Creating a world-class design vanguard, an innovation hub, and a premier showcase for new products
Shanghai, NFAPost: World Design Cites Conference (WDCC2023), hosted by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and supported by UNESCO and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, officially opened last week.
With the theme of “Design Beyond Creativity” and the mission of “building a platform for global design cooperation and exchange, exploring design-led high-quality development, and promoting design everywhere in cities and urban life”, this conference will gather prominent guests and leading brands to create a world-class design vanguard, an innovation hub, and a premier showcase for new products.
In the keynote speech, guests such as Chang Qing (academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of the Shanghai Architectural Society), Xue Min (Chairman of Lianying Group), and Don Norman (member of the US National Academy of Engineering and winner of the first Frontier Design Prize) shared their insights on urban renewal, industrial innovation, and design ideas.
Two roundtables on the themes of “Design Beyond Creativity” invited design experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs from China, France, Italy, Japan and other countries to discuss how design can enable global interconnection and how AIGC technology can promote the high-quality development of the design industry. House of Lanvin also presented its global AIGC fashion debut at the opening ceremony.
Compared with the first WDCC, the main exhibition of this session has been upgraded in all aspects, consisting of Industrial Pavilion, Fashion Pavilion, Urban Exhibition, and Design Carnival.
The exhibition covers a total area of 20,000 square meters, and more than 300 leading international and domestic enterprises are selected to participate, presenting to the public how design can drive industrial innovation, enable a better life and serve the urban development, demonstrating how design can drive industrial development from 1 to 100.
The general public can make an appointment to the exhibition for free through the WDCC official WeChat mini-programme to experience the charm of design for themselves.
Design, as a key value-adding part of the industrial chain, has become an important engine for industrial innovation and development; it serves as a crucial means to optimise people’s way of living well and a fundamental element to shape a city’s brand image.
Since Shanghai joined the United Nations Creative Cities Network in 2010 and became a “city of design”, it has accelerated the gathering of excellent design enterprises and design talents. Innovative design achievements have continued to emerge with increasing international and domestic influence.
