Exhibition New Ecology: Creating a New High Ground for Industrial-Urban Integration

The exhibition industry has become a key platform for promoting China's high-level opening up to the outside world and plays an essential role in improving the development of the real economy and the service industry. Currently, the service industry and service trade have become the focus of a new round of high-level opening up." Former Deputy Representative of the Ministry of Commerce for China International Trade Negotiations and President of the China World Trade Organization Research Association, Chong Quan, pointed out at the 2024 China Exhibition Industry Annual Conference and Exhibition Industry Ecological Development (Nanjing) Conference.

This conference, with the core theme of "Gathering Strength, Creating Ecology," discussed the deep integration of the exhibition industry with urban development and explored market potential.

This year, the performance of the exhibition industry in some cities has exceeded expectations. According to incomplete statistics, from January to September 2024, Guangzhou's professional venues hosted 210 economic and trade exhibitions, a 12.9% increase compared to the same period in 2019; the exhibition area reached 8.1926 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 10.94%; Shanghai's professional venues hosted about 370 exhibitions, with an exhibition area of more than 15 million square meters; Shenzhen held various exhibitions 140 times, with an exhibition area exceeding 5 million square meters.

"The Canton Fair, Service Trade Fair, Big Data Expo, and Import Expo, and other national-level major exhibitions held this year, have concentrated on displaying new productive forces." The Deputy Dean of the Ministry of Commerce's Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation and President of the China Exhibition Economy Research Association, Qu Weixi, mentioned that all regions should cultivate high-quality exhibition brands that meet local industrial development needs and effectively enhance new productive forces according to actual conditions, build a higher level of open exhibition platforms, and enhance their radiation and driving effects.

At the same time, some cities have introduced and continuously improved policies to support the exhibition industry to promote the integration and innovation of the exhibition industry and industry, and sustainable development. For example, the "Nanjing Exhibition Industry High-Quality Development Two-Year Action Plan (2024-2025)" released by Nanjing emphasizes the development of new productive forces according to local characteristics and promotes the plan of "one industry cluster, one brand exhibition" to accelerate the high-quality development of Nanjing's exhibition industry.

Liang Jie, President of the Nanjing International Trade Promotion Association, said that according to the "Action Plan," Nanjing will accelerate the normalization of "one industry cluster, one brand exhibition," incubate, cultivate, and strengthen professional exhibition projects that meet Nanjing's advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, promote the deep integration of exhibitions and industries, and build a new ecological development of exhibitions and industries that connect upstream and downstream and integrate the entire industrial chain. At the same time, Nanjing will accelerate the coordinated development of exhibitions, merchants, culture, and tourism, use Nanjing's characteristic cultural, commercial, tourism, sports, and health exhibition resources, play the mutual driving effect of meetings, exhibitions, festivals, performances, and competitions, promote close cooperation between exhibition venues and commercial complexes, e-commerce platforms, and sports venues, establish a three-in-one development pattern of commercial, cultural, and sports circles, and accelerate the integration of exhibitions and cities.

In recent years, Nanjing's exhibition industry has played a unique platform role in strengthening the innovation chain of industrial chains and supply chains, integrating the modern industrial system, and promoting the innovative development of service trade. Nanjing has accelerated the transformation and upgrading of the exhibition industry, enhancing the attractiveness and competitiveness of the exhibition market. According to the "2023 China City Exhibition Industry Competitiveness Index Report," Nanjing ranks sixth among cities and third among deputy provincial cities.

Not only Nanjing, but also Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Sanya, and other cities have also increased their support for the exhibition industry. Shanghai's "Several Measures to Enhance the Driving Effect of the City's Exhibition Economy" encourages the introduction of new exhibitions, expansion of scale effects, and supports quality improvement and efficiency enhancement; Guangzhou's "Guangzhou Modern Exhibition Industry Chain High-Quality Development Three-Year Action Plan (2024-2026)" clearly proposes to further accelerate the integration of exhibitions and industries, adhere to the first industry, manufacturing-based city, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system. The goal is to provide intellectual support for industrial development in the form of "exhibition + conference," encourage traditional theme exhibitions to upgrade and break through, adjust structures, optimize layouts, build "one industry chain, one professional exhibition" around the city's key industrial chains, attract more high-quality enterprises to jointly build, and attract more enterprises in the subdivided fields to participate in exhibitions.

Industry insiders believe that China's exhibition industry is promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industry through digital intelligence innovation and actively building a new exhibition ecology.

Chong Quan said that the exhibition economy is an important force in promoting economic and trade development, and it plays an indispensable and positive role in promoting regional economic development, enhancing the image and reputation of cities, driving related industries, promoting the dissemination of information and technology, and promoting international exchanges and cooperation.

In response to the accelerated innovation of China's exhibition industry, Marsha Flanagan, President and CEO of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), said that the global exhibition industry is in the transformation of digitalization and sustainable practices. In this context, IAEE will work with the Chinese industry to promote the innovation and development of the global exhibition industry.