On March 5, the first International Pre-cooked Food Industry Conference (Foshan, China), as well as 2023 Guangdong Processed Food Industry Expo, was successfully concluded. It is considered as the first exhibition held since the declaration of exhibition resumption made by Guangdong (Tanzhou) International Convention and Exhibition Center (GICEC).

In two-and-a-half days, around 60,000 people have come to Foshan Sanlongwan Sci-Tech City (hereinafter referred to as "Sci-tech city") to attend this grand event. The success of this event has presented strong elasticity in China’s economy, and citizens’ confidence in future development.

Nowadays, aiming at high-quality development, Foshan has grounded on the development of manufacturing industry to provide solid foundation for modern industrialization. Therefore, Sci-tech city will foster the exhibition economy around GICEC, carry out the supporting role in stimulating the development of manufacturing industry, and eventually become one remarkable driving power of Foshan's economy.

According to the schedule, there will be multiple influential exhibitions held in GICEC this year. By upgrading nearby infrastructure and introducing facilities, they are confident in delivering better exhibition service and boosting regional development.

Stimulate the development of Pre-cooked Food Industry

In the past few weeks, numerous visitors have attended the conference.

Covering a land of 40,000 square meters, the exhibition has attracted over 800 companies from pre-cooked food industrial chain and thousands of purchase agencies, including some national leading companies in relevant industries.

Li Xiaomin, the brand director of Heshi Aquatic Product Co., Ltd, has given great feedback on the exhibition, "The prosperity was well beyond our expectation. We even received cooperation invitation from local governments from other provinces, which is helpful for our domestic expansion."

Apart from delicious cuisine, enterprises from various areas of pre-cooked food industrial chain, like raw materials, package, logistics and etc, also presented their iconic products on the exhibition, which became a platform for production, education, R&D and sales.

Not just an exhibition for enterprises, it also could be an ideal place for shopping.

Remarkably, it was the first exhibition held in GICEC since the operation of Foshan Metro Line 3. On the opening day, Tanzhou Convention & Exhibition Center Station has encountered the largest daily passenger flow.

Overall, the exhibition has demonstrated the positive impact of exhibition industry on real economy and consumption. Additionally, it has presented the high-quality service and infrastructure in Sci-tech city, receiving national recognition.

Develop a new industrial form "Exhibition +"

As the most important industrial service platform in Foshan, GICEC aims to become national Top 1 industrial exhibition hall. Since it was built, GICEC has held over 400 exhibitions and conferences, with 3.7 billion square meters of exhibition area provided and 4.3 million visitors served.

In fact, a batch of influential brand exhibitions and competitions have been held here. For instance, Foshan Uniceramics Expo and China (Foshan) International Intelligent Robot Expo are two iconic examples with worldwide recognition.

The achievements made are the fruits of solid foundation in infrastructure and high-class business service. Especially in the past two years, GICEC has made extensive efforts in promoting the integration of multiple industrial forms, creating "exhibition +" ecology.

By introducing agencies and establishing partnership with relevant enterprises, it has gradually improve the exhibition industry chain, developing new industrial forms like "exhibition + competition", "exhibition + tourism", etc.

Additionally, it has strengthened the collaboration with other convention and exhibition associations in Greater Bay Area, for instance, Shenzhen convention and exhibition association, to realize a mutual development in exhibition industry.

GICEC also contributed to innovation and industrial upgradation. "Internet +" Expo project was entitled to UFI certification, as a credit to its international influence in digital transformation. Meanwhile, it has built a platform for presentation and exchange, as it invited 12 enterprises from Foshan Robot Industry to attend 2022 World Robot Conference in Beijing.

40 exhibitions scheduled for 2023

Emphasized at Foshan Municipal Economic Work Conference, it is to build ten industrial clusters for modern service industry. GICEC is the only one cluster that specialized in exhibition economy. Commented by deputy committee director of Foshan Sino-German Industrial Services Zone, Lin Jianxin, even though pandemic has stroke the exhibition industry heavily in the past three years, they have striven to recover. The number and the scale of exhibitions are believed to surpass the performance before pandemic.

There are 40 exhibitions and about 100 conferences scheduled in 2023, covering various fields like mechanic equipment, intelligent robot, digital economy, pre-cooked food and etc.

In terms of the scale, 17 exhibition will cover a land of 30,000 square meters, and 8 exhibitions with over 50,000 square meters. The total exhibition area will exceed 1 million square meter, yielding a 57.6% increase compared with the figure in 2019.

Stated by Zhao Penghui, executive director and general manager of GICEC, they will strive to make exhibitions like Foshan Uniceramics Expo, China Children’s Wear Industry Expo and GT Show as the largest national specialized exhibitions.

It is expected to attract over 12,000 enterprises and 1.2 million visitors this year. Out of 40 exhibitions, there will be 29 industrial exhibitions, representing its leading role in industry promotion.

Figures about GICEC

Grand non-pillar exhibition hall of 100,000 square meters

GICEC is considered as one exhibition complex with 100,000-square-meter non-pillar exhibition hall, 20,000-square-meter outdoor showroom, 4,000-square-meter conference room and 4,500 parking slots.

Over 190 events in the past 3 years

In the past 3 years, GICEC has held over 190 exhibitions, conferences and events, with about 81% industrial exhibitions and 44 newly introduced projects.

80% exhibitions for industry

According to the structural blueprint, 80% is reserved for industrial exhibitions, which have covered 60% of industrial categories.

Over 30 convention and exhibition enterprises

Nowadays, there are over 30 enterprises of exhibition industrial chain settled in GICEC.

Foshan exhibition industry ranks second

Regard to the comprehensive strength of exhibition industry, Foshan ranks second among national sample prefecture-level cities, 17 among national sample cities.

7 exhibitions included in Guangdong Trades

7 exhibitions held by GICEC were listed in 2022 "Guangdong Trades Nationally" Series Exhibitions.

Reporter | Eddie

Revisor | Jessica, Linn