Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is one of the major international partners of Changzhou to carry out a full range of bilateral cooperation. On the morning of May 9th, The sustainable development platform co-established by Changzhou and Essen - the Changzhou Association of German Enterprises was inaugurated, aiming to build an exchange platform for Chinese and German experts, in order to jointly promote the development of Sino-German Changzhou Innovation Park. Vice mayor Li Xiaoping attended the event.

Currently, there are a total of 144 German-funded enterprises in Changzhou, including eight of the Fortune 500 companies, mainly involved in machinery, electronics, textile and chemical industries. As of 2015, the city's total import and export trade with Germany amounted to $ 1.5 billion. In April last year, Changzhou signed an agreement with Essen in Nanjing, officially established friendship city relations.

The Sino-German Changzhou Innovation Park, based on Changzhou Science and Education Town and Wujin National High-tech Zone as the main carrier, takes reference from the successful experiences of Germany's Ruhr district transformation project and highlights the convergence of technology and education. With the focus of German industry resources and technical strength, the park has achieved great development over the past two years.

At the meeting, Southeast University, the University of Duisburg-Essen and Wuppertal Institute signed a tripartite agreement about the Learning City Project - Changzhou-Essen Sustainable Urban Development Platform, which will directly serve the cooperation between the two cities. It is reported that the research project within the innovation park system focuses on urban planning and environmental protection.