Exhibitors and visitors praise making new business connections at the fair

Concurrent events on intelligent building and smart home development prove popular

The 2014 edition of the Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology fair opened its doors from 3 – 5 September at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Once again, the show was jointly organised by Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt Co Ltd, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade – Shanghai Pudong Sub-Council and Shanghai Hongshan Exhibition Service Co Ltd.
A total of 181 exhibitors across 11,500 sqm of fairground space welcomed a record-breaking 16,876 visitors, a 32% increase over last year, from 42 countries and regions.

Ms Lucia Wong, Deputy General Manager at Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd, commented: "The 2014 show achieved significant results. Many exhibitors were satisfied with the quantity and quality of visitors, and believe the fair is an effective way to promote their products and attain more business leads. Meanwhile, visitors were impressed with the professionalism of the show and particularly praised the establishment of the themed areas that facilitated sourcing efficiency. After years of development, the Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology fair has positioned itself as one of the industry's leading trading platforms. Furthermore, its popularity also reflects the rapid growth of intelligent building and smart home sectors in China."

This year, the show focused on three core themes currently popular in China: building efficiency, smart cities and smart homes. These topics were highlighted in the "Building Energy Saving, Energy Management & Building Automation Zone", "Data Centres and Generic Cabling Zone", and "Home Technology Zone”, and allowed both exhibitors and visitors to maximise their time in targeting appropriate buyers and finding the right solutions respectively.

Additionally, the special “Smart Hardwares and Gadgets Innovation Experience Zone” was also created to address huge demand for smart hardware and gadgets in daily life and to facilitate industry innovation.

Exhibitors and visitors praise making new business connections at the fair

For leading domestic and international brands, this exhibition is considered an ideal platform for brand and product promotion. Ms Joyce Yang, Marketing Communications Officer from ABB (China) Limited, said: “ABB is a fortune 500 company as well as a global leader in power and automation technologies. We decided to return for the second time because the fair is one of the most professional building technology exhibition platforms in China. To utilise this platform, this year, we showcased our new ‘i-home’ and ‘e-home’ systems to meet the requirements of modern Chinese families to live more eco-friendly, convenient and higher-quality lives. I am happy to report that we are extremely impressed with the show as it has exceeded all our expectations. The visitor flow during the show was exceptionally high while both buyers and exhibitors are of high professional qualities.”

Echoing Ms Joyce Yang was Ms Faye Xiang, Director of Marketing Department at Shanghai Longchuang Eco-energy Systems Co Ltd, who stated: “I was very satisfied with the visitor flow and met a lot of potential clients at the fair, including suppliers and building designers. The Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology fair is a very effective platform for reaching our sales target and we will definitely join again next year.”

Mr Basil Wai, CEO of the Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association (HKEIA), the organiser of the Hong Kong Pavilion also realised the platform’s benefits and said: “LED products play a very big role in intelligent buildings and our main purpose for exhibiting was to promote our high quality Hong Kong-made products to the Chinese mainland. The Shanghai fair is one of the more reputable trading platforms for building technology and this year’s show is bigger than previous years, more organised and boasts stronger visitor attendance. The fair is a good marketing platform to connect with a number of distributors, as well as targeted visitors in the fields of architecture and construction.”

The fair is also popular amongst newer participants. Newcomer Ms Jane Lee, Marketing Manager at AMX Asia Ltd, commented: “My first impression of the show was positive as the scale is relativeybig. I was particularly impressed with the amount of visitors at the
show. A very large portion of the visitors were professional and showed strong interest in our company’s products. Overall, we
have benefited a lot from the show.”

Visitors were impressed with exhibitors’ comprehensive product and technology displays. Mr Jim Wu, Marketing Manager at WinSafe Technologies (Shanghai) Co Ltd, said: “This is my first time here sourcing smart home products and solutions. Our company is a leading provider of commodity management solutions and we are looking into the smart home market as it is a sector with high growth potential. I must say the overall arrangement of the fair is very professional and there are many good quality exhibitors presenting a wide variety of products. I’m gaining a lot from this visit and have a better understanding about the market trends.”

Even overseas visitors are attracted to the fair. Mr Fabio Toledo, Chief Technology Officer of Clever Planet in Brazil, stated: “This is our first time at the show and we are very impressed with the collection and quality of the exhibitors, as well as the products they have displayed. The exhibitors at the show are very kind and hospitable. We were able to source from a number of potential business partners and we expect to connect with more business partners in the remaining days of the fair.”

Concurrent events on intelligent building and smart home development prove popular

One for the unique aspects of the fair was the strong line up of events that were held alongside the fair. During the show’s first two days, 13 forums and seminars covering more than 60 different topics were held. All fair attendees had the opportunity to meet leading industry experts and discuss the latest trends and most pressing issues facing the region. Some of the noteworthy seminars and forums included:

•    2014 Modular Data Centres and Cabling Forum
•    Intelligent Building Systems Design and Smart City Forum
•    Energy Performance Contracting Technical Forum
•    CEDIA Future Trends for Home Technology Forum
•    China Smart Home Industry Alliance Forum

Speaker of the “EnOcean Technical Seminar”, Mr Graham Martin, Chairman & CEO of EnOcean Alliance, commented on the effectiveness of the fair: “The China market is important for us because of the growth potential. We have already collected 10 business cards at the seminar and set up five appointments.”

Speaker of “Intelligent Building Systems Design and Smart City Forum”, Mr Zhang Yonggang, Deputy Director Committee Member of China National Standardization Committee for Digital Techniques of Intelligent Buildings and Residence Communities, shared: “Intelligent buildings and smart cities will be the engine of economic growth. The quality of participants at our forum was very good. You can tell attendees were very interested and the room was almost fully occupied. The forum was very successful.”

Attendee Mr Chen Jianguo, Product Definition Engineer at Shanghai Belling Corp Ltd, added: “I’ve been consecutively visiting the fair for three years. I noticed that the organiser arranges a lot of value-added forums each year featuring influential speakers from government bodies, academe and business sectors to share their insights. This is really a good initiative, as the audience can learn a lot about government policy and market trends. The show is a good platform for the industry players to exchange ideas to eventually enhance industry development.”

The 2014 Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology fair was held in conjunction with ISH Shanghai & CIHE – the Shanghai International Trade Fair for Heating, Ventilation & Air-Conditioning, the Shanghai International Lighting Fair, and the Building and Solar China Conference and Exhibition. Spanning 40,000 sqm and hosting more than 600 exhibitors, these events constitute a comprehensive platform for intelligent building technologies and energy-efficient solutions.

The Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology fair is a part of Messe Frankfurt’s building and energy shows that are headed by the biennial Light + Building event in Frankfurt, which will take place from 13 – 18 March 2016. The show also follows a series of light and building technology events in China, including:

•    Beijing International Building Technology
Spring 2015

•    Guangzhou Electrical Building Technology 
9 – 12 June 2015

•    Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition
9 – 12 June 2015

•    Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology 
23 – 25 September 2015

•    Shanghai International Lighting fair
23 – 25 September 2015

The next edition of Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology fair is scheduled to take place from 23 – 25 September 2015. To find out more information about these events, please visit www.building.messefrankfurt.com.cn or email building@china.messefrankfurt.com.