Fusion of industrial designs explored

Guests take a look at the products at the fair yesterday. Sun Yuchen

More than 200 government officials, industry professionals, business leaders and representatives of design companies from home and abroad attended the opening ceremony of the 7th Shenzhen International Industrial Design Fair (SZIDF) yesterday.

Ralph Wiegmann, CEO of the iF Design Award and president of this year’s SZIDF jury, Yu Xiaodong, deputy head of the industrial policy department of the Ministry of Industry of Information Technology, and Wang Lixin, deputy mayor of Shenzhen, delivered speeches at the ceremony.

In his opening address, Wiegmann said the development of various sectors and design disciplines, as it is shown in SZIDF, is outstanding and the development speed of Shenzhen is also incomparable to other cities.

Wiegmann commended the design event for becoming a milestone in the design circle of Shenzhen’s events calendar.

Yu recognized SZIDF’s role as a platform for international exchange and cooperation in the industrial design field. “With its themes being prominent and distinctive in the previous years, SZIDF has played a positive role in deepening international exchanges for industrial design in Shenzhen,” Yu said.

Wang noted that the city will take SZIDF as an opportunity, introduce a series of policies and measures to further promote the development of industrial design, expand and strengthen such industries as fashion design and industrial design, and strive to make the city a more attractive design capital.

Themed “Redesign, Reconnect,” the three-day fair in Hall 2 of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center aims to showcase the world’s advanced design and manufacturing industries while focusing on drones, artificial intelligence, robotics, smart furniture, intelligent wearables, digital design and the fashion industry.

This year, the fair has attracted 302 exhibitors and set up six exhibition areas to display more than 6,000 design works from more than 30 countries and regions.

Other activities that constitute the grand industrial design event include a selection of the Great One Awards and an awards ceremony, the Global Design Value Summit, as well as product launches and several business matchmaking sessions.

The fair is hosted by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and organized by the Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association.

In 2018, the output value of Shenzhen’s industrial design enterprises exceeded 10 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion), an increase of 20.5 percent year on year, official data showed.

Since 2012, the number of iF Design Awards and Red Dot Design Awards won by Shenzhen companies has ranked first among large and medium-sized cities on the Chinese mainland each year.

So far, there are nearly 6,000 industrial design institutions, more than 500 industrial design companies and 100,000 industrial design professionals in Shenzhen. Five national, 15 provincial and 87 municipal industrial design centers have been built in the city.