Celion Su Jenny Chen

As the Chinese subsidiary company of Hannover-Milano Global Company， Hannover Milano Fairs China Ltd organizes outstanding Chinese enterprises to participate in as many as 60 global trade shows under about 20 subjects organized by Deutsche Messe and Fiera Milano. In a recent interview， Gary Liu， Managing Director of Hannover Milano Fairs China Ltd， thinks that business intelligence is the most important trend in the future of exhibition industry， and that in the same time， the unbalanced development of exhibitions in different industries will remain.

CEBIT 2018 illustrates allround digital innovation

Deutsche Messe attaches great importance to trade show innovation. Gary Liu， Managing Director of Hannover Milano Fairs China Ltd， takes CEBIT， the world famous flagship show organized by Deutsche Messe as an example to illustrate how trade shows can apply digital innovation in many aspects.

Last year， CEBIT welcomed about 3，000 exhibitors from 70 countries and regions to showcase the innovation achievements. Huawei， the renown Chinese telecommunication company participated and announced its latest progress in clouding， big data， and IoT.

Liu says that fundamentally， trade show innovation replies on the respective industry innovation. CEBIT 2018 to be taking place in this June aims to present a grand show of new subjects， new activity formats， new looks that will also bring new feelings. The brand new CEBIT contains four exhibition areas： d！conomy——dedicated for showcasing governmental and corporate digital platforms， d！tec——for international digital companies to present practical digital solutions in implementing digital business， d！talk——various conferences for participants to have discussions on the economic， political， and social impacts generated by the digital trends， and d！campus——providing immersive experiences of digital technology. In the exhibition， visitors will be able to inspect how digital innovation power can change enterprises and how technologies can be adopted in peoples work and life.

Implementing the Belt and Road Initiative to create winwin result

Each year， there are many Chinese companies attending Deutsche Messe trade fairs in the globe， among which the most popular include HANNOVER MESSE， CEBIT， DOMOTEX， EMO， IAA， HOST， HOMI， TUTTOFOOD， WIN TURKEY. Germany and Italy remain the hottest markets， and the US market is also very popular. In the mean time， the trade fairs along the Belt and Road countries such as Turkey， India， and Indonesia have drawn extensive attention of Chinese exhibitors. Liu notices that many Chinese organizers and governmental agencies are also active in organizing Chinese exhibitors and visitors to this region. He says that Hannover Milano China would like to join hands with such organizations to invite more Chinese exhibitors to the Belt and Road region trade fairs to echo the Central Government policy.

Embrace the new era of exhibition with internet thinking

In terms of the future development of the Chinese exhibition industry， Liu mentions that in the 19th National Congress of CPC， an important statement proposed by President Xi Jinping was that China has entered a new era. Following this judgement， we can say that the Chinese exhibition industry has also entered a new era， and more specifically， the internet era.

He further points out that internet thinking is actually part of global thinking， and it requires companies to revisit the market， the users， the product， the corporate value chain and even the entire economic environment. In a background of “Internet plus exhibition industry”， the "Internet plus exhibition industry" revolutionary transformation requests disruptive innovation. In an age of overloaded information， the ultimate method to retain users is to grab their attention in a short span of time. Liu says that the organizers can achieve this end through two methods： adopting new technologies such as VR to enhance interactions， and combining resources to create top-notch exhibition IP. In conclusion， he thinks that business intelligence will be the most important trend in the exhibition industry in the future.

The development of exhibitions in different industries will still be unbalanced

On the macro level， Liu also makes remarks on the development opportunities and challenges of the Chinese exhibition industry. While the mature markets such as Europe and America have generally maintained steady development， the development of emerging MICE markets such as China and India is quite strong. This is a favorable opportunity for the Chinese exhibition industry.

On the other hand， Liu believes that the growing maturity of the domestic exhibition industry also means the intensification of competition. More venues are being built in the country， and local governments pay great attention to the exhibition industry. To some extent， government-sponsored exhibitions has resulted in more intensified competition in the market， but the overall development of the exhibition industry is still very positive.

Liu also points out that the development of the exhibitionsare closely related to the development of the industry they serve. For example， the coal and other industries is dramatically declining， the development of the exhibitionsarerather limited， while in the fields of intelligent manufacturing， robotics and other industries encouraged by the government， the development of the exhibitions are very fast. It is expected that the development of different trade exhibitions will still be unbalanced for a long time in the future.