Interview: Danish pump giant sees innovation opportunities in Chinese market

COPENHAGEN, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Denmark-based pump manufacturer Grundfos is seeing innovation opportunities in the Chinese market as China aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

"First and foremost, we listen and innovate more in order to support the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, as we call it 'in China, for China,'" said HP Nanda, Executive Vice President and Divisional Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Grundfos Water Utility, in an interview with Xinhua.

The top executive of the world's largest pump maker called the Chinese government's goal of achieving carbon neutrality "amazing" and acknowledged it as a business opportunity.

Nanda noted that Grundfos is currently developing solutions in three specific areas in order to meet the challenges of the Chinese market.

"The second is digitization, which lets us link systems and parts together. And finally, sustainability, not just in the products we make and that our customers use, but also in how you really keep thinking, systems, and buildings moving forward," said Nanda, who has lived in China and speaks Mandarin fluently.

From September 11 to 15, 2022, the International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress &Exhibition 2022 was held in Copenhagen, bringing together up to 10,000 leading water professionals and companies for talks over water solutions.

Speaking to Xinhua on the sidelines of the event, Nanda praised the Chinese government for doing an "amazing job" in setting the goal of providing tap water to 88 percent of rural residents nationwide by 2025.

Nanda said that water solutions containing innovative technologies developed by Grundfos were already in use in the Chinese market, citing the use of 20 pumping stations in Fuzhou, the provincial capital of Fujian, southeast China, to address wetland issues as an example.

"There are numerous examples of this. Our group has worked in Shanghai, Chengdu, and other cities throughout China," said Nanda.

Grundfos started using smart pumping systems in China in 2020 as the compact pumping systems went on sale in 2021.

"It would require a lot of innovations, for which our team is already thinking how to contribute to this ambition of China for decades to come," said Nanda.