Expo aims to push Made in China 2025 blueprint

"Smart manufacturing" will be highlighted at the International Exhibition of Inventions 2016, which is slated to take place in November in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, the event's organizers said.

The new exhibition section at this year's Kunshan invention expo is designed to help advance the "Made in China 2025" blueprint, a national 10-year plan that aims to join the world's manufacturing powerhouses with a focus on improved automation and eco-friendly industrialization, said Yu Huazhong, secretary-general of the China Association of Inventions, at a news conference in Beijing last week.

"A batch of excellent projects in a variety of fields including big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and internet plus will be displayed to showcase the genuine progress that has been made in the smart manufacturing industry," Yu said.

The expo, which will cover an area of 24,000 square meters and feature more than 800 booths, will also include a special area to showcase innovation achievements from hackerspaces in China and abroad and an experience zone to allow visitors to explore novelties such as space vehicles and other products using virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.

The biennial event, co-hosted by CAI and the International Federation of Inventors' Associations, aims to promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as China's innovation-driven development and national intellectual property strategies, Yu noted.

Before it became a biennial event in 1992, the Kunshan expo was held every four years and was therefore regarded as the Olympics of the invention sphere, Yu said.

The previous eight sessions have displayed some 180,000 items and drawn participants from around 200 countries and regions.

This year's expo is expected to attract participants from more than 40 countries and regions, Yu said.

"I hope the event can provide a venue for exchanges between inventors from around the world, bringing overseas technological expertise to local markets and helping advanced technologies from China go global," the secretary-general said.

International organizations including the International Federation of Inventors' Associations, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Committee of the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, and the Macao Foundation, as well as renowned Chinese companies, trade associations and foreign nationals will set up respective funds to recognize outstanding inventors and their innovative projects.

"In addition, we will arrange dialogues between inventors and financers, local governments and interested companies to facilitate the funding of projects," Yu said.

He said he hopes that the awards and dialogues on financing will help the commercialization and industrialization of the innovations and inventions on display.

Chen Xiuwen, deputy mayor of the host city, told the media that the Kunshan government has long valued the expo industry, and has developed more than 200,000 square meters of meeting facilities and expo venues.

Hosting the invention expo dovetails perfectly with Kunshan's strategy of exploring a new development path toward opening-up, integration, innovation and excellence, Chen said.

Secretary-General Yu said: "Our shared goal is to develop the event so that it becomes Jiangsu's calling card on the international invention landscape."

wangxin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/17/2016 page17)