SHANGHAI, CHINA — On November 7th, two days before the Asia Electronics Exhibition in Shanghai (AEES 2011), representatives of the five co-hosting countries – Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong – gathered in Feng Hall of the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel in Shanghai, China to hold a 5-nations press conference.
Participants for the press conference were as follows; Director of the Korea Electronics Association (KEA) Hong-sik Kang, Vice President of China Electronics Appliance Corp. (CEC) Chen Wen-hai, Special Project Charge of the Japan Electronics Show Association (JESA) Nobuyuki Kunda, Chief of Exhibition Division Mainland China Affairs Dept. of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufactures’ Association Tseng Lee-hua, and Shanghai Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council Grace Woo. Reporters from some 30 local presses in Shanghai including Shanghai Times, China Web TV Station, Eastday.com, China News Service, Yesky.com, Shanghai IT Times, and China Electronics were present and busy on their feet for heated coverage. As for the Korean press, KEA’s media partner the Korea IT Times participated in the press conference.
Director Hong-sik Kang said on this day, “Owing to the success of last year’s AEES 2010, a total of 45 Korean electronics companies are able to run the Korea Gallery in Shanghai SNIEC’s W1 Hall in a scale of 80 booths,” and explained, “The booths for the Korea Gallery this year have been designed in green. We chose the design which focused on the importance of the increasingly emphasized environmental responsibility.”
Director Kang said in his introduction, “The Korea Gallery consists mainly of KEA and four local governments including the KEA Gallery, the Seoul Gallery and the Gyeonggi-do Gallery. The KEA Gallery is organized with 19 booths from 18 companies including Audiotechnology, Kowon T&S, Cermotech and Humate. The Seoul Gallery has 8 booths from 7 companies including KEST-ENG and Sejin Electron, the Gyeonggi-do Gallery has 15 booths from 13 companies including Comweaver, MECS Tech, Samkyung Ceramics, Ahrong Eltech and Korea Parts, the Gyeongnam Gallery has 5 booths from 4 companies including Bando MNE and Hoesung Coil Parts, and the Goyang-si Gallery has 3 booths from 3 companies including Shinhan Aone.”
Director Kang said, “The products presented in the Korea Gallery are getting the attention of AEES 2011 as products have added innovative ideas to existing materials such as hair styling equipment, Ondol (Korean floor heating system) mats, educational devices, black boxes, video recording systems, electronic blackboards, 3D smart phones and mobile office solutions. You won’t be disappointed,” and emphasized, “Please note the creative ideas of the Korean companies participating in this event.” He added, “The companies in the Korea Gallery plan to show off their developed technology and their innovative products with greatly refined features and convenience never having been experienced by the consumers.”
Besides the cutting-edge technology, Director Kang also mentioned a number of the Korea Gallery’s very own events to be held on a specially prepared stage in the Korea Gallery all throughout the exhibition. He commented on the product demonstration of 8 companies including NDIS and CN Electronics which will be held three times in a presentation and video format for two days, the 9th and the 10th, and emphasized, “The Korea-China Sales Fair with 60 procurement managers of top 100 Chinese companies pre-invited and pre-matched with Korean companies is an important event for Korean companies’ global market penetration and will be held on the second day of the exhibition which is the 10th.”
Director Kang said, “Besides the cutting-edge technology of Korea, we have prepared an exhibition that visitors can enjoy with a variety of Hallyu (The Korean Wave) events such as performance from Brave Girls, a Hallyu idol band, and demonstration of Taekwondo, a Korean traditional martial arts, both on the first and the second day of the exhibition in the Korea Hall to promote the mixture of Korean cultural contents and business. Regarding the above, General Manager of CEC Sam Di who was the host for the press conference said, “The Korea Gallery is a popular one with its various events attracting a crowd so huge that it is difficult to even pass through it,” and added, “We look forward again this year to an enjoyable event that will meet the expectations of visitors.”
Director Kang said, “We consider AEES 2011 as an important event for Korean companies to publicize their products and technology, and hope for the Korean participants to establish a bridgehead for global market cultivation and to play a great role in development of global technology from this event.”
The Chinese local press present at the press conference paid a great deal of attention in the Korea Gallery. Showing keen interest in Korean participants for AEES 2011, they asked a number of questions.
Reporter Steve Tao of Shanghai Times was interested in the characteristics of the Korean companies as well as the Korea-China partnership. In a response, Director Kang said, “In the Chinese market where major Korean companies including Samsung, LG and Hynix have already strengthened the basis in surrounding areas of Shanghai such as Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wuxi, a number of small and medium electronics companies too have placed themselves,” and explained, “More than two-third of the Korean companies participating in this AEES are first-timers and more than one-third have a number of participation experience in which some are already supplying their products in China. About 10 companies have located themselves in China in forms of branch offices or factories.”
Reporter Huang He-qinq of China Web TV Station asked what measures will be necessary for the Asia electronics industry to move forward in the global recession. Director Kang answered, “In order for the Asia IT industry to develop in this global recession, continuous cooperation of Asian countries including Korea and China is necessary,” and added, “I hope AEES 2011 will seek those measures and become the place for such cooperation.”
Meanwhile, AEES 2011 is planned to be held along with the China Electronics Fair, which marks its 78th event. The 78th China Electronics Fair is a sizable exhibition with a total of some 2,000 participants of which 300 are international companies. Vice President Chen Wen-hai gave his comment, “Despite a global recession, the participant companies this year increased by 10% compared to last year due to the strong domestic market in China,” and said, “Regardless of the world economy, China’s IT sector is a significant industry with a growth rate of 15.5% per year, acting as the power source of Chinese economy. It is the domestic market, not exports, which is leading the economy in China.” Vice President Chen said, “The main products to be exhibited by the Chinese participants are eco-friendly products for the emerging environmental issues, and 3D technology products,” and advised, “Please pay your attention to a variety of products keyed to the global trend.”
Japan showed contrast to the vigorous economy of China. With the global recession together with natural disasters such as Fukushima earthquake and flooding in Thailand, it was impossible to set up a Japan Gallery in AEES 2011. Special Project Charge Nobuyuki Kunda made his way to this exhibition just to promote next year’s Japan Electronics Exhibition (CEATEC). The Taiwan Gallery, which is set up across from the Korea Gallery, is a similar size to the Korea Gallery with 72 booths from 41 companies. The main products to be exhibited in the Taiwan Gallery are likely to be electronic components. The Hong Kong Gallery will have 10 booths from 7 companies, displaying electronic components and consumer electronic products.
