Abstract: By taking a case study of AICES doctoral program in the University of Aachen, this paper has summarized the characteristics of newly developed project-based doctoral training model in Germany, such as its distinctive selection process of PhD candidates, emphasis on cultivating students' ability of doing scientific research independently, great attention to team work and resource sharing, internationalization and the team guiding philosophy of involving doctoral students and etc. The inspirations of this model on the reform and innovation of doctoral training in our country can be concluded as the following four aspects:establishing and improving the "application-review" enrollment mechanism; encouraging diversified curriculum construction; building mentoring team and encouraging team work; enhancing cooperation with enterprises and etc.