German small firm incubator Startup Factory China is deepening collaboration on building Industrial Internet of Things in China with Tencent Cloud. The German organisation, based in Munich, aims to attract German and European medium and small manufacturers to shift production to its 40,000 sqm Startup Factory incubator in Kunshan, near Shanghai. A memorandum of understanding with Tencent Cloud aims to deepen the range of IIoT technologies and services that are available to German firms locating to Kunshan.

The incubator says that the move is aimed at lowering further the cost of manufacturing and running IT and operational technology operations in China.

Joining Smart Factory Kunshan’s partner programme, Tencent Cloud has become an active member of the IIoT Hub community and has gained access to a platform for IIoT solutions on the manufacturing shopfloor operated by both Chinese and German manufacturing SMEs. Both parties also aim to co-host IIoT events in Smart Factory Lab and real-life demonstrations on the manufacturing shopfloor of Tencent Cloud’s IIoT solutions.

The MOU is a step towards the migration of Startup Factory Kunshan’s IT systems to Tencent Cloud. “We are very proud to have yet another global technology company to join us as a strategic partner.” stated Bernd Reitmeier, founder of Startup Factory and co-founder of Smart Factory Kunshan.

Startup Factory is the largest incubator for small and mid-sized European enterprises that are looking for assembly or production facilities, a repair workshop or a “job shop” in China to expand their business. At present, Startup Factory operates subsidiaries for 38 European companies on 40,000 sqm with a total of more than 350 employees at its site in Kunshan, near Shanghai.

Smart Factory Kunshan IIoT Hub, along with its partner network is an open ecosystem for Industrial IoT technologies especially for medium-sized manufacturing companies and a lighthouse project of bilateral cooperation on intelligent manufacturing between China and Germany. The purpose of the demonstration and integration factory is to create an innovative environment for Industrial Internet of Things/ Industry 4.0 from research to demonstration and education in a real-life production environment.