Siemens CTO eyes bright market prospect in China

A Siemens logo is pictured on an office building of Siemens AG in Munich in this May 30, 2014 file photo.[Photo/Agencies]

DAVOS, Switzerland -- China is still one of the biggest market for Siemens AG, a German multinational conglomerate, and the company remains optimistic about the country's future, a management board member and chief technology officer(CTO) of the company has said.

China's GDP growth rate, which stood at 6.9 percent in 2015, is still one of the fastest in the world, Siegfried Russwurm said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Considering the growth rate and size of its economy, China is still one of the biggest market globally, said Russwurm, adding he believed the Chinese market, where Siemens had witnessed rapid growth, still had a great prospect.

Russwurm also spoke highly of the growth pattern of China.

China is not only a user but also a contributor to the development of Industry 4.0, which is considered by many as the fourth industrial revolution, according to the expert.

As one of the pioneers in the promotion and use of smart technologies, also referred to as Industry 4.0 in Germany, Siemens is one of the first companies to set up smart factories in China.

Russwurm said the electronic product company of Siemens in Shenzhen in southern China is typically taken as "the icon of the factory of the future."

The CTO said Siemens had a strong research and development team in China, which contributed to the global concept of the fourth industrial revolution.

China has become a big part of the global economy, and China would be treated the same as other markets in a digital and global world, said Russwurm.

"We have to learn as a global company not to treat China and Chinese companies differently from customers somewhere else on the globe." he added.

According to him, Siemens factories in China is no different from its factories in Germany.

Russwurm also talked about labor costs in prosperous Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, which he said had surged to a level similar to those in Mexico and East Europe.

Russwurm, who is also a governing body member of the Industry 4.0 platform, also praised the collaboration between German platform and its Chinese counterparts on the Industry 4.0 initiative.