A spark of innovation: China's Canton Fair ignites global interest

China's Canton Fair has become a prime example of the country's thriving innovative spirit. This biannual event transforms Guangzhou into a global marketplace, showcasing a plethora of cutting-edge technologies that attract enterprises worldwide.

With a greater tendency toward digital and smart technologies, the 135th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, opens on Monday in Guangzhou City, south China's Guangdong Province, attracting nearly 290,000 exhibitors from over 215 countries.

The fair highlights innovation vitality and has seen an increase in high-tech company participation. It will showcase tech-savvy products with more exhibition space for digital technologies and smart manufacturing this year, according to Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, who is also China's international trade representative.

Over 5,500 national-level high-tech enterprises, enterprises in the manufacturing sector and specialized and sophisticated small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that produce novel and unique products are participating in this session, up 20 percent from the previous one, said Wang.

"There are nearly 3,600 related exhibiting companies in this field, showcasing over 90,000 intelligent products, including brain-computer interface smart bionic hands, automatic navigation transportation equipment, and artificial intelligence translation devices," Wang added.

More than half of the participating companies actively apply digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data analysis to transform their production and operations, according to Wang.

As of Sunday, over 149,000 purchasers from 215 countries and regions have completed pre-registration, marking a 17.4 percent year-on-year increase.

High-tech products

Over one million products are expected to debut at this year's event, with exhibits involving more than 450,000 green products and over 250,000 self-owned intellectual property products, all registering an increase over the last fair.

Among the cutting-edge enterprises, over 4,000 have won international awards for their innovative designs, and more than 10,000 have invested over 10 percent of their total revenue in research and development.

In the electronics and appliance sector, a window cleaner robot developed by One Click (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. attracts visitor attention. It features cross-spraying technology for wider cleaning coverage per spray and intelligent path planning for a cleaning efficiency of up to 99.2 percent.

Equipped with a large water tank, the robot can clean areas up to 60 square meters on a single fill, ideal for large windows. It also has added safety and convenience features such as smart power-off protection, multilingual voice prompts and remote control functionalities through an app or remote controller.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen Sky Dragon Audio-Video Technology Co., Ltd. in south China unveils its ultra-thin design of Dolby Atmos TV Sound Bar, 2.1CH TV Sound Bar Subwoofer. The device delivers precise highs and lows for an immersive audio experience by accurately reproducing sounds like thunder and drums from real scenes.

In the manufacturing sector, Shimge Pump Industry (Zhejiang) Co.,Ltd.'s intelligent permanent magnet variable frequency booster pump shines. It meets IE5 motor efficiency standards using Restriction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS) compliant materials for water contact parts to ensure constant pressure control alongside energy efficiency.

Advanced manufacturing

The 15-day event includes three 5-day phases, focusing on "advanced manufacturing," "quality home" and "good life," respectively.

The first phase, advanced manufacturing, runs from April 15 to 19 and is scheduled to display traditional electromechanical and emerging themes with high technological content, showing a new image of Made-in-China.

The main products include household appliances, electronic consumer goods and information products, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing. Smart travel, vehicles, auto parts, motorcycles, bicycles, lighting products, electronic and electrical products, new energy, hardware, tools and so on will also be on display.

The second phase, from April 23 to 27, will focus on quality home life, aiming to create the concept of "big home" and provide buyers with diversified and high-quality home product supplier choices, such as daily ceramics, kitchenware, household products, garden supplies, outdoor spa facilities, and so on.

During the last phase, good life, running from May 1 to 5, the exhibition will display related themes that meet the needs of daily life and can meet the needs of emerging consumer purchasing.

For decades, the fair has connected Chinese producers with international buyers twice a year without fail, regardless of economic ups and downs. In 2024, the initiative aims to propel China's benchmark companies and products in fields such as electronics and appliance, manufacturing, light and electrical, and hardware and tools onto the world stage.

The Canton Fair is more than just a trade event. It's a testament to China's innovative spirit and a glimpse into the future of global industry. The fair ignites a firestorm of interest, attracting international attention and propelling technological progress on a global scale.