Organised by Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt Co Ltd, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade – Shanghai Pudong Sub-Council, Shanghai Hongshan Exhibition Service Co Ltd and the China Smart Home Industry Alliance (CSHIA), the Shanghai Smart Home Technology (SSHT) exhibition concluded its inaugural edition on 25 September 2015 with great success. The fair was held concurrently with Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology (SIBT) at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in Shanghai, China. Collectively, the fairs hosted 230 exhibitors across 13,000 sqm of exhibition space and welcomed 20,589 professional visitors from 47 countries and regions.
Commenting on the success of the fair was Ms Lucia Wong, Deputy General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd. She expressed: “It is an honour to have organised the new SSHT fair with CSHIA. The successful debut of SSHT demonstrates the huge potential of the Chinese smart home industry. To deal with industry trends, the fair emphasised two main focuses: technological integration and cross-sector collaboration. SSHT, positioned as a comprehensive platform for smart home technologies, showcased a broad and deep range of solutions including Internet technologies, cloud platform technologies, smart hardware, user interface and smart home integrated solutions. This mix of offerings fostered collaboration between various sectors.”
Integrated platform fostered cross-sector collaboration
The show displayed a full array of smart home products and solutions that were categorised by thematic zones to better facilitate the development of cross-sector business relationships. Some of the featured brands included Alikes, AISpeech, AVSTYLE, Backaudio, Boyun IOT, Chinasun, CHINT, Cinemaster, Control4, DUEMMEGI, Elite, EnOcean, Eques, Founder, FULL, Hi-Champ, Hikvision, ITOO, Jiayun, KNX, ORVIBO, Oubao, OWI, RICISung, Ruixun, Savekey, Sawant, Tonetron, Turning-Right, UIOT, Unisound, Video-star, Vstarcam, Wulian, ZigBee, Z-Wave and others. These exhibitors showcased some of the most cutting-edge technologies in the industry, such as:
Total smart home solutions
Smart home development has been accelerated by 4G technology. In the high-speed Internet Age, users’ home experiences can be optimised by four core focuses of smart home integrated solutions: immediacy, enjoyment, simplicity and convenience. Exhibitors specialising in such solutions included:
Shenzhen RICISung Intelligent Technology Co Ltd displayed over 70 smart home and intelligent home appliances and solutions. Mr Tony Tong, CEO of the company, commented: "Through the fair, we met a number of new clients and networked with both domestic and international industry giants who were interested in becoming business partners. We met nearly 300 professionals a day and on the second day, we met over 100 buyers from overseas alone."
Founder, another reputable company from China, showcased a range of energy efficient, intelligent and interactive household appliances at the show. Mr Qiqian Li, General Manager and Senior Engineer at the company, stated: "The visitor flow exceeded our expectations and we met both international and domestic professionals. In fact, we established business relationships with over 10 distributors on just the first day."
Smart home control systems
Personal lifestyle data collection will be a primary trend for smart home control technologies. With smart home applications becoming more personalised, automated and responsive, the interface of control systems are advancing to fulfil the needs of targeted users.
Savant China Group is one of the exhibitors recognising this prevalent trend. The company presented their Smart-series of products, targeted at domestic middle-end customers, which provides personalised smart home solutions experiences. Mr Vincent Qin, General Manager of Greater China for the company, said: "The quality of the visitors was exceptional and I believe the fair is increasing its influence within the smart home market."
Another highlighted exhibit was Control4’s uniquely designed control system interface, touch screen and remote control devices. Mr Augustine Wen, Asia Territory Sales Manager at the company, expressed: "This was a very exciting experience. There were many people at the fair and the quality of the visitors was high. A large number of the visitors we met were our targeted system integrators from across the country."
Audio and video integration and home entertainment Currently, the integration of audio, visual and lighting are in high demand in smart home designs. The objective for future home theatre systems is to provide total solutions with a more attractive appearance, greater functionality and convenience for end-users.
Mr Ricky Xue, Product and Marketing Director at Cinemaster Shanghai Ltd, said: “Smart home products are deeply embedded in our daily lives. Given the popularity of Bluetooth, NFC and infrared wireless technologies, people can easily control their home entertainment systems via mobile phones or tablets. The related products we showcased were extremely well received.”
In addition to all these technologies and the cross-sector collaboration emphasised, SSHT also highlighted the momentum of Internet of Things (IoT), by launching a related thematic zone and event programme.
The rise of IoT is enhancing the smart home market. The introduction of informative cloud computing has significantly reduced system incompatibilities and the complexity of operating software. Therefore, this leaves room for new applications and more complex functions to be created.
Catering to the trend, the fair organisers launched the “Cloud Platform and Big Data Technology and Solution Zone” that focused on the core advantages of this technology. Highlighted solutions included industrial automation control equipment, cloud computing control platforms and voice recognition technologies for cloud platforms. Furthermore, a forum on “Innovative Applications of Cloud Platform Technologies and Future Trends of Smart Home” was also held alongside the fair and delivered information on technological innovations.
Conference speaker, Mr Zhang Weifeng, Chief Product Officer at JD.com, commented: “We were happy to have connected with some device suppliers and further establish cooperation relationships with different corporations through the promotion of our new technologies.”
Show emphasised “Technology & Innovation” and unveiled market trajectory
Information sharing and networking are the basic elements needed for developing the smart home industry. These elements are also the core concepts of SSHT that have been widely supported by numerous global and local enterprises and industry associations. With their support and together with SIBT, the fair held 13 technical innovation forums that covered over 80 prevailing topics, including:
Smart home standards
AllSeen Alliance, Bluetooth SIG, EnOcean Alliance, KNX Association, LonMark International, Z-Wave Alliance, ZigBee Alliance and other reputable standards organisations shared their insights on the future of market developments.
“ZigBee, The Application Enabler in IoT Era”, presented by ZigBee, gave brief introductions on smart home, IoT and smart home ecosystem technologies. The presentation also revealed the quickest ways to develop intelligent home systems and implement ZigBee’s network standards. Mr Mark Walters, Vice President of Strategic Development at the ZigBee Alliance, stated: “The fair was extremely professional. We were delighted to meet a number of high-quality attendees through the jointly held events.”
Another topic titled "EnOcean Batteryless Wireless Technology for Intelligent Buildings and Smart Homes”, presented by the EnOcean Alliance, walked attendees through a series of case studies that promoted their latest wireless energy harvesting technology. Together with their member companies, the alliance also introduced their batteryless wireless products for intelligent buildings and homes. Ms Lena Lin, Marketing Manager (China) of the group, said: “The visitor flow was impressive. We met a large number of system integrators and designers, and are extremely satisfied with the exhibition turnout.”
Ultra HD/4K technology
Ultra HD/4K technology offers clearer and sharper image resolution. To explore this technology deeper, the fair organisers invited the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) to curate a schedule of seminars that examined 4K, video display and audio technologies and applications.
The association also supported the show by helping to set up the “Home Technology Zone” for displaying the latest smart home technologies. Mr Tom Owens, Director of International Development at CEDIA, expressed: “SSHT is one of Shanghai’s top platforms for smart home-related products. Through the interactive seminars, we were able to promote our organisation and most importantly, share CEDIA’s industry experience acquired from 20-plus years within the home technology sector with the China market.”
New insights into the smart home market
The development of innovative concepts and products relies heavily on continuous research and high levels of creativity. The product launch event themed “Explore intelligent living solutions” invited 12 world-renowned smart home enterprises and associations to participate. They demonstrated their latest and most innovative products, including smart controls, smart sound systems, intelligent lighting, robots, face recognition access control systems and more. The innovations all aimed to provide a more comfortable, convenient and safer living environment for users.
Mr Steven Zhou, Secretary General of CSHIA, one of the organisers of the fair, said: “It was an honour to introduce our VillaKit intelligence platform version 1.0, which is the world’s first Han Chinese language smart home semantics and control scenario library, along with our P2C power pulse communications and intelligent control technologies at the inaugural edition of SSHT. In addition to wireless controls for smart devices, voice controls are expected to be another crucial development trend for smart home appliances. The visitor traffic at the show was heavy and we were delighted with the overall feedback. Through our corporation with SSHT, we hope to grow the exhibition into a renowned industry platform for information sharing and networking, and help enhance the development of the smart home industry.”
Commenting on the future development of the fair, Ms Wong added: “The introduction of ‘Industry 4.0’ and ‘Internet Plus’ is expected to further boost the development of the Chinese smart home market. With the mission to demonstrate market trends and introduce fresh insights to the smart home community, we will continue to cooperate with CSHIA to keep abreast trends and evolve with the industry. The future development of SSHT will emphasise four core focuses: networking platform, cross-sector cooperation, technical integration and user application. CSHIA is a renowned and influential industry association that possesses deep understanding and knowledge of the smart home market in China. Pairing this knowledge with Messe Frankfurt’s extensive trade fair experience establishes a visionary industry platform for the smart home sector in China.”
SIBT and SSHT are a part of Messe Frankfurt’s building and energy shows, headed by the biennial Light + Building event in Frankfurt, Germany, which will take place from 13 – 18 March 2016. Additionally, light and building fairs will also be hosted in Argentina, India, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
For more information on Light + Building shows worldwide, please visit www.light-building.com/brand.
Media Contact
Stavie Hung
Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd
Tel: +852 2238 9907
Fax: +852 2519 6800
stavie.hung@hongkong.messefrankfurt.com
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