German businesses seek partners.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Brief Article

German businesses are eager to attract Canadian partners to exchange their technological knowledge in joint-venture opportunities and licensing agreements.

This was the message a leading German export development broker delivered on May 14 at a Sudbury business seminar attended by community and economic development officers, tourism operators, government officials and businessmen.

Heinz-Peter Schreiber, president of Innovative Brokerage Corp. of Berlin, says many small to medium-sized companies situated in the former East Germany have expressed interest in forming transatlantic alliances.

"They want to come over, not to deliver goods, but to exchange know-how and technology," says Schreiber, who specializes in linking companies for international partnerships using his 30 years of experience in the diplomatic; trade and export sector in Germany.

Sudbury economic development officials are busy planning for a reciprocal trade mission sometime in mid-September to receive business and trade representatives from the Elbe-Elster region in the German state of Brandenburg. The dates have not been finalized.

The return trade mission is the follow-up to last fall's exploratory trip by a group of 50 Northern Ontario economic and community development officers, educators, businesses and tourism officials to five German cities and the Expo 2000 in Hanover. They came away from the trade mission with some promising leads after meeting with investors, agents, industrial chambers of commerce, cultural and tourist groups.

Schreiber unveiled a list of German manufacturers that have expressed interest in international partnerships. They specialize in solar, wind and water power generation; telemedicine software, tire-recycling technologies, health-care products, biodiesel fuels, biomass products, hardware and textiles.

In the coming weeks, Sudbury trade mission planners hope to compile and send to Germany a similar list of...