Lynette Wood - Austrlian Ambassador

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Australian Indigenous Art Exhibition runs in Berlin until April 2018

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Evangelos Kotsopoulos attended Thursday´s formal opening of a hugely impressive art exhibition of indigenous Australian art at the me Collector´s Room (a large private gallery in Berlin-Mitte. The exhibition runs through to early April 2018 and is on loan from the National Gallery of Australia. It is the largest collection of this kind which the National Gallery has ever sent outside of the country and shows beautiful, traditional artworks from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders artist, right through to modern/contemporary installations.

Ambassador WoodAmbassador Lynette Wood opened the exhibition and the event was very well attended by about 200 visitors and quite a bit of press.

The show was the culmination and endpoint of the Australia now 2017 cultural year in Germany, which has been a great success.

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Siemens Factory Tour in Berlin on 12th of October 2017

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German Australian Business Council invited member and friends to a tour through the Siemens Vacuum Interrupter (VI) factory which took part on the 12th of October 2017 in the “Siemens Röhrenwerk Berlin”, located in the Berlin district of Siemensstadt, were Siemens was once founded.

Around 80% of all power grid operators today opt for vacuum switch gear. The market share of vacuum circuit breakers is more than 99% in Germany.

Vacuum interrupters are the centerpiece of our medium-voltage components. The hermetically sealed vacuum contact gap keeps the switching characteristics of the interrupters constant throughout their entire life-cycle. Special contact materials made by Siemens ensure that the vacuum interrupters offer absolutely top performance. With valuable features that include high short-circuit switching capacity and minimum forward resistance, they ensure reliable switching even under difficult environmental conditions – like vibration and fluctuating frequencies – regardless of whether they’re installed horizontally or vertically. The vacuum interrupters can perform up to 30,000 operating cycles when used in circuit breakers and up to three million for contractors – maintenance-free, throughout their entire service life.

For Decades of experience in development and manufacturing Siemens is a pioneer and a technology leader in the vacuum switching technology. Only highly automated, state-of-the-art machines and production processes are used in our production facilities to guarantee the best quality.

During the tour the participants received a glance on the VI production and during the introduction in the Information centre the variety of the whole spectrum which is produced in Siemensstadt was presented. Thank you for the grateful event. We are looking forward to the next tour.

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Business Networking at Oktoberfest 2017 – German Australian Business Council – Lunch

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The 3rd German Australian Business Council Oktoberfest Business Networking Lunch Event took place On 29 September 2017. German Australian Business Council members and guests met at the Löwenbräu Festzelt. Everybody enjoyed the unique atmosphere at lunch time.

Outside the tent the typical Bavarian white blue sky was shining and inside the tent we enjoyed nice music, some mass of beer and the obligatory Hendl.

A lot of new contacts and interesting talks took place.

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Business Networking at Oktoberfest 2017 German Australian Business Council – MING

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The German Australian Business Council Oktoberfest Business Networking Event took place on 24 September 2017. German Australian Business Council members and guests met at the Schottenhamel Festzelt. Together with 180 participants of the MING (Munich International Networking Groups) everybody enjoyed the unique atmosphere at lunch time.

Outside the tent the typical Bavarian white blue sky was shining and inside the tent we enjoyed nice music, some mass of beer and the obligatory Hendl.

A lot of new contacts and interesting talks took place.

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Ambassador’s Dinner 2017 Frankfurt

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This year’s Ambassador’s Dinner was a particularly festive event. 2017 is the year that the German Australian Business Council (GABC) celebrates 20 years of connecting Germany and Australia.

Held on the 12th of September at the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof Hotel in central Frankfurt, we were honoured to welcome both our Co-Patrons, Her Excellency Lynette Wood, Australian Ambassador to Germany, as well as Richard Leather, Consul General and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner at the Australian Consulate-General in Frankfurt. We also had the pleasure of the company  of The Honourable Martin Hamilton-Smith MP, South Australian Minister for Investment and Trade, Defence Industries and Veterans’ Affairs as well as many other distinguished guests both at Federal and State level.

Almost 120 international guests spanning across the business, political, educational and cultural spheres took part in this year’s Ambassador’s Dinner.

The evening debuted with a networking pre-dinner cocktail. The diversity, generous curiosity and open-mindedness of our guests allowed for the evening to immediately start off in great spirits, with many new contacts being established.

Once in the dining room, GABC Chair, Sabine Pittrof, welcomed all guests and took us through the past 20 years since the creation of GABC: an incredibly rich programme of events and business opportunities, to say the least!

Following, for the first time as our Patron, the Australian Ambassador to Germany, H.E. Lynette Wood, addressed our guests, highlighting the current business and political climate between Australia and Germany.

We also heard from the South Australian Minister, who touched upon numerous topics relevant to German Australian business relations, including those of innovation and renewable energy.

On a different note, Markus Svensson, European General Manager for Qantas, focused on the outlook of the airline industry, briefly outlining the plans for non-stop flight to Europe.

Our Master of Ceremony for the event, Evangelos Kotsopoulos, CEO Continental Europe for Sonic Healthcare and GABC Board Member, led us nicely throughout the entire evening.

The evening was concluded by an abundant business card draw as a way to celebrate our 20 year anniversary, followed by closing remarks and a word of thank you by Sabine Pittrof.

Events such as the Ambassador’s Dinner would not be possible without the generous support of our Corporate Members and sponsors. Sonic Healthcare (Gold Sponsor), State of South Australia (Gold Sponsor), Qantas (Gold Sponsor), Squire Patton Boggs (Silver Sponsor) and the German Chamber of Commerce Abroad (AHK) (Silver Sponsor) supported the 2017 Ambassador’s Dinner. The German Australian Business Council would like to warmly thank our sponsors for their kind support.

 

 

 

 

All photos by Jens Braune del Angel, Frankfurt

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Business Networking Bavarian Style 20th Anniversary BBQ Munich

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On July 15th more than 20 participants came to Buchenhain in the south of Munich to commemorate 20 years of connecting Germany and Australia. As part of the Waldgasthof Buchenhain’s well established annual Sommerfest in Baierbrunn we had a separate area, where we were in the position to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere in the Biergarten and listen to live music from three different bands. This event was a great chance for business networking with fellow German Australian Business Council corporates, members and friends.  We also had the pleasure to see a couple of new faces interested in our work.

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Breakfast Briefing with German Honorary Consul

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Members and friends of the German Australian Business Council gathered in Frankfurt on 7 July 2017 for a breakfast briefing with German Honorary Consul Prof. Michael Rosemann. Prof. Rosemann shared with attendees the various German initiatives that take place in Brisbane such as German week and David meets Goliath. He also captivated his audience with fascinating stories about how the universities help businesses transition to a digitalized world and adapting to a different mindset by thinking in a “bigger box”.

It was a great event to start the work day with attendees taking away a lot of food for thought.

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Frankfurt Summer Networking Event at feinform

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The German Australian Business Council’s special summer networking event revolved around art, design and beauty. For the first time, GABC expanded its scope by venturing into New Zealand territory. The event took place in our member Rena Jarosewitsch’s jewellery gallery, atelier and shop in Frankfurt, called feinform.

It was indeed a pleasant, inspiring and much appreciated evening. GABC members and friends eagerly listened to Rena’s fascinating story, taking her all the way to New Zealand where she worked over a decade as a glass artist. Back in Germany, Rena switched careers to specialise in jewellery design: two distinct crafts with overlapping traits such as work with light and reflections. Rena has featured in various exhibitions around the world. Guests learnt about the craft of jewellery design whilst admiring Rena’s own beautiful collection, as well as those of her other national and international colleagues. It was also a perfect opportunity to discuss and network while enjoying a glass of delicious Australian wine. An all-round successful evening!

feinform

Rena Jarosewitsch

http://www.galerie-feinform.de

Weckmarkt 3, 60322 Frankfurt am Main

r.jarosewitsch@feinform.de

+49 (0)69 29 22 88

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AHK Mining 4.0 Dialogue

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Main Picture, from left to right: Dr. Thomas Bartnitzki (RWTH Aachen University), Andrew Mackenzie (BHP Billiton), Roland Ehrl (Siemens), Dr. Michael Schulte Strathaus (VDMA Mining), Dr. Lars Pierburg (Eickhoff Bergbautechnik GmbH)

The German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK) organized a President’s Delegation to Germany on May 17-19. The delegation was chaired by Honorary President Andrew Mackenzie. Visits were planned in Munich and Berlin.

Today a dialogue about Mining 4.0 took place with key German stakeholders and senior Siemens representatives at the Siemens world headquarters in Munich.

Key notes were given by Andrew Mackenzie, CEO BHP Billiton and President of the German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG.

In a panel discussion, moderated by Jeff Connolly, CEO Siemens Australia and New Zealand, opportunities between Germany and Australia in the mining sector were emblazed.

The German Australian Business Council was represented by Board Member Eberhard Goihl.

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Australian Business in Europe Network Meeting

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The heads of approx. 10  organizations from the informal Australian Business in Europe Network gathered in London for the half-yearly international meeting on 5th and 6th of May 2017. Our hosts, the Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce, had compiled a very professional and high profile programme featuring briefings from the Senior Trade Commissioner, David Watson, the Counsellor (Trade), Kyle Naish, at the High Commission in London as well as the CEO of the Australian-British chamber of Commerce in Sydney, David McCredie. Participants agreed on a collective mission statement which will feature on the common website www.abie.eu and discussed synergies and how to leverage off each other’s experience. The main aim of the ABIE network is to provide members of each organization with a broader benefit through the international network. Our sister organization in London deserves praise for the highly professional organization of this conference which provided further momentum to the international group. The next meeting will take place in Brussels in mid October 2017.