BMW announced the launch of a new Startup Garage endeavor earlier this year. The goal of the efforts put into this project by BMW is to support new tech start-up ventures find innovative ideas to issues affecting us now and on the long run. Today, the German company gained a huge partner for the Chinese market, Alibaba. The two have set up the Joint Innovation Base in the Shanghai Jinqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone which kicked off operations yesterday.
The two companies are tying to empower new companies to scale up their innovations. The focus of these companies has to be on products related to the internet, IoT and the automotive industry. “Having become a global innovation power house, China is providing an ever expanding playing field for start-up companies especially in science and technology. We will continue to deepen our collaboration with both established Chinese tech players as well as skilled new talents to foster their respective strength on innovation,” said Jochen Goller, President of BMW Group Region China.
The main goal of the Joint Innovation Base is to provide no less than 300 companies with advanced cloud computing infrastructure and access to BMW experts via the BMW Startup Garage. This way, BMW will be able to match the innovative solutions of potential startups to its needs. More than twenty startups covering strategic innovation fields such as digitalization, electrification and sustainability have already set up their office in the joint incubator.
“Digital innovation happens at a breath-taking pace in China. Our new Joint Innovation Base will act as accelerator to further strengthen our engagement with Chinese top-startups,” said Peter Lehnert, Vice President New Technologies, Research and Innovation Digital Car. Vehicle innovations in China mainly revolve around digitalization, smart connectivity, artificial intelligence and automated driving, areas of great interest for the entire world right now and on the longer run.
