Shanghai made creative industries a key area for industrial transformation in 2012 and basically attained the goal of becoming the "City of Design" after nearly two years.
Statistics show that Shanghai's cultural and creative industries generated 376.47 billion yuan (US$62.21 billion) in revenues in the first half of 2013 and 115.2 billion yuan in added value, up 9.2 percent over the same period of 2012.
New technologies and new materials are increasingly important for the sector as was shown at the Shanghai Design Week held last year. The design of the city's highest building, Shanghai Tower in Lujiazui, Pudong, for example, used the BIM (building information modeling) system, which greatly cut the cost and raised the efficiency.
As the city is becoming the national hub of creative industries, China Industrial Design Institute decided to move to Shanghai to take advantage of the city's development opportunities.
Shanghai also organized a series of events to boost its reputation as the "City of Design," such as last year's Shanghai Design Week, Nordic Design & Innovation Week, and the Danish Design Week.
"Initially, people come to these shows out of curiosity," said Yi Hui, CEO of a garment company. "But now, more and more professionals are visiting these events. The public interest in design will prompt more companies to pay attention to this field."
(Source: Shanghai.gov.cn)
