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A pair of New Mexicans who spent years working in Germany created a nonprofit group to help strengthen economic ties between Germany and New Mexico. They鈥檙e calling it the New Mexican German Economic Alliance, and they hope it can create jobs and wealth. 

One of the founders, Bob Perls, is a State Department-certified German diplomat. He worked as a foreign service officer abroad, including in Germany, from 2010 to 2015. He is from New Mexico but has family from Germany and dual citizenship. 

Now retired, he is the honorary consul for Germany in New Mexico, a volunteer position where he builds commercial relationships between New Mexico and Germany to 鈥渃reate wealth for New Mexico and to help German companies succeed in New Mexico,鈥� Perls said. 

He met with Sydni Gonzalez, who lived in Germany for about seven years, learning the language and working in the German government and scientific institutions. She will be executive director of the alliance, which will be incorporated as a 501(c)(6) business league.

The formation of the New Mexican German Economic Alliance comes on the heels of the NM Nexus Center, a business incubator housed in sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 Mesa del Sol, which is hosting companies from other countries, such as India and Oman. That incubator was announced by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last year.

There are quite a few people who don鈥檛 understand the transferable connection to Germany here in New Mexico, Gonzalez said. For years, the Holloman Air Force Base hosted the German Air Force Flight Training Center, where the German air force, the Luftwaffe, trained. The center, which created one of the largest German expatriate communities in the U.S., closed, providing a blow to the Alamogordo economy. That is where Gonzalez met her ex-husband and moved to Germany.

鈥淭he physical presence of the Germans remains,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檝e boosted the economy 鈥� they are the economy 鈥� in Alamogordo.鈥�

What incentive would Germans have to help New Mexico build industry?

鈥淭here is plenty of room here,鈥� said Gonzalez, referring to New Mexico鈥檚 wide-open spaces. 鈥淎fter living in Germany for seven years, I can tell you it is completely condensed and there is nowhere to go. There is a whole workforce in Germany that is not Ph.D.s that would just love to get out somewhere and get in the sun.鈥�

In Germany, the government funds the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, known as the Fraunhofer Society, an applied research organization staffed with thousands of engineers. Perls said the organization helps small- and medium-sized startups spin up manufacturing. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big piece that鈥檚 missing from New Mexico: We have a lot of intellectual property coming out of the labs,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have a lot of entrepreneurs who employ (10 or fewer people) who can do some basic prototyping. But then, to actually spin up commercial manufacturing is very expensive and very difficult.鈥�

The two say the new group is taking inspiration from different models across the nation, including the German American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco. The South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance has attracted German manufacturing to the area, including BMW. 

鈥淭hey helped create an ecosystem with BMW as an anchor in South Carolina that has generated hundreds of billions of investment in South Carolina,鈥� Perls said. 鈥淎nd they have over 1,000 German companies in that whole cluster there.鈥� 

Perls said the group is trying to receive matching state funding from New Mexico and the Fraunhofer Society. A 鈥渉igh-level鈥� German delegation from Munich is visiting New Mexico this week, he said.

New Mexico, Perls said, has a better climate than Germany.

鈥淕ermany is one of the most deeply invested countries in the world in America,鈥� Perls said. 鈥淲e have lots of room to build here.鈥� 

Justin Horwath covers tech and energy for the Journal. He can be reached at jhorwath@abqjournal.com.

Editor鈥檚 note: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled the surname of Sydni Gonzalez. It also misstated the name of the New Mexican German Alliance.