Innovative companies, self-brand owners shine with 'new look', products at exhibition in Shanghai

More than 1,000 innovative Chinese enterprises, and those with self-owned brands, exhibited their products and solutions at an event in Shanghai marking 2023 China Brand Day from Wednesday through Sunday.

As a key event of 2023 China Brand Day, which falls on Wednesday this year, the exhibition held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center is aimed at showcasing the "new look of current Chinese brands to the world", organizers of the event said.

This year marks the seventh China Brand Day. The exhibition area of nearly 60,000 square meters is more than double that of previous years and the event's duration has been prolonged.

New exhibition sections for selected exhibits and themed products were added and new activities, including new product launches and brand design contests, were put on the schedule this year.

Altogether 38 centrally administered State-owned enterprises exhibited products, representing the country's cutting-edge manufacturing.

Key exhibits include the first domestically produced large-diameter hard rock tunnel-boring machine functioning at high altitudes and in extremely cold environments by China Railway Group Ltd, and a high-speed maglev transportation system capable of traveling at 600 kilometers per hour, of which CRRC Corp Ltd holds full independent intellectual property rights.

Within the exhibition zone specifically for Shanghai enterprises, dozens of businesses showcased the city's economic vitality in new industries, new impetus and application scenarios.

Shanghai aims to achieve the goal of exceeding 1.5 trillion yuan ($217 billion) in total scale of green and low-carbon, metaverse, and intelligent terminal industries by 2025.

Q-Truck, the world's first fully autonomous, driverless new energy commercial vehicle, was among the key exhibits by Shanghai Westwell Information and Technology Co, a fast-growing enterprise that has earned a reputation for its full-stack intelligent port solutions and driverless container trucks.

The vehicle, independently developed by Westwell, has been put into commercial use in countries including Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Mexico, marking a successful business plan landing of AI unmanned driving from China in the global market.

"Even in harsh weather and under complex road conditions, Q-Truck can accurately complete transportation tasks around the clock in a nonstop manner, freeing people from intensive, long-term and high-risk driving operations, and realizing intelligent, safe and adaptive unmanned driving," said Hu Hongyuan, deputy general manager of the strategic development center of Westwell.

The company said that compared with diesel vehicles, the new energy Q-Truck can reduce carbon emissions by 10.7 metric tons per year, saving about 100,000 yuan in energy and vehicle maintenance costs per vehicle per year.

Shanghai MicroPort MedBot Co Ltd exhibited its blockbuster surgical robots, including the Toumai Laparoscopic Surgical Robot, which uses teleoperation technology and enables surgeons to sit outside of the aseptic surgery area to conduct surgeries, thus reducing risk.

The device was approved for the market in China in early 2022 and has completed nearly 800 robot-assisted surgeries for clinical validation in nearly 40 hospitals nationwide. The surgeries covered highly difficult and complex procedures in the chest, abdominal cavity and pelvic cavity.

Also among the exhibits was the Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot, which assists total knee replacement by building a 3D knee joint model with its preoperative planning system based on the preoperative CT scanning data, and creating personalized prosthesis implantation surgical plans according to a patient's physiological and anatomical features.

Honghu was approved in China in April 2022. It obtained certification from the United States Food and Drug Administration in July of the same year and passed the testing certification of the British Standards Institution in December. In April, it was approved to be marketed in Brazil.