Powering Industrial Design and Holding “One Competition, One Forum” in Liuzhou, Guangxi

（Written by Xu Junhao / Translated by Jin Liangming）“I look forward to the encounter between industrial design and the old industrial city Liuzhou, and more vitality into the high-quality industrial development of Guangxi,” said Qin Donglin, Director of the Liuzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, on the press conference of the 1st Golden Bauhinia Cup of China-ASEAN Industrial Design Competition in September.

In order to enhance the influence of Liuzhou or even Guangxi towards ASEAN, create a social atmosphere that focuses on design innovation, seeks for talents in industrial design, and promotes industrial transformation and high-quality upgrading and development, Liuzhou will launch “One Competition, One Forum” Initiative in 2020. “One Competition” refers to the 1st Golden Bauhinia Cup of China-ASEAN Industrial Design Competition hosted by the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Liuzhou Municipal People’s Government, which has been launched and is soliciting works. “One Forum” is the 3rd China-ASEAN Industrial Design and Innovation Forum in preparation, which will be held by the ASEAN-China Centre and Liuzhou Municipal People’s Government on November 18, 2020.

The Industrial City needs “an atmosphere of designing and innovating”

Liuzhou is a key industrial town in Guangxi. It has a number of superior enterprises and brand-name products with strong competitiveness and high market share in the domestic and foreign markets, such as LiuGong loaders, Wuling automobiles, Baojun automobiles, automobiles from DFLZM, LMZ toothpaste, Golden Throat Lozenges, and Liuzhou river snail rice noodles, the most influential specialty in Guangxi on social media.

With the steady progress in the economy and society, consumers have a more individualized demand for products with higher quality, and they need the blessing of aesthetics, technology, and culture, as well as industrial designs to create more added value. In this regard, Ni Diaoyang, president of Liuzhou Association of River Snail Rice Noodle, has his own experience. He once found a design company to design the outer packing of his own brand of river snail rice noodle, which doubled the sales of his products and brought huge profits.

Therefore, Liuzhou has also paid more attention to industrial design and proactively seized new opportunities in recent years, taking the lead in promoting the development of the industrial design in Guangxi and making remarkable achievements.

First, an industrial policy system has been built. Since 2018, Liuzhou municipal government has been introducing policy documents to support the development of industrial design every year. Taking the year of 2019 as an example, Liuzhou municipal government printed Several Measures to Accelerate the Development of Industrial Design and An Interim Regulation on the Management of Innovation Voucher for Industrial Design, and Liuzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology printed Draft Rules for Implementing Innovation Voucher for Industrial Design.

What is especially worth mentioning is the innovation voucher policy for industrial design in Liuzhou. It encourages enterprises to purchase industrial design services from professional institutions with a subsidy of up to 50%, providing enterprises with tangible benefits, which has been praised by related enterprises unanimously. In 2019, 37 projects benefited from the subsidy of innovation voucher, with a total amount of RMB 3.25 million yuan, and the achievement transformation and industrialization of a number of industrial design was promoted.

Second, companies in industrial design have been actively fostered. Since 2018, Liuzhou has introduced Beijing LKK, Shanghai MOMA, and other well-known domestic design companies. Besides, it also recommends enterprises to apply for the certification of national or regional industrial design centers. Now, there have been two national industrial design centers and twenty-three regional industrial centers in Liuzhou, ranking first in Guangxi. 

Third, an agglomeration area for industrial development has been built. With the footprint of Liuzhou Northern Ecological New District, Guangxi Industrial Design City will be constructed with a total land area of 803 acres. It is committed to attracting outstanding industrial design enterprises from home and abroad to settle in.

In addition, an atmosphere for development has been actively created. In 2018 and 2019, Liuzhou has held China-ASEAN Industrial Design and Innovation Forums for two consecutive years, making contributions to the exchanges and cooperation in industrial design between China and ASEAN. In fact, Liuzhou and ASEAN countries have already established good cooperative relations in the automotive, construction machinery, and other industrial fields. Through the institutionalized industrial design and innovation forum, Liuzhou will form an open cooperation platform for ASEAN featuring “industry, design, and innovation”. A wave of design and innovation has gradually emerged in this industrial city.

The influence of “One Competition, One Forum” will be further increased

Time went by and the 3rd China-ASEAN Industrial Design and Innovation Forum is approaching. This year’s Forum will focus on “Draw an Intelligent Industrial Blueprint, Revitalize Modern Manufacturing Industry”, conducting keynote speeches and high-end dialogues, to take the pulse of the development of China-ASEAN industrial design and innovation. The Forum will be held both online and offline. The consuls and counselors of ASEAN Embassies and Consulates in China, and the officials and master designers from ASEAN-China Centre will present the offline forum in Liuzhou, while government officials and industrial design experts from ASEAN countries will also participate in the online forum, to seek cooperation and development.

For the purpose of increasing Liuzhou influence of industry and industrial design, an important event named the 1st Golden Bauhinia Cup of China-ASEAN Industrial Design Competition has been added into the series of forum activities this year.

With the theme of “Design Empowering New Intelligent Travel Models”, this competition will invite design companies, organizations, institutions, and individuals in China-ASEAN region to discuss and exchange views on the design of products in automotive industry chains, intellectual products, travelling supplies, cultural and creative products, and food packaging. Participants in this competition is not only expected to win huge bonuses, but also has the opportunity to cooperate with the local enterprises such as SGMW, LiuGong, Liuzhou river snail rice noodles. After more than two months of solicitation and rigorous evaluation of the works, its awarding ceremony will be held during the 3rd China-ASEAN Industrial Design and Innovation Forum, to promote the transformation of their achievements, so that the “One Competition, One Forum” can truly achieve the goal that design energizes products and enterprises.

In 2020, Liuzhou once again issued an invitation of “making friends by design” to domestic and ASEAN regions through the “One Competition, One Forum” Initiative, to show the sincerity of Liuzhou and even Guangxi in recruiting talents, promoting innovative development, and conveying the determination and confidence to develop industrial design and to enhance new competitive advantages. In the future, the series of China-ASEAN industrial design activities initiated by Liuzhou will be more varied and of greater influence, and more elite designers will light up this industrial city with their power and help build a beautiful Guangxi with innovation.

Source: China-ASEAN Panorama