Germany's "Invest in Germany" Summit: From Pitch to Pledges

On 19 and 20 October 2026, the German Federal Government hosted its first "Invest in Germany Summit" in Berlin. Chancellor Friedrich Merz and a large part of his Cabinet met around 200 international and German CEOs and investors to make the case for Germany as an investment location. The summit ended with investment commitments that the government puts at more than EUR 225 billion. The government also promised to keep up its reform agenda. Below, we look at what was announced, what the government signalled on policy and regulation, and what investors can expect next.

A summit with a clear mandate

The summit was the first event of its kind in Germany and a central part of the government's growth agenda. With it, Berlin has adopted a format that other countries have long used to compete for international capital: a high-level gathering at which political leaders personally present the country to investors and the focus is on concrete projects rather than speeches. For the government, the summit was also a test of whether its narrative of Germany as a renewed investment destination resonates with global capital. The summit implements a commitment from the coalition agreement and was modelled on France's "Choose France" format, hosted by President Macron at Versailles. It was prepared by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, together with the Federal Chancellery, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Chancellor's Special Representative for Investments, Martin Blessing.

The political backdrop is a persistent investment gap. Total investment in Germany is reported to have fallen by 6.4% between 2019 and 2025, while it rose by 6.7% in the eurozone and by 20.2% in the US. In the first half of 2026, private investment was still around 11% below pre-pandemic levels. Public spending, notably through the EUR 500 billion infrastructure special fund, has stabilised growth. The government's view is that a lasting recovery depends on mobilising private capital at scale. The summit was meant to do exactly that, and to launch a permanent "Invest in Germany" initiative.

How the two days unfolded

The summit opened on the evening of 19 October with a reception under the motto "Red Carpet for Investments" at Kraftwerk Berlin. Chancellor Merz gave the opening speech and set the tone for the summit: "Germany is open for investment; Germany is open for business – and Germany is ready to grow faster." In the on-stage conversation that followed, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who only days earlier had described Germany as "falling far behind", struck a more conciliatory note. He praised German engineering, which he said would "never be replaced by AI", and urged German companies to treat their data as a national resource to develop their own "national intelligence" rather than export it and later buy it back as imported intelligence. Merz, in turn, called on companies to open up their industrial data for AI applications. 

The main conference day was on 20 October. After the Chancellor's keynote, business leaders from Siemens, Helsing, Sanofi, Planet Labs and Engie discussed "Why Germany" from an investor's perspective. Siemens CEO Roland Busch used the summit to call industrial AI a "once-in-a-century opportunity for Germany" – but warned that the country needs to pick up speed: "The world is not waiting for us." The rest of the day followed the three-part format we described in our first post on the summit (Germany's "Invest in Germany Summit": A New Pitch for International Capital):

• a series of short bilateral meetings between members of the government and individual investors, which formed the core of the summit; and
• a set of closed-door thematic deep dives, each hosted by a Cabinet member or the Special Representative for Investments.

We have already looked at the political messages around the deep dives, including the policy priorities behind each session and the responsible ministers. In our second post, Germany's "Invest in Germany" Summit: Chips, AI and Deep Tech, we covered the industrial AI, semiconductor, deep tech and space sessions in depth.

From pitch to pledges: the investment announcements

According to Katherina Reiche, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, the commitments made in connection with the summit amount to more than EUR 225 billion. The figure also includes projects that had been announced before. The most prominent announcements were:

• Amazon: In a release published for the summit, Amazon announced plans to invest more than EUR 16 billion in Germany in 2027. The plans cover data centres, AI, satellite communications, logistics, robotics research and Prime Video. EUR 4.8 billion is earmarked for the AWS region in Frankfurt.
• Brookfield: Brookfield said it intends to invest "tens of billions" in Germany over the next five years, in energy, digital infrastructure and industrial companies.
• Nvidia: Nvidia announced stakes in four German technology companies: Agile Robots, Avelios Medical, Mirelo and Reflex Aerospace. At the opening reception, Merz and Huang also presented a declaration of intent between Nvidia and the Federal Government on industrial AI, with a focus on physical AI, i.e. AI in robots and other physical systems.

The government also pointed to flagship projects already under way. These include the Industrial AI Cloud of Deutsche Telekom and SAP in Munich, Infineon's Smart Power Fab in Dresden, Zeiss's high-tech campus in Jena and the United Arab Emirates' EUR 40 billion investment commitment. The industry initiative "Made for Germany" was also highlighted: its 147 member companies had already pledged more than EUR 800 billion in investment in Germany by 2030.

The policy messages

The summit did not bring new regulatory improvements for private investors. It provided, however, a clear picture of the regulatory direction the government wants to signal to investors:

• Reform agenda: Merz described the government's (ongoing) programme as one of the "most ambitious reform and modernisation" in decades. It covers social security reform, more labour market flexibility, digitalisation of public administration and cutting red tape.
• Faster planning and permitting: Merz called faster approvals a central task and singled out data centres as an area where planning and permitting procedures need to be shortened.
• Protection of housing investments: Federal Minister for Housing, Verena Hubertz, announced that the government is working on an act to protect investments in general and housing portfolios in particular. This is a clear response to the incoming Berlin state coalition government's plans to socialise housing companies, which Reiche called "a danger to Germany as a business location".

The government also highlighted existing instruments, including the Deutschlandfonds, the infrastructure special fund, the national data centre strategy, the Hightech Agenda Deutschland, the WIN initiative for venture capital and its programme to cut red tape, including a planned reporting relief act.

What investors should take away

The summit showed that the German federal government's investor pitch has matured. It now combines public co-investment, a pipeline of infrastructure and technology projects and an explicit commitment to regulatory reform. The reactions show that expectations are high. The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) welcomed the summit as an important signal but stressed that it must lead to concrete and additional investment. The German Economic Institute (IW) noted that companies do not choose Germany "because of a promotional event", but because they can make money there. 

What's next

The government plans to follow up on the summit at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2027. The Cabinet is expected to adopt the reporting relief act by April 2027. Berlin has made its pitch, and investors have made their pledges. The next chapter, turning commitments into projects that actually get built, will decide whether the summit is remembered as a turning point or as a well-staged event.

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