Speed measures how fast an object is moving, whereas acceleration how much the speed of an object changes during a specified period of time. Born in 1992, Appliances & electronics World Expo (AWE) took only 25 years to catch up with established global exhibitions that have a history of more than half a century. This speed is amazingly fast. Always trying to improve, AWE paced up, changing from a biennial event to an annual one, while expanding its portfolio from home appliances to include more technology fields to witness technological changes and foresee industry directions. This is AWE’s accelerated speed.
With the skyrocketing rise of China’s economy and a steady improvement of people’s living standard in the last two decades, China has grown to be the innovation forefront of global home appliance and consumer electronics industry. AWE, the largest show of this field in China, has witnessed this progress as it evolves from a follower to a leader.
Becoming one of the top three global home appliances and consumer electronics shows, a match of IFA and CES, AWE plays a big part in boosting global technology development and changes. With an increased scale year by year, it gains the recognition of more and more industry heavyweights, which builds up its global influence at a steady pace.
AWE, a match of world-leading technology shows
The three-day AWE 2017 ended with a success at Shanghai New International Expo Center on 11 March 2017. With 8 exhibition halls covering an area of 110,000 square meters, AWE 2017 embraced more than 200,000 audiences at home and abroad, a year-on-year rise of 22%, of which 8% were overseas industry insiders from 62 countries and regions of 6 continents. Of AWE 2017’s overseas audiences, 28.71% came from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, 49.01% Asia and 11.09% Europe. A diversified audience base is a demonstration of AWE’s increased global influence. Through them, AWE exhibits the fruitful results of China’s industry upgrading and transformation to the world.
At AWE 2017, Karsten Ottenberg, Chairman of the board and Chief Executive of BSH Home Appliances Group, and Kazuhiro Tsuga, President of Panasonic, came as visitors. China’s industry players have long been learning from their western counterparts. But now, things have changed: more and more foreign enterprises come to AWE to take a look at China’s technology and innovation progress. What AWE 2017 presented has been reported onsite by more than 30 mainstream overseas media from nearly 20 countries, including the UK, the US, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
AWE 2018 is expected to house more than 800 exhibitors including industry heavyweights such as Haier, Midea, Samsung, LG, BSH, Whirlpool, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and Philips, with a scope encompassing home appliances, consumer electronics, digital products, communication products, smart homes, smart applications, cloud platforms, black technologies, commercial appliances and products from related industry chains. What’s worth noticing is that, more and more global enterprises are attracted to AWE as exhibitors including Intel and Tesla.
Leading new trends, AWE accelerates its growth
AWE is a platform for enterprises to not only flex their muscles, but also showcase their culture, brand, products, technology, people and visions. As AWE draws more and more attention of media and enterprises at home and abroad, many enterprises use it as an opportunity to expose their brand images. At AWE 2017, hundreds of brands released their new products, technologies or strategies, which, coupled with celebrity endorsement, added more fun and cultural touch to this technology show.
An emphasis on interaction and involvement was a highlight of AWE 2017, with food offered by invited chefs using signature products of kitchen appliance makers, free drinks at sponsored water bars of water purifier enterprises and splendid shows to attract audiences to linger. At AWE, audiences not only get to experience cutting-edge products and technologies, but also to immerse themselves into smart future life scenarios.
Home appliance and consumer electronics industry is ushering into a new era with the progress and application of new generation information technologies such as mobile internet, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. To look into industry trends and advanced technologies, AWE 2017 threw a number of summits and forums, bringing together renowned experts, scholars and industry heavyweights to shed light on industry development.
After 20 years of evolvement, AWE has grown to be a super platform designed for the showcasing and advancement of technology, and the integration of global resources. Our memory of AWE 2017 is still vivid, while AWE 2018 is just around the corner, with all projects under busy preparation. It is learned that AWE 2018 will explore the industry trends from the perspectives of “new idea, new technology, new trends, new authority and new life”.
According to AWE Organizing Committee, AWE 2018 is set to open at Shanghai New International Expo Center on March 8-11, 2017, with a record-setting 10 exhibition halls covering an exhibition area of 130,000 square meters, and an estimated 250,000 visitors. These figures reflect AWE’s increased global influence and the strengthened power of China’s home appliance industry.
With no doubt, AWE has become a world-leading exhibition by recognition, scale and influence in leading industry development. Compared to CES, born in 1967, and IFA, born in 1924, AWE took only 25 years to catch up. This is AWE’s speed, also the “China speed” of China’s home appliance and consumer electronics industry.