On the afternoon of November 19, the final expert review meeting for the project "Key Indicators and Initiatives for Shanghai to Build an International Exhibition Capital During the 14th Five-Year Plan Period", part of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Shanghai's exhibition industry, was held smoothly. This project is a key project of the 2020 Special Research on Commerce by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce. It was approved through competitive social bidding and expert review and defense. It was carried out under the leadership of the government department in charge and with the support of the exhibition industry. Taking Shanghai's key projects of building itself into an international exhibition capital and China International Import Expo (CIIE) spillover effects, as well as the evaluation of the exhibition industry's three factors of productivity in the "BlueBook of MICEE Industry", the SMI comprehensive evaluation index system, and the database for domestic and foreign exhibition industry dynamics as the research basis, after eight months of in-depth investigations, project initiation report, mid-term review, pre-conclusion expert discussion, extensive opinion solicitation, and repeated modifications and improvements, it finally concluded successfully with the expert review.

The review experts listened carefully to the detailed report by Prof. Zhang Min, Executive Dean of Shanghai MICEE Institute and project team leader, on the formulation of Shanghai's 14th Five-Year Plan for the exhibition industry. Facing unprecedented changes and benchmarking renowned global exhibition cities, the project conducted in-depth research and demonstration on the foundations and environment, guiding ideology, development goals, main tasks, and key measures for Shanghai to build itself into an international exhibition capital. On the basis of comparative research across six major dynamic data categories, it proposed targeted suggestions and initiatives based on Shanghai's position among global exhibition cities, advantages and weaknesses in the 14th Five-Year Plan period, proposed exhibition project system with international influence, proposed building high-capability exhibition market entities, exhibition infrastructure bottlenecks, and international experiences of exhibition cities in promoting exhibition industry development, including building an exhibition project system tailored to Shanghai's development needs, cultivating high-capability exhibition market entities, amplifying CIIE spillover effects, promoting exhibition service model innovation, improving the exhibition business environment, and advancing infrastructure construction. By 2025, Shanghai will be fully built into an international exhibition capital. Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan formulation project, all members of the Shanghai MICEE Institute project team have been fully mobilized. Against the backdrop of comparative research on international exhibition industry development, in-depth investigations of the Shanghai exhibition market were carried out, Shanghai's exhibition resources were thoroughly combed, and in-depth analysis and demonstration were conducted on exhibition projects, market entities, infrastructure and supporting services. Key measures taken by world exhibition cities to promote exhibition industry development were also extensively studied and compared. After more than six months of investigation and research, solicitation of opinions from all parties, and repeated modifications and improvements, a framework was formed based on the foundations and environment, guiding ideology, development goals, four main tasks, and six key measures for Shanghai to fully build itself into an international exhibition capital during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. The planning formulation mission was successfully accomplished.

The experts carefully reviewed the final report. Through Q&A and discussions, they unanimously agreed that the planning report had comprehensive contents, clear goals and powerful measures. The project research and investigations were in-depth, demonstrating the foresight and scientific nature of the planning, with strong guidance and operability. They fully recognized the dedication and efforts of Prof. Zhang Min and all colleagues of Shanghai MICEE Institute in formulating the results of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Shanghai's exhibition industry, and provided valuable opinions and suggestions for further modifications and improvements. The experts pointed out that the project has important academic reference value and practical guiding significance for scientifically judging and comprehensively building Shanghai into an international exhibition capital during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. The year 2020 is critical for Shanghai to fundamentally build itself into an international exhibition capital. Facing the requirements to cultivate new opportunities and open up new prospects, and overcoming the difficulties caused by trade frictions and the pandemic impact, formulating a good 14th Five-Year Plan is of special importance for the development of Shanghai's exhibition industry in the next five years. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary for Shanghai's exhibition industry to focus on the overall goal of fully building itself into an international exhibition capital, carefully do top-level design, initiate offensives on multiple fronts such as infrastructure, exhibition series, and market entities, strive to turn comparative advantages into absolute advantages, and make full efforts to promote the marketization, internationalization, specialization, informatization and branding of Shanghai's exhibition industry with new concepts, technologies, models, services and visions.

Shanghai MICEE Institute is a specialized exhibition research institution jointly established by the Shanghai Municipal Government and Shanghai University under the inter-governmental cooperation framework between the Ministry of Commerce and Shanghai Municipal Government. For years, upholding its founding mission, Shanghai MICEE Institute has made good use of the combination of industry, academia, research and government as well as the comprehensive opening up research mechanism. Relying closely on its first-mover advantages in top-level disciplines, high-quality teams, international perspectives, and long-term academic achievements, it continues to break new ground and provide solid and reliable think tank support for building China into an exhibition powerhouse and Shanghai into an international exhibition capital. Its representative achievements include feasibility studies and 13th Five-Year Plan for the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), "Exhibition Blue Paper - Evaluation Report on Domestic and Foreign Exhibition Industry Dynamics", research series on the three-year improvement action plan for Shanghai International Art Festival, comparative research on international exhibition industry development, organization and implementation plan and related research for the China International Import Expo (CIIE), research on CIIE spillover effects, research on building Shanghai into an international exhibition capital, research on exhibition legislation by the Legislative Affairs Commission of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, and research on exhibition industry development in Pudong, Zhuhai, Tianjin, Xi'an, Wuxi, Ningxia, Anqing, Kunshan, Yiwu and more.

Text | Mao Haijun

Photography | Ru Jieyu