Fair shows integration among industries

Latest technologies covering artificial intelligence, data analysis and smart parking became spotlights in a convention held in Shanghai today, representing the integration between new technologies and traditional industries like property, retail and transport sectors.

A total of 67 technology firms including IBM, Oracle and Xiaomi attended the Annual Shanghai International Commerce Convention (TASICC), organized by Wanda Group with businesses in real property, retail and technology sectors.

The integration is expected to boost China's economic restructuring and upgrading, which will help the country maintain its economic growth at middle or high speed of 6 to 10 percent, said Fan Gang, professor at the Peking University.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s chief executive, said the company will open more than 1,000 Xiaomi offline stores in China to generate relevant revenues of 70 billion yuan (US$10.3 billion) within two or three years, compared with 179 now.

“Xiaomi adopts new technologies and Internet thinking to operate retail business -- a good example of new retail,” said Lei.

IBM showcased latest technologies on Watson with AI and blockchain, which will greatly change the retail industry, IBM’s senior vice president David Kenny told the forum.

Wanda also launched a new platform called Blue Ocean to connect retailers and technology firms, offering services like ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management) and AI.

ETCP Corp, China’s biggest smart parking service provider, also announced during the TASICC to partner with Shanghai-based Patel to cooperate on parking data analysis and smart transport.

More than 600 firms covering retailers, property developers and tech firms attended the convention closed today.