CIFTIS Shows Charm of Professional Intelligence

By Lily Wang

The 2022 CIFTIS （China International Fair for Trade in Services） was held in Beijing from August 31 to September 5. As the worlds only state-hosted， international and comprehensive platform for trade in services， this years CIFTIS outperformed last year in terms of the exhibition space and number of exhibiting companies. The international coverage of the event has further increased， covering 27 of the worlds top 30 countries and regions in trade in services. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic， CIFTIS has become a great event for Chinas increasing opening-up and international cooperation， and is also a platform for both Chinese and foreign enterprises to have business discussions and seek further cooperation.

Highlight the low-carbon and environmental concept

From green energy saving printers， power generation facilities with low carbon emissions and fast-charging intelligent piles， the attendees can feel the low-carbon concept almost everywhere at the CIFTIS.

According to the classification standard of the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the WTO， “environmental services” is one of the 12 major areas of trade in services. This years CIFTIS set up a special exhibition on environmental services in the second area of the National Convention Center. With the theme of “Dual carbon empowering and reinvigorating the power of innovation”， five special zones were set up， including for low-carbon energy， the climate and carbon economy， carbon neutrality and green technology， creating a “dual carbon” demonstration city， and the environmental protection industry， in order to showcase the latest achievements and technology applications in the field of global environmental services.

In the environmental service exhibition zone， Sinopec displayed a comprehensive energy station model integrating“oil， gas， hydrogen， electric service” and“carbon neutralization” to show the future transformation direction of gas stations.“We attach great importance to the platform of CIFTIS， and hope to take this opportunity to show the public the latest achievements of Sinopec in green development practices， and the green economy and trade.” A representative of Sinopec explained that： “the theme of this years exhibition is ‘creating cooperation and innovation in environmental services for the future. The layout of the exhibition area will highlight the ‘dual carbon element， and the scientific and technological interaction will become more attractive for the audience.”

The National Institute of Clean and Low-carbon Energy of CHN Energy brought samples of energy storage technology applications， including the prototype of a 5 kilowatt miniaturized high power density liquid flow battery stack， a 50 kilowatt lithium electric energy storage converter， and a high-temperature thermal energy storage system to the CIFTIS. In the context of Chinas accelerated development of renewable energy， advancing the development of new energy storage technology is conducive to smoothing the volatility of renewable energy power generation and ensuring that there is a stable power supply. According to the staff， in addition to demonstrating the application achievements of energy storage technology， the institute will also show the new progress of CHN Energy in zero carbon power systems， low-carbon industrial development， low-carbon utilization of fossil resources， and other fields at the CIFTIS.

The exhibition stand of the State Power Investment Corporation in the comprehensive exhibition area of the National Convention Center displayed a “black box”. According to Lu Anjian， Director of the Legal and Commercial Department of the group， this “black box” is the “hydrogen teng ” FCS80 fuel cell system： “The system inputs hydrogen fuel and emits water. Compared with traditional fossil energy vehicles， hydrogen-powered buses equipped with‘hydrogen teng batteries can reduce 70 kg of carbon dioxide emissions for every 100 kilometers traveled. During the Beijing Winter Olympics this year， hydrogen buses equipped with such batteries successfully completed the transportation guarantee work.”

In the second area of the National Convention Center， adjacent to the green and environment exhibition area， is the provincial， prefecture and city exhibition areas， which focus on displaying the new achievements of green innovation and development of local gov- ernments. “The environmental themed exhibition area is close to the provincial， district and city exhibition area， which can achieve great synergy and interaction between the two exhibition areas，”said Zhang Tong， the project manager of the service trade exhibition team of Capital Exhibition （Group） Co.， Ltd. Each province， prefecture or city can directly express their needs to exhibitors in the environmental service exhibition area， while the latter will provide technical solutions for the formers “dual carbon” goals and implementation path， so as to achieve win-win cooperation.

The miscellaneous exhibited products， including knives， forks， spoons， tissue paper， straws， cups， bicycles and drain pipes， are all made of bamboo. Replacing plastics with bamboo to reduce your carbon footprint is the theme of the exhibition.

The bamboo forest-style exhibition stand of INBAR （International Network for Bamboo and Rattan） is very attractive to the audience. Fu Jinhe， Director of the Department of Hosting Country Affairs of INBAR， said that bamboo is a green， low-carbon， fast-growing， biodegradable biomass material， which can replace plastics in many fields. At present， more than 10，000 kinds of bamboo products have been developed， involving clothing， food， housing， transportation and many other types.

At the exhibition stand of Yingli Gain Solor， several curved building tiles attracted the attention of many visitors：“They are common antique-style tiles， but feature new green power generation facilities including crystalline silicon PV cell technology.” Wang Lerui， brand sales manager of Baoding Gain Solar Technology Co.， Ltd.， described how these tiles can convert solar power into green electricity that meets the needs of a house.

New technology， materials and products displayed at the CIFTIS feature strong elements of greenness and low carbon， exhibiting great opportunities for the industrial development and the innovation power of green and low-carbon technologies.

Show the vitality of digital technology

Nowadays， the concept of the metaverse has attracted lots of attention. The metaverse experience exhibition hall， which was set up for the first time at the CIFTIS， was very popular. There were various exhibitions about digital collections and the metaverse industry chain in the experience hall， which remained busy with visitors throughout the event.

In the metaverse experience exhibition hall， visitors could go online in the exhibition area to visit the iFriend Future Community， Chinas first largescale online communication virtual park， to experience the social communications of the metaverse. Visitors could also look at metaverse exhibitions of “one village， three mountains and five parks”through mobile phones or PC terminals. In the immersive exhibition area of metaverse cultural tourism， virtual digital people， digital immersive and XR immersive virtual technologies also gave visitors the experience of virtual travel through time and space.

At the exhibition area of Dongcheng District， Beijing， a “multi-mode robot dog” became the focus of the exhibition. “Walk， turn and squat”， the robot dog flexibly demonstrates various skills by following commands in front of the audience. At the same time， the multiple lenses and sensors it carries can continuously transmit various types of data which is collected in real time to the cloud.

In terms of digital collections， SIPA brought many IP digital collections. Consumers could scan the code of an SIPA NFT coffee to purchase the drink and also choose a digital painting to collect. At the exhibition venue， many consumers showed great interest in digital collections and purchased the coffee to enjoy the experience.

IMS Group， a platform enterprise focusing on the cyberstar economy， has also launched products related to the metaverse. During the CIFTIS， IMS Group displayed a virtual social communication product based on blockchain technology which was named “Rainbow Universe”.

A representative of IMS Group explained that the Rainbow Universe platform will provide scenarios for digital IP collection， distribution and application， and will also give each player a customized social space.

The industrial metaverse experience empowered by 5G technology is also exciting. At the exhibition stand， Qualcomm displayed the augmented reality （AR） glasses it jointly developed with Realwear. The glasses use AR precision technology to emulate the remote guidance of experts in the vision of front-line workers， demonstrating how to use wearable equipment to solve the last mile problem in Industry 4.0 and digital transformation. Visitors may also use this technology to assemble a coffee machine： when wearing the AR glasses， the manual will appear virtually in the users line of sight. The assembly job can be finished easily in a few steps.

In addition， in order to promote the digital transformation and unleash the power of the digital economy， KPMG and PwC have also promoted digital solutions.

KPMG launched its digital space— KPMG？Lighthouse. It is said that KPMG？Lighthouse is the big data and AI innovation center of KPMG Globe， including the top technology experts and innovation solutions. Based on real-world business scenarios， it detects the digital transformation needs of various sectors， and designs and provides digital solutions for customers in the areas of marketing， risk prevention， financing and operations.

Experience services across the world

More than 400 of the worlds top 500 companies and internationally leading companies attended this years CIFTIS， and the ratio for international participation was higher by 2.4 percentage points from last year.

In the national exhibition area of the 2022 CIFTIS， the 152 sq. m. Italian Pavilion is especially eye-catching. This year， Italy participated in the CIFTIS for the first time. In combination with the 2022 China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism， Italy displayed tourism， art and cultural services， representing the pillars of Italys soft power， and also displayed food services， transportation and logistics， software development and IT services. Mr Gianpaolo Bruno， the Italian Trade Commissioner and Coordinator of ITA Offices in China， said： “The CIFTIS is one of the most important exhibitions in the world. It provides excellent opportunities for Italian enterprises to show their latest innovative services and expand their business in China.”

In the Japan Pavilion， there were different styles of maneki neko ornaments， daruma figurines carved with auspicious words， tableware， food， drinks and cosmetics in various colors. The dazzling array of products were very attractive to visitors， who could directly scan a QR code to place an order on site.

This year also marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and South Korea. South Korea also fully displayed exhibits covering culture， technology and other aspects at the CIFTIS. In the Korean Pavilion， the audience could experience Korean cos-tume photo-taking， take group photos with Korean cartoon dolls， and sit in an eggshell-shaped cabin while wearing VR glasses. Liu Fugen， Economy Minister of the Republic of Korea Embassy in China， said that the South Korea and China are important trade partners. The effective implementation of the RCEP has provided a wider space for the two countries to further deepen economic and trade cooperation. The two countries have also launched the second phase of negotiations regarding a free trade agreement， in the hopes of making closer ties in the field of service trade and investment. “The two countries are negotiating the second phase of the free trade agreement and on high-level service trade and investment liberalization through the negative list model. I believe that after the agreement is reached， it will expand our cooperation in the field of trade in services. I look forward to the early conclusion of the new agreement，” said Liu Fugen.

The UAE participated in the 2022 CIFTIS as the Country of Honor. Its national pavilion focused on the“diversified economy” and displayed its services in airlines， finance， advanced manufacturing and culture. Many wellknown enterprises， including Emirates Airlines， Etihad Airways and First Abu Dhabi Bank， participated in the exhibition. The Swiss national pavilion was divided into three regions， including the static exhibition area of products of Swiss origin， a VIP business negotiation area， and a media promotion area， where Swiss brands and innovation services were displayed for the first time in China. The Norwegian national pavilion highlighted digital solutions， cross-border e-commerce solutions， as well as products and services that reflect the Norwegian lifestyle.

The data shows that there were 71 countries and international organizations setting up exhibitions during this years CIFTIS， which was 13 more than last year. The CIFTIS continues to earn larger global coverage.

The exhibitions on the cloud were also colorful. Liechtenstein set up a cloud exhibition featuring the worlds first diamond stamp， the stamp entitled“international light year” that won the red dot award， and the worlds first laser hollow-carved stamp-China Year of Dragon. The exhibition features various stamps issued since 1912， allowing the participant to feel the charm of the kingdom of stamps by clicking on them with a mouse. The audience were attracted by the many precious stamps and the colorful stories related to them.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pendemic， it was difficult for some countries exhibitors to participate in CIFTIS onsite. Cloud services provided more countries with opportunities to show off their beautiful scenery， culture and characteristic service industries through 3D exhibition booths. Ding Yong said that this years CIFTIS has created a three-dimensional exhibition space which is “online + offline” to present a unique online feast for the audience. A total of 33 countries， including the Netherlands， Austria and Portugal， built national “cloud exhibition halls”with distinctive features and rich content， so that visitors can visit the exhibition sites online anytime and anywhere.

Sheng Qiuping， Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce， said： “as a state-hosted， international and comprehensive large-scale exhibition in the field of trade in services， the CIFTIS will lead the trend in Chinas service consumption， accelerate the recovery and upgrading of consumption， and provide all-round opportunities for enterprises from all countries to actively integrate into Chinas large-scale service market. It will also become a useful platform for Chinese enterprises to make full use of international and domestic markets and resources to organize exhibitions and negotiate business deals.”