A news briefing held at Beijing Olympic City Development Center on Aug 5, 2020 unveiled the details of the Winter Sports Expo at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) scheduled in Beijing next month. As one of the eight industry-themed CIFTIS exhibitions, the Winter Sports Expo, with “The Power of Ice & Snow” as the theme, incorporated forums, displays, business negotiations and other activities.

CIFTIS, jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, is the world’s first comprehensive fair specializing in trade in services. It is an important portal for the opening-up of the Chinese service trade industry, and stands alongside the China International Import Expo in Shanghai and the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) in Guangzhou as one of the three major exhibition platforms for China’s opening-up.

The 2020 CIFTIS, themed “Global Services, Shared Prosperity”, consisted of seven components such as online and offline exhibitions, forums, meetings and product launches to showcase the outcomes and prospects of trade in services, and facilitate exchanges and business cooperation.

The Winter Sports Expo focused on showing the preparations for the Winter Olympic Games to be hosted in Beijing in 2022, while highlighting the important role of the ice and snow sports industry in today’s global trade in services, aiming to promote integrated international development of sports, technology, cultural tourism and healthcare industries.

According to Mr. Fu Xiaohui, director of Beijing Olympic City Development Center, the 16,000m2 Winter Sports Expo venue comprised two parts: the comprehensive exhibition zone at China National Convention Center, with displays about preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the latest technologies and services in the global ice and snow sports industry as well as achievements in international and domestic cooperation; and the outdoor exhibition south of Linglong Tower, with displays and interactive activities highlighting technologies and services related to popular ice and snow sports. More than 500 brands, of which international brands accounted for 50%, showcased their exhibits online or offline.

At the same time, more than 20 international forums, conferences, business negotiations and other activities were held, where more than 260 guests delivered speeches.

As an emerging force in the ice and snow industry, the winter sports themed exhibition will provide a multi-dimensional display platform and opportunities to attract capital for ice and snow innovation projects and startups, hold ice and snow innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and invite major domestic and foreign venture capital institutions to come and negotiate with outstanding projects. Excellent projects will have more opportunities to show their own bright spots and obtain investment. At the same time, exhibition areas for provincial and municipal groups would be set up to realize ice and snow exchanges among provinces and cities, facilitate resource connection between enterprises and local governments, and help ice and snow sports to expand to the southern, western and eastern parts of China.

More significantly, the Expo provided a good platform for innovative projects and startups. It included an innovation and entrepreneurship contest to link promising projects with domestic and international venture capital investment organizations, and offered opportunities for enterprises and delegations from governments at provincial and city levels to seek cooperation in related fields.