CIIE Time Begins: Many Printing Elements Await You to Capture

With the opening ceremony held on the evening of November 4, the third China International Import Expo (hereinafter referred to as the “CIIE”) officially raised its curtain. Old and new friends gathered for the “CIIE appointment”. More than 2,600 exhibiting companies from all over the world brought many new products, new technologies and new services to the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), which also attracted 39 domestic trading delegations, nearly 600 sub-delegations, 112,000 registered units and 400,000 “professional visitors” to come and negotiate deals, among which Fortune Global 500 companies and leading enterprises in various industries were well represented.

Looking back on the extraordinary journey of the previous two editions, the CIIE delivered an impressive report card to the world. The seamlessly connected year-round exhibition and trading space and the continuously spilling-over CIIE effect made the world marvel all the more at the “never-ending” scenery of the CIIE. What exactly are the highlights of the much-watched CIIE? And which of them are worth the attention of printing people?

Large in scale, high in quality, new in creativity

Despite the impact of unfavorable factors such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, companies from all countries were enthusiastic about exhibiting, and the total exhibition area of the third CIIE was nearly 30,000 square meters larger than the previous edition. This edition set up six major exhibition areas — food and agricultural products, automobiles, technical equipment, consumer goods, medical equipment and healthcare, and trade in services — and newly added four special zones for public health and epidemic prevention, energy conservation and environmental protection, smart travel, and sporting goods and events. The contracted area of several exhibition areas exceeded the planned area;

The average exhibition area of Fortune Global 500 companies and leading industry enterprises increased by 14% over the previous edition. Many companies brought new products, new technologies and new services for global premieres and China debuts, and nearly 100 companies signed up to exhibit at the next three CIIEs; the medical equipment and healthcare area was particularly busy, with the newly established public health and epidemic prevention zone expanding to six times the planned area. What the CIIE trades is goods and services; what it exchanges is culture and ideas. On the evening of the 4th, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum was held in an online plus offline format, and focusing on the theme “Working Together to Meet Challenges, Opening Up and Cooperating to Share the Future”, it discussed global economic and trade cooperation under routine epidemic prevention and control.

Printing elements blended in

How could new technologies and new products be without printing people? It is reported that Brother Industries, Ltd., Mitsubishi, Canon, Honeywell... and other familiar companies were among those exhibiting at this CIIE, and several companies were already “three-edition veterans”!

--Brother Printing at the Third CIIE

Since its founding in 1908, the Brother Group has been committed to developing its own proprietary technologies. Today it provides Brother products and services to customers in a wide range of fields including communication and printing equipment, electronic stationery, household sewing machines, industrial sewing machines, industrial machinery, industrial components, communication karaoke systems, marking equipment and digital printing systems.

At this CIIE, based on the needs of the Chinese market and users, Brother carefully selected a series of products it is proud of, covering the Group's main product lines: printers, all-in-one printers, label makers, scanners, household sewing machines, embroidery machines, laser coding machines, high-fidelity audio and more, using the technical strength accumulated over more than 110 years to bring more new products and new solutions to Chinese customers.

--Konica Minolta's “identity change” shows its strength

From a document output service provider at the first CIIE to an exhibitor at this CIIE, on site you will feel the strong strength of Konica Minolta digital printing in every respect. As a world-leading digital integrated value-added service provider, Konica Minolta's booth takes “Digital Interconnection, Dreaming Together with Intelligence” as its theme, fully displaying and introducing Konica Minolta's business and products in China. Through five major zones — “Creativity Changes the World”, “Smart Connected Space”, “Smart Efficient Printing”, “Smart Creative Manufacturing” and “Smart Beneficial Healthcare” — it builds a brand-new multi-dimensional digital workspace, offering visitors an immersive experience.

--Fujifilm, an “old face”, makes a “new appearance”

At the first and second CIIEs, Fujifilm took “NEVER STOP” as its theme and presented its diversified image in fields such as healthcare, high-performance materials, optoelectronics, electronic imaging and graphic arts, receiving a cumulative total of about 45,000 visitors. Many products signed cooperation intentions, and some cooperation has already been put into practice.

As an “old face” participating in the CIIE for the third consecutive time, this year, in addition to continuing to bring the latest products from multiple fields, Fujifilm also set up a new “Anti-Epidemic Zone” inside its booth in response to the COVID-19 context, displaying the cutting-edge technologies and services with which Fujifilm contributed to the global fight against the pandemic.

Among them, the genetic testing kit for COVID-19, the “SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR Detection kit”, made its first appearance in China. The kit uses the PCR detection method and, drawing on the knowledge and technology accumulated by Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical in testing, improves efficiency at each stage of the reverse transcription reaction and real-time PCR, shortening the reaction time by a total of 90 minutes. Combined with new RNA extraction kits developed by other companies, this product can shorten the time for COVID-19 testing by PCR from the original about 4-6 hours to about 2 hours.

--Canon focuses on showcasing its medical business

Canon's focus at this year's CIIE was on its healthcare-related business areas, hoping to take the rare opportunity of this exhibition to fully demonstrate Canon's strength and achievements in the medical equipment field. Through the CIIE platform, Canon let more people realize that it not only makes cameras but also has a very professional medical business: star products in medical equipment, a number of smart healthcare solutions, and many technological achievements in the field of “AI + medical imaging”. In addition to the medical field, Canon also brought the EOS R5 full-frame mirrorless camera that supports 8K video shooting. It is reported that this product has won an unprecedented market response since its release. In addition, the “Smart Workspace Solution” intelligent IT solution released not long ago was also exhibited at the CIIE.

It is reported that Canon is, while consolidating its advantageous B2C business, further strengthening its investment in China in existing B2B fields such as office and broadcasting/film professional imaging equipment, as well as four emerging business areas: commercial printing, network cameras, healthcare and industrial equipment.

--Epson makes a heavyweight appearance with six major zones

As a globally renowned manufacturer, Seiko Epson Corporation of Japan announced its participation for the first time this year, setting up six major display zones that present more than 30 innovative solutions in detail from different dimensions such as smart factories, smart new retail, smart education, smart healthcare and smart light and shadow.

At this CIIE, Epson exhibited the PaperLab dry fiber paper recycling system in China for the first time. The system needs only three steps to turn office waste paper into reusable new paper, and can customize paper of different thickness, shape, color and size. The system can save more than 7,500 tons of precious water resources a year, avoid felling 84 large trees and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3.8 tons. In addition, it can remove ink and toner from paper and completely fiberize the paper. The entire process is completed through internal circulation, completely eliminating the risk of leakage of document-related information caused by external contact links and ensuring information security.

In response to the surge in demand for online education in China after the pandemic, Epson also brought an ink tank printer featuring cold print technology and a WeChat mini-program printing solution, which can meet users' needs for printing study materials at home.

--Packaging giant Amcor continues to protect every day

This year, Amcor once again appeared at the CIIE. Under the theme “Continuing to Protect Every Day”, it brought more than 300 diverse and innovative packaging products from its three business units to meet Chinese audiences. Continuing the presentation format of Amcor Shop 2019 at last year's CIIE, this year Amcor's booth was upgraded to Amcor Shop 2020. Through the form of a premium experience store, from five perspectives — protecting quality of life, protecting healthy life, protecting technological life, protecting green life and the Amcor Index — it exhibited the innovative packaging products of Amcor China's three business units — food packaging, healthcare packaging and new materials packaging — in fields such as food and beverage, personal care, home care, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, functional films and sustainable development.

--Sinar Mas Group lights up the CIIE with digitalization

A greener and smarter stage, viewing the CIIE online, cloud interactive experience... These were the highlights brought by Sinar Mas Group APP at this year's CIIE. As the wave of the digital economy sweeps the world, Sinar Mas Group APP is also actively embracing digital transformation. Appearing at the CIIE for the third time, in many aspects from its exhibiting philosophy to its booth design it incorporated the Group's digital development strategy and core concepts such as green environmental protection and sustainable operation.

--Intangible cultural heritage printing techniques appear at the exhibition

In the “Intangible Cultural Heritage and Time-Honored Brands” zone of this CIIE, Wenzhou City had four “intangible cultural heritage” items and one “time-honored brand” product taking part in the on-site display of the “Cultural Exchange Activities”. Wenzhou's world intangible cultural heritage “wooden movable type printing” and the national-level intangible cultural heritages “boxwood carving” and “Taishun string puppet theater” took part in the Zhejiang intangible cultural heritage display. At the site, “wooden movable type printing” gave live performances of movable type carving techniques and interactive experiences of the ancient printing method, while “Taishun string puppet theater” gave live puppet performances.

--Students from printing colleges serve at the event

To better hold this CIIE, not only did companies make full efforts, but colleges and universities in the printing industry also took active action. From volunteers to related preparatory work, they all participated actively and tirelessly. It is understood that since late September, more than 30 volunteers began pre-exhibition services at the badge-making center of the third China International Import Expo. These volunteers are students from Shanghai Publishing and Printing College, responsible for making all kinds of related badges for this CIIE. After practical training they took up their posts, and the volunteers have become proficient in the production workflow, able to produce thousands of badges per day.

In such a “turbulent” overall environment, this was an “unusual” CIIE and an even rarer global gathering. The “old and new friends” of the CIIE pulled out all the stops and showed their best skills, with “global premieres and China debuts” coming one after another, and exhibits and services reflecting world-class standards. The exhibition is still underway — more creativity and “black technologies” are waiting for you to explore! More printing elements are waiting for you to capture!

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-357033.html