potent markets. China therefore plays a very important role in our long-term strategy."

 

The Chinese ambassador's visit to the COPA-DATA headquarters in Salzburg is a good next step in this regard. Li Xiaosi has been ambassador to Austria for five years. Besides his official residence in Vienna, he travels most often to the city of Salzburg. The meeting at COPA-DATA took place in advance of a joint Salzburg Festival visit with his wife Huang Yan.

 

Jianzhen Schaden is head of the China Liaison Office at ITG, the innovation service for Salzburg. She already knew COPA-DATA as an innovation driver from joint activities and proposed a visit to the IT company in order to explore the potential for both sides. Markus Lang, who as Technical Sales Manager is responsible for the East Asia region, sees COPA-DATA in a mediating role: "With our innovative solutions for the Industrial Internet of Things – such as the zenon Service Grid – we can build bridges between China and Austria. During the ambassador's visit, we also talked about concrete future projects."

 

For Stefan Reuther, Managing Director Sales, Business Development and Customer Service, „China is a priority market.. Manufacturing companies, which already have a high degree of automation, and the energy sector in China present opportunities where COPA-DATA could fully play to its strengths. "In China, local know-how and networks and cultural understanding are needed. That is why we have been working very successfully and closely with our distributor Shanghai Dimension there for many years," says the Chief Sales Officer. For example, several projects are currently ongoing for the Belgian-American multinational beverage business AB InBev, which is digitalizing several of its brewery sites in China.

 

 

Visit of the Chinese Ambassador

From left: Markus Lang, Technical Sales Manager, East Asia, COPA-DATA; Jianzhen Schaden, China Liaison Office,; Huang Yan, Wife of the Ambassador; Thomas Punzenberger, CEO and Founder of COPA-DATA; H.E. Li Xiaosi, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Austria; Simone Weiß, Head of Internationalisation and Human Capital Management, ITG, Innovation Service for Salzburg; Stefan Reuther, Chief Sales Officer, COPA-DATA.

 

 

 

Qualitative growth


For Ambassador Li Xiaosi, the visit was another opportunity to understand Austria's forward-looking economy. He said Austria is a role model for China because it exemplifies high-quality development. "The Chinese economy has developed very well and very fast in the past 40 years. Now we have entered a new phase of development – a phase of high-quality development. Our main goal is to improve people's lives,” the ambassador said.

 

As the standard of living is constantly rising, the demand for high-quality goods is also increasing. This demand must be met with goods from abroad as well as with products from China. With its size and its efforts towards modernization and digitalization, China is the ideal market for a company like COPA-DATA. The company’s core industries of food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, automotive and the energy sector are currently experiencing a boom in China.

 

The meeting has helped to further consolidate and expand Sino-Austrian relations. Now it is important to continue to exploit these opportunities and explore the possibilities for further successful cooperation.

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