This month we get to know better China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center

What was your motivation to join ICCA?

It is widely known that ICCA is one of the leading international organisations in the global international meetings industry and has been dedicated to the holding of meetings and its related aspects such as transportation and accommodation. China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center ("Baima Expo Center") went into service in December 2019, but it has seen success in 32 conferences and exhibitions in 2020, including 12 national-level and eight international-level events, thus standing in the front rank among the nation’s similar exhibition halls. Meanwhile, over 130 authoritative mainstream media and government platforms (for example: www.cctv.com, people.cn, China Economic Net, Xinhua Daily, and the official website of the Circulation Industry Promotion Center) have reported over 1,050 articles about the events held in Baima Expo Center, with over 12 million hits in total. Upon being a member of ICCA, Baima Expo Center will, with the help of this international platform ICCA, redouble its efforts to tap international exhibition resources, maintain close contact, introduce international resources of conferences, meetings and forums, and finally become known to the international exhibition industry.

 

Tell us your story. How did China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center get started?

China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center ("Baima Expo Center") is located in the birthplace of Chinese organic agriculture, Jiangsu Nanjing National Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zone ("Nanjing Agricultural High-tech Zone"). Nanjing Agricultural High-tech Zone was approved by the State Council for construction on November 18, 2019. Meanwhile, Baima Expo Center, as an important carrier for the construction of Nanjing Agricultural High-tech Zone, was officially put into use. Relying on the industrial foundation, strategic planning and environmental advantages of the national agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zone, Baima Expo Center has become an important platform for exhibiting, trading and promoting the national agricultural high-tech achievements. Our mission is to build the expo center into a world-leading agricultural industry exhibition highland. Centering on various exhibitions, forums and training activities in the agricultural industry chain, Nanjing Agricultural High-tech Zone has set up special funds to support the implementation of various projects and provides "One-Stop" exhibition services and city supporting services.

Designed in a scientific way, Baima Expo Center integrates the functions of conference and exhibition, and provides space for the diversified exhibition activities of "Drive conferences with exhibitions; promote exhibitions with conferences". Expo Center Phase I can provide an indoor exhibition area of 20,000 square meters; the conference center covers 3,500 square meters, with more than 30 small and medium-sized meeting rooms. The expo center also provides an outdoor space of 30,000 square meters and 4 characteristic agricultural bases for on-site demonstration, each covering an area of 1,647 acres. Expo Center Phase II is under planning and design, and four additional 10,000 square meters of single exhibition halls will be built. By then, the total indoor display area will be expanded to 60,000 square meters. It provides an ideal space for the holding of innovative agricultural exhibition activities and the transformation of agricultural achievements. It can also meet the needs of diversified activities such as annual company parties, large-scale evening parties, events and customized wedding banquets. 

 

What sets China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center apart?

Firstly, Lishui District has issued favourable exhibition promotion policies and established a guarantee system at three levels, that is, a leading group of exhibition economy, Lishui District Exhibition Office and special guarantee team of major exhibition projects; Nanjing Agricultural High-tech Zone and its leaders have made correct decisions. Secondly, our reliable team has been unremittingly working on innovations and breakthroughs, so China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center has been highly recognised by many authoritative exhibition associations and media. In 2020, it won six honors including "China Convention and Exhibition Star Award", "Golden Finger Award of China's Most Influential Exhibition and Conference Center", "Exhibition Excellence Award of 'Golden Five Star'", "Golden Finger Award of Most Competitive Exhibition Center", "Golden Panda Award of the China Convention and Exhibition Industry - China's Most Influential Exhibition Complex", and "King Award - Excellent Exhibition Complex Venue Award ", and was titled "Demonstration Base of National Special Agricultural Industry Exhibition".

  

What is your favourite success story from your organisation?

With concrete actions, our team has shown that nothing is impossible to a willing mind, even as the world grappled with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. With safety ensured amid the epidemic, 'Lishui Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Zone Seminar' was held in Baima Expo Center on March 24, 2020. Notably, the successful opening of this thousand people conference has opened up the safe resumption of work and business in Chinese exhibition venues. The article titled "Nanjing Lishui safely held 'Thousand People Conference' under strict prevention and control" was selected as one of the "2020 Top Ten News of China's Exhibition Industry".

 

What can we expect to see from China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center in the future?

China Jiangsu Baima Agriculture International Expo Center will drive the sustainable development of the local exhibition industry through the following four channels: transform from an exhibition venue that focuses on "rent collection" to "urban space operation"; transform from an exhibition venue that relies on "flows of people" to "flows of business", empower the realisation of "exhibition + cultural tourism"; transform from an exhibition venue that acts as a "stage" to "platform", boost the effect of exhibition as "window of city"; strengthen the ecology of industry chain, become a stronger and more specialised exhibition platform. In the meantime, we encourage and develop online and green exhibitions, indicating an irresistible trend of the innovative development of the exhibition industry. Last year, Baima Expo Center held the "923 Agricultural Products Live Video Global Festival of E-Commerce". Fifty-seven hosts worked at 48 live rooms for two days. With attention from over 40 million netizens harvested, more than 700 high-quality agricultural products were "sold out in seconds", realising a sales volume of 150 million yuan. The exhibition industry should, in a powerful combination with offline exhibitions, hold online exhibitions in more innovative forms, thus making its diversified development full of endless possibilities.