German Life Science Delegation Explores Investment & Cooperation at NETDA
A high profile business delegation consisting of 22 leading German and European life science industry enterprises and research institutions completed a two-day investment tour and industrial matchmaking program at Nantong Economic & Technological Development Area (NETDA) on May 28–29, facilitated by China International Investment Promotion Agency (Germany), under the Ministry of Commerce of China. The event builds a solid cross-border partnership bridge and accelerates the high-end, internationalized and clustered growth of Nantong’s life science industry in the Yangtze River Delta.
Covering the full industrial chain of life sciences, participating European firms specialize in innovative drug R&D, high-end medical devices, rehabilitation medicine, AI multi-omics big data, clinical compliance consulting and industrial supporting services, representing cutting-edge innovation strengths across Germany’s biotech ecosystem. During the site visit, delegates toured Nantong Urban Planning Exhibition Hall and NETDA Biomedical & Pharmaceutical Innovation Park, alongside three local benchmark manufacturers including Novast Laboratories, Sinobiopharma and Qichen Medical Device, gaining first-hand insights into Nantong’s urban blueprint, premium business environment and mature life science industrial layout.
Hosted jointly by NETDA Investment Promotion Bureau and Market Supervision Bureau, the China-Germany Life Science Innovation Development Exchange Forum served as the core of the matchmaking schedule. At the forum, NETDA delivered an in-depth investment environment briefing highlighting strategic geographic location, complete industrial foundation, robust innovation ecosystem, tailored supportive policies and full-spectrum industrial services for global investors; local market regulators shared up-to-date China biomedical regulatory policies to remove cross-border cooperation barriers for German counterparts.
Over 20 renowned domestic and foreign pharmaceutical giants rooted in Nantong joined one-on-one targeted business negotiations with German delegates, including Merck, Bayer, Siegfried, Honsun, and Alphay. Both sides held in-depth dialogues focusing on joint technical R&D, lab achievement commercialization, global market expansion, clinical regulation compliance and co-construction of upstream-downstream industrial supply chains, yielding substantial preliminary cooperation intentions across multiple projects.
As the core gateway and primary cooperation platform for Nantong’s economic and trade ties with Germany, NETDA has already hosted more than 20 German-invested operational enterprises within its jurisdiction. Pharmaceutical and Healthcare sector stands as one of NETDA’s core “3+1” pillar industries, with a complete closed-loop industrial system covering early-stage research, pilot production and large-scale commercial manufacturing, home to world-famous industrial leaders such as Merck and BioNTech. Relying on mature industrial supporting facilities and optimized innovation ecosystem, NETDA continues to strengthen resource guarantee and administrative service efficiency to ensure seamless project landing and sustainable growth for all invested enterprises.
Looking ahead, NETDA will further refine its business-friendly policies and deepen pragmatic industrial cooperation with European, especially German, biomedical players, rolling out targeted investment incentives to attract more high-value global biotech projects. NETDA is poised to evolve into a world-class life science industrial hub in the Yangtze River Delta by pooling global innovative resources, filling local industrial chain gaps and elevating overall innovation competitiveness of regional health economy.