Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield is leading a delegation of Alabama business leaders on a trade mission to Germany this week, resuming the strategic trips to overseas commercial hubs that have helped state-based companies explore new markets and partnership opportunities.

The journey to Munich and nearby Augsburg is the Alabama Department of Commerce’s first trade and business development mission since before the pandemic, when an Alabama team traveled to the United Arab Emirates in September 2019.

The Germany mission began Sunday and lasts through Wednesday, Sept. 28.

The Department of Commerce’s Office of International Trade teamed with the U.S. Commercial Service to organize the mission, which focuses on providing international opportunities to minority-owned Alabama companies by allowing them to meet with potential European partners.

Companies were supported in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Enhancing opportunities

The Alabama team will take part in the 11th EU-US Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Best Practices Workshop in Augsburg. The event aims to enhance trade and investment opportunities for small and medium businesses.

GeneCapture is among the Alabama companies with representatives on this week’s trade mission to Germany. (contributed)

The theme of this year’s workshop is “SME’s Rising: Recovery Together on Both Sides of the Atlantic.”

“Through our Office of International Trade, we are leading the charge to ensure that Alabama companies are directly connected to the resources they need to access foreign markets and develop export opportunities,” Canfield said.

“We are committed to strengthening Alabama’s international ecosystem and working with our trade partners on every level to foster a healthy climate for international business,” he said.

The Alabama team arrived Sunday in Munich, the capital of Bavaria and a global center of technology, finance, innovation and science. The team attended a welcome dinner sponsored by Export Alabama and engaged in business meetings on Monday before traveling to Augsburg.

Wednesday’s SME workshop in Bavaria’s third-largest city will feature discussions on topics including trade opportunities, pandemic transition strategies and access to financing, as well as offering business networking opportunities.

Alabama companies sending representatives on the trade mission include:

• GeneCapture, a biotechnology company based in Huntsville that is developing a portable technology for identifying infections.
• BLOC Global Group, a professional services firm in Birmingham that specializes in corporate real estate and infrastructure project delivery.
• Domestique, an EV hospitality company dedicated to creating refined user experiences through well-crafted consumable products to fight climate change.
• Adah International, an industrial engineering and project management services firm based in Birmingham.
• Ashipa Electric Limited, a Birmingham firm that is developing power microgrid management software.

Connections to Germany

German companies have invested nearly $10 billion in Alabama since 1999 and the European country is a top trade partner for the state. Alabama opened a business development office in Stuttgart in 2019.

Christina Stimpson, director of the Office of International Trade, said the trade mission represents an opportunity for Alabama businesses to identify new growth opportunities to strengthen the future of their enterprises.

“This trade mission is about helping Alabama companies open new doors, explore new markets and make new connections in one of the world’s most vibrant economies,” Stimpson said. “We are constantly working to ensure that all Alabama companies understand the opportunities that exist in foreign markets and that foreign companies understand the opportunities Alabama can offer.”

This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website.