On November 19th 2019, Tobias Melz, the Chief Technology Advisor at the Fraunhofer Scociety, arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. He is the first consultant attending the International Consultative Conference on the Future Economic Development of Guangdong Province 2019 (ICCFED 2019), which will start on November 22nd, to have arrived.

Tobias Melz, Chief Technology Advisor of Fraunhofer Scociety. [Photo: Nanfang Daily]

The Fraunhofer society is engaged in industrial and applied research. “We look what new technologies are available, and check what the industry needs to improve products,” said Prof. Melz. His research focuses on the realization of smart, reliable and lightweight structural solutions for competitive products.

He will talk about reliability engineering and smart structure technology at the conference. In his eyes, a reliable product is the prerequisite to competitiveness in any given sector. Moreover, the second thing is to realize innovation.

As a fan of this applied research, Prof. Melz emphasized the importance of applied research institutions, and suggested that the government invest in independent nonprofit units, which can help the industry with their problems, improve products and come up with new methods.

Modern innovative commercial products can be created by the bringing together of applied research institutions and industry . “In Germany, we did the same and we can do that together. I can imagine that there is something interesting to collaborate on here,” he added.

This year marks the 12th ICCFED. The theme is “Embrace Opportunities of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development and Advance Guangdong's Opening-up to a Higher Level”. Twelve consultants from enterprises and institutions will contribute to a brainstorming session, offering Guangdong officials suggestions on economic development.

Today, Guangzhou will welcome the other 11 consultants.

Reported by Hannah

Edited by Simon