NEWS
NEWS IFA Global Markets Opens for Business STATION-Berlin hosts IFA’s China Brand expansion On September 4, IFA Global Markets, the new B2B exhibition space located, for the first time, beyond the Messe grounds at STATION-Berlin, was officially opened in cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese Trade Development Bureau, both sponsors of the China Brand Pavilion at the new venue. IFA Global Markets is exclusively for trade visitors and is open for the first time between September 4 and 7, 2016. The venue offers trade buyers and sellers a central marketplace that brings together suppliers, component manufacturers, OEMs, and their potential customers and partners in the CE and home appliances sectors. Occupying 10,000 square metres of exhibition space, more than 300 exhibitors from countries including China, Denmark, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Taiwan, and Turkey are presenting their latest products and services. Although open to all, the inaugural IFA Global Markets is heavily supported by Chinese brands who are building on the success of the first China Brand Show, which took place at Messe Berlin during IFA 2015. Around 160 Chinese brands are represented at the new China Brand Pavilion at STATION-Berlin - which will no doubt be bursting at the seams in the years ahead. The first speaker at the China Brand Pavilion launch at STATION-Berlin was Wang Guiqing, Vice- President of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME). “China has become the world’s largest market for electronic products and home appliances, accounting for one third of global market sales,” said Guiqing. He listed a number of highly successful Chinese innovators in the CE and Home Appliances markets, including ZTE, Lenovo, Tsinghua Tongfang, BOE, Haier, Hisense, TCL and Changhong. He added that Chinese brands are often leading technological innovation in their respective markets, some investing up to 25% of revenue in R&D. Chinese CE manufacturers collectively applied for 120,000 patents in the area of the Internet of Things alone in 2015, he said. Among a long list of distinguished speakers at the IFA Global Markets launch was Wang Weidong, Minister of the Economic and Commercial Department of the Chinese Embassy in Germany, who noted that over 40% of exhibitors (1,800) at IFA 2016 are from China. He added, however, that there is not enough exhibition space to service growing demand among Chinese brands, and that he was pleased to see the China Brand Pavilion opening in the new IFA Global Markets space. Weidong also discussed the growing opportunity for Chinese brands to learn from their international competitors at IFA. “Only through mutual learning, sharing and communication can we promote further investment in the sector,” he said. Describing the strengthening economic ties between Germany and China, Henner Bunde, Permanent Secretary of the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Research, spoke of the importance of IFA’s latest B2B marketplace. With Berlin also a hotspot for tech start-ups and creative entrepreneurs, he believes that the China Brand Pavilion at Station Berlin will be the perfect opportunity to forge a “bond that will grow into the future.” In addition to Mao Qian, Vice-President of ZTE, and Wang Yuechun, Managing Director of International Department at Changhong, Jens Heithecker, Executive Director of IFA, was also on hand to celebrate the new IFA Global Markets. He noted that when IFA began in 1924, it was a German-only radio trade show, but that it is now the most international market for consumer electronics and household appliances in the world. Reiterating that 40% of IFA exhibitors are from China, Heithecker added that Chinese brands are now a big part of IFA’s growing global success STATION-Berlin Luckenwalder Str. 4-6 10963 Berlin CHINA HAS BECOME THE WORLD’S LARGEST MARKET FOR ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS AND HOME APPLIANCES www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Tuesday 6 th September 2016 5
