WIDC 2024 explores innovative approaches to empowering industrial development through design

[Video provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2024 World Industrial Design Conference took place from Sept 20 to 22 at the Bajiao Bay International Convention and Exhibition Center in the Yantai Huang-Bohai New Area. Representatives from 15 countries and regions, including Germany, Italy, and France, design organizations, and top Chinese industrial design agencies and designers convened to discuss new models for empowering industrial development.

This year's conference saw a continuous increase in scale and prestige. With a meticulously planned exhibition space covering a total area of 6,000 square meters, the event featured four major exhibition areas showcasing outstanding design achievements from a variety of countries and regions with diverse cultural, technological, and industrial backgrounds, offering a visual and intellectual feast for global audiences.

During the conference, a variety of professional innovation forums, including press conferences, roundtable summits, and high-level dialogues, were held. Additionally, events like the International Designers' Night and Shandong Industrial Design Week were organized to further ignite innovation in design and collectively explore new solutions, perspectives, and directions for empowering industrial development through design.

To date, Yantai has nurtured six national-level industrial design centers, 44 provincial-level centers, and 304 municipal-level centers. The city is home to eight national-level and 22 provincial-level service-oriented manufacturing demonstration enterprises.

Yantai has been recognized as part of the first batch of national service-oriented manufacturing (industrial design category) demonstration cities, establishing the only national-level industrial design research institute in the field of intelligent manufacturing in China. The influence of Yantai's industrial design continues to grow.