Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG, highlighted that growth from high-tech, growth by higher efficiency and high quality growth are the main driving forces for China's economic transformation, aligning with the country's focus on new quality productive forces, during his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum (CDF) 2025 held in Beijing on March 23.

"China is changing the operating system of its economy to unleash new quality productive forces," he stated, providing his interpretation of the government work report delivered by Premier Li Qiang at the third session of the 14th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.

He applauded China's rapid advancements in AI, including breakthroughs like the open-source foundational model R1 by DeepSeek, as evidence of how "China surprises us with innovations."

"China remains committed to opening up. The government is continuously working on creating a level playing field and a fairer business environment," said Busch.

"Technological disruption is happening at a speed we never witnessed before. While Consumer AI makes the headlines, industrial AI will make the impact," he said, pointing to applications in resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability across sectors.

With over 150 years of operations in China, Siemens has positioned itself as a catalyst for industrial modernization. Busch underscored the company’s local investments: 30,000 employees, 5,400 of which work in research and development.

The company as a whole provides support for more than 50,000 customers across all industries, with Busch stating, "With our technology, we support their journey to become global champions and to expand their manufacturing footprint globally."

Busch also spotlighted Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital platform designed to simplify digital transformation for hundreds of thousands of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

"Siemens is here to support. Siemens is here to stay," Busch declared, reaffirming long-term commitments to China's innovation ecosystem.

To address global challenges like climate change and supply chain instability, Busch also urged public-private partnerships to build "powerful ecosystems."

"If we collaborate, we will create better lives, common prosperity – sustainably," he said.