The Fourth Chengdu Creativity & Design Week Draws to a Successful Close, Bringing New Vitality to the Emerging Creative Economy in Chengdu

New Creative Environment -- Chengdu's Creative Economy Wins High Praise from Global Elites

iF International Forum Design GmbH, known internationally for awarding the annual globally-recognized iF Product Design Awards, officially unveiled its first design center in China, the iF Chengdu Design Center, at the Creative Week's opening ceremony on November 10.

Mr. Ralph Wiegmann, president of iF International Forum Design GmbH, believes that, through this event, Chengdu has released its plan to become a center for the cultural and creative industries in China and for the world. He also thanked the Chengdu municipal government for its proactive and effective efforts to facilitate cooperation and to help iF settle in Chengdu, and expressed the company's willingness to join hands with the city to create a new "capital of design" and work together to reach the pinnacle of creative design.

Mr. Ernst Raue, chairman of the board for iF and former president of Deutsche Messe AG, said: "Chengdu is a paradise for creativity and I am very optimistic about its development in the design field. Chengdu is also a comprehensive platform for creativity, it is an international and open place that shows powerful inclusiveness for many things, especially design. Creativity and design are global hot topics, and Chengdu is also a global hot spot; so in this way we are taking the opportunity to combine the two."

Ms. Laska Tatiana, dean of the Faculty of Arts at St. Petersburg State University, also noted "both the urban facilities and architectural style here in Chengdu are modernized and full of the rich flavors of life, making Chengdu undoubtedly an ideal place for the creative design industry."

As of 2016, about 15,000 cultural and creative corporations have been registered in Chengdu, with a total of about 464,000 employees and generating a total turnover of CNY 261.42 billion (approx. USD 39.44 billion) and a total added value of CNY 63.36 billion (approx. USD 9.558 billion), accounting for 5.2% of the city's GDP. The creative economy has become a new driver for Chengdu's economic growth, a trend which was fully illustrated by this event. The creative economy has also been showing an increasingly more prominent role in the integration of Chengdu's culture, science & technology and economy.

New Opportunity -- The Great Vitality of Chengdu's Emerging Creative Economy

This year's Creative Week was the first to feature an international pavilion, attracting more than 700 creative design agencies from over 20 countries and regions to participate in with the creative design works of nearly 1,000 design masters and cutting-edge designers from China and abroad, greatly widening the horizons of over 155,000 visitors and bringing new ideas for how to develop the new economy in Chengdu.

Mr. Li Ranzhi, general manager of Chengdu LKK Design Company, sees the Creative Week as not only a platform to stimulate brand promotion and deepen industrial cooperation, but also an opportunity for the public to feel the power of cultural creativity. Mr. Li noted, "as Chengdu is a living and breathing city, it is therefore a natural fertile ground for creative industries. Boasting strong cultural heritage, the most suitable business environment for the creative economy, as well as significant attention from the government, creativity has become one of the top business here."

Mr. Yuan Longjun, winner of the "2017 Golden Panda Cultural and Creative Design Award" for industrial creative design, a well-known Chinese commercial designer and general manager of Kuanzhai Food Investment Co., Ltd., believes the combination of creative design, innovative technologies and traditional industries could enhance a product's or a service's cultural value, and ultimately its economic value, resulting in a unique brand, quality and taste. He hopes, through the continuous integration of innovative and industrial fields, that traditional tea customs will become more contemporary and creative, telling more of Chengdu's story and letting the world learn more about Tianfu culture.

New Future -- The Creative Week Boosts the High-quality Development of the New Economy in Chengdu

During the Creative Week, Galileo Global Education, Europe's largest and the world's third largest private education group, announced that four of its world-class cultural innovation education institutes - LISAA, Marangoni, PSB and IESA - have opened branches in Chengdu, creating a Sino-French creative design and innovation platform in Chengdu.

At the Chengdu-North America Summit on the Integrated Development of the Culinary and Creative Industries, a strategic partnership was established among Chengdu, Canada, the United States and Malaysia to strengthen their cooperation in cultural creativity and talent exchanges in the culinary field.

The "Toutiao: Chengdu Creative Design Index" was also released for the first time, with a full interpretation of Chengdu's design index, measuring its cultural and creative capacity, and showcasing the charm of Chengdu, "China's third cultural and creative city". The Index also highlighted the great potential that the Creative Week and the creative design industry have for boosting the high-quality development of the new economy in Chengdu.

The Creative Week was topped off with three main events, the Golden Panda Cultural and Creative Design Award, the Chengdu Creative Design Industry Exhibition and the iF Chengdu International Design Forum, which were held alongside the 3^rd National Copyright Demonstration City Alliance Annual Meeting and the 4^th National Graduate Contest on Smart City Technology and Creative Design. Together with the announcements of major projects such as iF Chengdu Design Center, these events strengthened the Creative Week's platform, which was built on the basis of interconnection and the exchanging of creative economic resources. In this way, the annual Creative Week has become a key service provider of urban innovation and a promoter for industrial cooperation.

SOURCE The Committee Office of Chengdu Creativity & Design Week