On the afternoon of December 8, 2025, the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association held a 2026 work retreat. The meeting focused on exchanging and summarizing the Association's major work during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and discussing work ideas for the convention and exhibition industry in 2026. Leaders from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Pudong New Area Exhibition Industry Promotion Center and the Qingpu District Commission of Commerce attended the meeting.
The meeting was chaired by Tu Jianqing, Deputy Party Secretary and Secretary-General of the Association. More than 40 heads of relevant government departments and convention and exhibition enterprises attended.
Sang Jingmin, Deputy Party Secretary and President of the Association, reported on the Association's main work during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and its work ideas for 2026.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, under the leadership of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government and the guidance of relevant departments, the Association worked with member organizations to overcome difficulties and build a solid foundation for Shanghai as an international exhibition capital.
Over the past five years, the Association focused on enhancing international influence and continued to build the brand of the International Exhibition Industry CEO Shanghai Summit, attracting nearly 2,000 leading industry figures from 20 countries. During the 2025 summit, Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met with some important foreign guests. At the same time, the Association expanded global cooperation networks through both going global and bringing in, deepened cooperation with international organizations such as UFI, IAEE and SISO, and injected sustained momentum into Shanghai's development as an international exhibition capital with global influence.
In serving national strategies, the Association fully supported the China International Import Expo. It mobilized nearly one hundred member organizations to cover full-chain support, promoted the transformation of international organizers into exhibitors, and held supporting events to optimize the industry environment. It also led the establishment of the Yangtze River Delta Exhibition Alliance and jointly built a research institute to support regional coordinated development.
In cultivating excellent brands, the Association carried out the selection of Shanghai branded exhibitions and outstanding exhibitions for two consecutive years to establish industry benchmarks. This guided exhibition projects to improve professionalism, branding and internationalization, while also providing a basis for related policy formulation and support measures.
In legal and business-environment development, the Association participated in drafting the Shanghai Exhibition Industry Regulations and the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Serving the China International Import Expo and carried out legal publicity. Together with the Shanghai Bar Association, it released model texts for participation contracts and venue lease contracts. Through multiple seminars, it reflected industry demands and promoted solutions to pain points such as security and approval procedures.
The Association has always regarded safety and green development as two cornerstones of high-quality industry development. Around key issues of safe production, it organized exhibition safety salons and safety production management exchange meetings. It released the group standard Requirements for Green Exhibition Operation and Management and held theme salons such as paper exhibition tools leading a new trend of green exhibitions and exhibition safety empowering green exhibition development, continuously guiding the industry toward a green, low-carbon and sustainable path.
Facing the impact of the epidemic, the Association always stood with member enterprises. It actively reduced burdens and provided relief, reducing or exempting membership fees by more than RMB 4.9 million. It also reported the industry's urgent appeals to the municipal government, the Ministry of Commerce and even the State Council, proposed relief policies, and formulated prevention and control guidelines to support the resumption of exhibitions.
In addition, the Association actively undertook and completed government-commissioned research projects with high quality, built a monitoring system for key enterprises and provided professional support for policy formulation and regional development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, it continued qualification certification for display engineering enterprises, with 241 qualified enterprises now recognized; held more than 35 talent training sessions, with more than 800 people certified; recorded the course of the industry by continuously and systematically compiling the Shanghai Exhibition Industry Development Report; and established a normalized mechanism for member development and optimization, reaching 564 effective members covering the whole industry chain. The Association maintained its 5A social organization rating, was selected as a Shanghai branded social organization and one of the top 100 social organizations, and received the title of Shanghai Advanced Social Organization.
In 2026, Shanghai will enter the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, a key period for the city's exhibition industry to move toward higher quality and higher capacity. The principal leaders of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government attach great importance to the development of the industry and have pointed out the way forward. The Association will plan development from a higher standpoint, advance work with more practical measures, and tackle difficulties with stronger joint effort, fully firing the first shot for high-quality development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Key Work Ideas for 2026
First, benchmark against international first-class standards and lead high-quality development of Shanghai's exhibition industry. Based on Shanghai's strategic positioning as a center for economy, finance, trade, shipping and scientific and technological innovation, the Association will promote industry upgrading with an international perspective and drive the strategic transformation from scale expansion to value leadership. It will implement the dual-wheel drive of bringing in and going global. On one hand, it will increase efforts to attract international exhibitions and conferences and strive to bring more renowned international projects and professional institutions to Shanghai. On the other hand, it will support independent branded exhibitions in steadily expanding to emerging markets such as Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, improve international operating capability and industry discourse power, and achieve the integration of going global and taking root. It will continue to build the International Exhibition Industry CEO Shanghai Summit into an international industry brand and a strategic platform with global resource allocation functions.
Second, promote green exhibition development and lead sustainable industry development. The Association will deeply implement the concept of green development, focus on promoting and applying the group standard Requirements for Green Exhibition Operation and Management, and establish a green exhibition evaluation system covering the entire chain of exhibition planning, booth construction, venue operation and logistics transportation.
Third, focus on deep integration of digital exhibitions and empower innovation and upgrading. The Association will actively embrace digital transformation, encourage organizers to use digital tools to help exhibitors reduce participation costs, and use intelligent matching systems to improve negotiation efficiency so that enterprises can travel less and close more deals.
Fourth, promote the integration of commerce, tourism, culture, sports and exhibitions to strengthen the industrial foundation of the international exhibition capital. To comprehensively improve Shanghai's carrying capacity and industrial driving power as an international exhibition capital, the Association will promote deep integration and coordinated development across business, tourism, culture, sports and exhibitions.
Fifth, optimize member services and build a warm home for members. The Association will continue to optimize branded projects such as the selection of Shanghai branded exhibitions and the qualification certification of display engineering enterprises, enhancing their industry credibility and added value. It will continue to hold high-quality theme salons, policy briefings and resource matchmaking activities.
Sixth, strengthen self-construction and build a professional and efficient service team. The Association will optimize workflows and improve operating efficiency; strengthen the development of exhibition talent and cultivate compound professionals; establish and improve the exhibition statistics and monitoring system to provide data support for government decision-making and industry development; and, under Party-building leadership, continue to promote deep integration of Party-building and business work, strengthen integrity and self-discipline, and provide solid support for members and the sustained healthy development of the industry with a more standardized, efficient and professional image.
The meeting also announced that the 2026 International Exhibition Industry CEO Shanghai Summit has been officially scheduled for June 15-17, 2026 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center Shanghai.
Tang Guifa, Party Secretary of the Association, fully affirmed the format of the work retreat, saying it would build an important communication bridge between government and enterprises. It was especially valuable that the guests were C-level executives from key exhibition enterprises in the city. He expected them to focus precisely on pain points and difficulties in Shanghai's exhibition industry, exchange candidly, pool wisdom and propose constructive suggestions based on their unique understanding of industry development.
Representatives of participating enterprises shared views based on their development realities, focusing on expanding increment, client sources and tracks; optimizing operations, services and supporting facilities; and improving more professional and higher-quality services.
Gong Kangkang, Managing Director of Informa Markets Management Shanghai, shared practical experience and thoughts around expanding increment, client sources and tracks. For incremental growth, she proposed stabilizing the existing base while breaking through with new growth: deepening existing markets, innovating exhibition operation models, breaking industry boundaries and optimizing the profit structure by cultivating non-booth revenue. For client expansion, she suggested both actively connecting with overseas exhibitors and using technology to improve efficiency and service experience. For new tracks, she emphasized integration and implementation: promoting deep integration of business formats and turning technologies such as AI and robotics into practical commercial products.
Zhang Xueqiang, General Manager of Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co., Ltd., shared development insights and targeted suggestions. He predicted that industry growth in 2026 would be relatively stable without major fluctuations, and that phased slowing during growth is normal in the industry cycle. Even during adjustment, enterprises should identify potential opportunities. Sinoexpo will continue mergers and integration, actively expand diversified tracks such as conferences, sports events and festivals, and strengthen employee professional training to consolidate core competitiveness.
Liu Guoliang, General Manager of Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai, shared differentiated breakthrough ideas based on the company's 2025 operations and the industry's adjustment period. For incremental growth, he proposed deepening existing core exhibitions, optimizing content systems, upgrading service quality and strengthening customer value, while also promoting geographic expansion and model export for strong exhibitions, replicating mature IP operation experience and standardized service systems in potential regions. For client sources, the number of international buyers at Hannover Milano's exhibitions steadily recovered this year, mainly due to deep AI empowerment through intelligent tools for precise international client profiling, demand matching and efficient outreach. For new tracks, the company is trying to move beyond traditional exhibition series and create diversified themed exhibition formats, while adopting a cautious M&A strategy focused on emerging fields such as new energy and the digital economy.
Sha Yiwen, President of Messe Muenchen Shanghai in China, shared his judgment on 2026 industry trends and key corporate strategies. He noted that market consumption behavior has become more cautious, with more decision concerns among enterprises and consumers, and that consumption downgrading trends are gradually emerging. He is cautiously optimistic about 2026 and expects the macroeconomy to maintain low-speed growth. His three core responses are refined management focused on core business and key operations, pragmatic application of AI as a tool before exploring new AI-driven business models, and deeper brand extension and data value mining to develop new profit growth through data-derived services.
Yu Guang, General Manager of Messe Frankfurt Shanghai, shared the company's 2025 performance highlights and transformation ideas. Messe Frankfurt achieved steady progress in 2025. Facing a new stage of industry development, it will shift from scale orientation to value orientation, build an industry ecosystem hub around resource integration and value co-creation, deepen integration of the digital economy and the exhibition industry, improve visitor convenience and participation value through digital technology, and strengthen conference services to meet core needs such as industry information exchange, trend analysis and cooperation matchmaking.
Pan Xiao, Vice President of NuernbergMesse China, shared reflections and industry needs based on the company's experience in small and medium-sized niche exhibitions. She emphasized that the rapid pace of industry iteration and technology application places dynamic demands on talent capabilities, and that enterprises should actively explore an exhibition plus conference integration model, which is essential for mining deep value in niche fields.
Li Jia, Deputy General Manager of Messe Berlin Shanghai, focused on expanding increment, client sources and tracks. For increment, Messe Berlin takes stability and quality improvement as the core, consolidates its existing business base, seizes opportunities during the growth of IPB, and aligns with China's inbound tourism strategy. For client sources, it connects with resources in technology, sports, education and other related fields through cross-sector interaction. For new tracks, it promotes high-quality international organization projects in China, cultivates non-exhibition income, optimizes the profit structure and strengthens control of per-capita efficiency.
Peng Chong, General Manager of Shanghai Dena Exhibition Service Co., Ltd., shared breakthrough ideas based on IWF fitness exhibition's niche track. IWF expands increment through a national membership network, short-video and new-media matrices, high-end forum IP and large fitness event ecosystems. For client sources, it uses data-driven live-streaming traffic and overseas promotion platforms with country-specific targeting. For new tracks, it focuses on upgrading into smart fitness and actively laying out cross-border expansion.
Xu Ting, Director of Shanghai Huamo Exhibition Service Co., Ltd., shared innovation practices oriented toward creating core value for clients. Huamo uses an O2O model to upgrade B2B operations, achieving deep online-offline integration and reconstructing service links. Key measures include content-driven full-channel client acquisition, precise social media operations, strengthened offline resource linkage with industrial parks and associations, and targeted invitations to high-quality group users using big-data profiles.
Wang Rong, General Manager of Shanghai Jingqiao Exhibition Service Co., Ltd., said the company's revenue grew steadily in 2025. She attributed this to a strategy centered on improving professionalism and shared five practices: following national strategic direction and focusing on emerging industries and policy-supported fields; innovating service models and creating diversified scenario-based exhibition experiences; promoting vertical integration across upstream and downstream resources; combining global expansion with local deep cultivation; and strengthening organizational drive and technology empowerment to improve operational efficiency and service precision.
Yang Yunbo, General Manager of Comexposium Shanghai, introduced recent milestones: the world's largest professional medical aesthetics conference was launched in 2025, and a Paris B2C flagship medical aesthetics exhibition for 2027-2028 is being prepared. The company will promote deep integration between Shanghai's medical aesthetics exhibition brand and the international market.
Gu Yan, General Manager of Messe Duesseldorf Shanghai, shared development ideas and industry suggestions based on cross-border operating advantages. She emphasized that efficient capital allocation is the core of business, and that Messe Duesseldorf Shanghai will continue to serve as a bridge among foreign investment, the Chinese market and headquarters. She noted that although the exhibition industry is relatively traditional, application of new technologies is crucial for transformation and quality improvement.
Wang Chunlei, Dean of the School of Exhibition and Communication at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, shared thoughts on talent cultivation and industry empowerment from the perspective of the exhibition education professional committee. He noted that the industry's 2.0 transformation is deepening and offered six suggestions: strengthen the advantages of Shanghai universities in research participation; activate the role of decision-consulting bases; tell Shanghai's exhibition story well and highlight the social value and charm of exhibition enterprises; deepen university-enterprise cooperation and build a closed loop between talent cultivation and employment; actively hold industry competitions as talent incubation platforms; and build diversified exchange channels to share experience.
Meng Yining, General Manager of Shanghai Technology Convention and Exhibition Co., Ltd., shared the company's diversified development strategy. The company follows a strategy of compound business formats and multiple scenarios, strengthens the influence of exhibitions in the core technology field, makes branded event operation an important growth pole, and deepens digital technology in the full process of exhibition planning and operation. From the perspective of talent cultivation, she suggested that enterprises build internal growth channels and encourage core employees to deepen engagement in the technology fields their exhibitions focus on. As director of the Association's conference activities professional committee, she suggested strengthening promotion and incentives for exhibition and conference brands, establishing a government coordinating body for conference management, and maintaining the original purpose of conferences amid the impact of new media.
Zheng Yusheng, General Manager of the Operation Center of National Exhibition and Convention Center Shanghai, analyzed industry trends from the venue operation perspective and proposed seven strategies under structural reshaping: enlarge the core exhibition scale and integrate exhibitions with distinctive activities and festivals; improve service quality and venue facilities; work with relevant departments to optimize exhibition approval processes; integrate upstream and downstream resources to lower costs for logistics, construction and catering; advance information technology at the venue; amplify exhibition economic spillover effects through transport, accommodation and commerce linkages; and build an exhibition ecosystem connecting exhibitors, service providers and industry associations.
Zheng Luyi, partner at Shanghai Huizhan Information Technology Co., Ltd., made practical suggestions around better serving Shanghai's overall development: deepen the going global plus bringing in strategy, connect with international exhibition organizations and emerging domestic industry clusters, optimize the ecology for cultivating small exhibitions, strengthen talent cultivation through competitions, and upgrade digital services by expanding the Shanghai Exhibition Butler mini program.
Li Hong, second-level inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, summarized the meeting. She first affirmed the positive format and results of the year-end retreat, saying it provided an important exchange platform and was marked by precise topics, direct attention to pain points and joint discussion of solutions, fully reflecting the value of government-enterprise communication.
Regarding Shanghai's exhibition industry in 2025, she said the overall development of the city's exhibition industry showed three prominent features as competent departments continued to encourage innovation in exhibition formats: internationalization continued to improve, with steady increases in UFI-certified exhibitions and top 100 commercial exhibitions; integration of exhibitions and industries achieved notable results, with balanced structures among industrial, consumer and comprehensive exhibitions and strong performance by distinctive themes such as pets, cultural creativity and elderly care; and exhibition models continued to innovate, as Shanghai's inclusive and open exhibition environment encouraged enterprises to explore and practice.
For 2026, Shanghai will target the peak exhibition area of 2019 while also working to raise venue utilization across the market. The Municipal Commission of Commerce will remain centered on industry development and work closely with the industry association and exhibition enterprises to promote prosperity. It will act from three ends. On the venue side, it will improve exhibition efficiency, control event costs, optimize venue-organizer collaboration, make event procedures list-based, transparent and predictable, and help venues improve services and infrastructure. On the market side, it will expand incremental space, encourage subsidiaries of foreign-funded enterprises to introduce mature overseas exhibitions from headquarters, practice the strategy of attracting foreign investment through foreign enterprises, deepen exhibition-industry integration, strengthen international advantages and increase the proportion of overseas exhibitors and buyers as well as recognition from international organizations. On the service side, it will continue the principle of generally not intervening unless necessary, optimize the business environment, institutionalize policy subsidies step by step, refine service content, enrich the policy toolbox, upgrade the Shanghai Exhibition Butler mini program and improve convenience for organizing and visiting exhibitions.
For future high-quality development, Li Hong raised three expectations. First, strengthen publicity for the functions of the exhibition industry and look beyond exhibitions themselves, using social platforms and new media to conduct positive promotion. Second, encourage exhibition enterprises to unite and cooperate, jointly maintain a rational, dynamic industry ecology and business environment, regulate market behavior through market means and improve industry self-discipline. Third, focus on the goals of the 15th Five-Year Plan and continue raising the capacity of Shanghai as an international exhibition capital.
Finally, Li Hong expressed the hope that enterprises would give Shanghai more trust, greater investment and more practical action, and that government and enterprises would work together to promote high-quality development of Shanghai's exhibition industry.
For more images and information, please visit the corresponding Association WeChat article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/tWoLu42oyOP9CZP-dRca-g