On October 28, 2018, the mayor's report meeting for the "Wuxi Exhibition Industry Medium and Long-term Planning and Wuxi International Convention Center Functional Planning" undertaken by Shanghai MICEE Institute was held in Meeting Room 1816, Building 2, Wuxi Citizen Center. Li Xiaomin, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and Secretary of the CPC Wuxi Municipal Committee, Wuxi Mayor Huang Qin, relevant leaders of the Wuxi Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, Wuxi Expo Affairs Office, Wuxi Urban Planning Bureau attended the meeting. Secretary Li Xiaomin personally presided over the meeting and listened carefully to the project report by Prof. Zhang Min, Executive Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai University and representative of the project team from Shanghai MICEE Institute. The meeting unanimously affirmed the research report's overall grasp of Wuxi's exhibition industry development and made specific arrangements for the next steps. Thus, Shanghai University's six-month Wuxi project concluded successfully, and the construction of Wuxi International Conference Center and expansion project of Wuxi International Exhibition Complex entered a new stage smoothly.

Meeting scene

At the beginning of the meeting, Prof. Zhang Min first reported on the main content and core views of the research results. Wuxi has long been known for its strong real economy and enjoys a prominent position in the national city rankings. In recent years, by advancing transformation and upgrading, it has re-entered the trillion RMB club. However, its economic openness and service industry contribution are relatively insufficient, becoming bottlenecks restricting green, healthy and sustainable development. Accelerating the differentiated and scaled development of the exhibition industry, attracting global products, technologies, information, talents and capital to flow through Wuxi in a large-scale, periodic and orderly manner, building a global high-tech industry communication platform, leading the prosperity of modern service industries, has become an urgent need for Wuxi's high-quality development, high-level opening up and high-quality life. As a holistic, highly efficient and precise development platform and leading industry of modern services, the exhibition industry will help promote the aggregation of global elements by advanced manufacturing and cultural and creative industries, strengthen brand marketing and compete for professional discourse power. It will also help stimulate the prosperity of modern services, assist Wuxi in forming characteristic advantages in integrating into the world, and elevate its global value chain status and urban capabilities.

Prof. Zhang Min presenting report

Based on the current situation and future needs of Wuxi's exhibition industry development, the project team proposed the goal of building itself into a "Yangtze River Delta International Exhibition Center City with High-tech Characteristics", adhering to the concepts of "unified planning, appropriate leading edge, exhibition joint operation, and diverse models". It suggested completing the international convention center's supporting facilities by 2020 to reflect "high-tech culture & creativity, green intelligence, integrated proximity, and underground interconnection"; building the "Taihu International Exhibition Complex" by 2025 to strengthen market entities, develop major projects, expand exhibition performance, and focus on elevating Wuxi's economic openness and service industry contribution; and demonstrating the construction of "Wuxi International Exhibition Industry Park" by 2035 to form a "convention and exhibition dual growth engine"-driven model and build a Yangtze River Delta international exhibition center city with high-tech characteristics.

The Wuxi Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government demonstrated highly responsible spirit towards this undertaking by giving top-level attention and multi-faceted support to Shanghai University's research, and spoke highly of the final project results. Secretary Li Xiaomin fully affirmed Shanghai MICEE Institute's judgments on Wuxi's exhibition industry medium and long-term development and its convention leadership, exhibition joint operation, integrated proximity and industrial globalization strategies. He believed that the plan was based on Wuxi's realities and urban capabilities, with comprehensive considerations of the relationships between conventions and exhibitions, government services and business, and the market and government, demonstrating a scientific attitude and rational thinking. The planning and conception were pragmatic and aligned with Wuxi's development path. Mayor Huang Qin affirmed the Institute's proposals of prioritizing conventions, optimizing layouts, integrated operations, and efficient management. He believed that the exhibition industry planning had high vision, and the convention center planning was scientific and practical. Other leaders present also fully affirmed the project results and put forward relevant suggestions for concrete implementation. The meeting also discussed matters for the next steps such as design and construction bidding, Suzhou-Wuxi Intercity Railway, and establishing operational teams.

As the leader and hub of China's two-way opening up, the Yangtze River Delta cities shoulder dual tasks of driving the Yangtze River Economic Belt's development domestically and deeply participating in global cooperation and competition externally in the future. They must serve the overall situation of high-level opening up and high-quality development through integrated innovation breakthroughs. As the geometric center of the Yangtze River Delta and historic stronghold of real economy, Wuxi needs to vigorously develop its exhibition industry and take a more proactive posture to lead high-tech industrial development and integrate into the Yangtze River Delta. As a specialized exhibition research institution jointly established by the Ministry of Commerce and Shanghai Municipal Government, Shanghai MICEE Institute has the responsibility to assist brother cities in formulating scientific and reasonable planning schemes and contribute to the healthy development of Yangtze River Delta integration.

Photos & Text | Nie Xinyan, Feng Lan