June 9th saw the 1st Sino-German Brand Innovation Conference held in Ningbo City Exhibition Hall. At this online and offline conference simultaneously held in Ningbo and Hamburg, experts and scholars gave a series of keynote speeches and discussions on digital brands in the New Normal. The experts exchanged theories and experiences of brand digital transformation, learned from each other, and jointly looked forward to the bright future of brand innovation and development between China and Germany. The forum was broadcast live on Sina, Tencent, Zhejiang Wanli University Video account and other media, with more than 190,000 online attendees.
Hosted by Zhejiang Wanli university and the German Brand University of Applied Science, this forum was undertaken by the Sino-German School of Design and Communication of our university. Under the background of the upgrading and transformation of brand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the forum explored how digital transformation in the new situation can help the brand promotion of Chinese and German enterprises, the innovative development of Ningbo brand city, and the development of brand science between China and Germany.
Ying Min, President of Zhejiang Wanli University, presided over the opening ceremony and pointed out the theme of the forum with THE beginning of Nameless heaven and earth, the mother of all THINGS. Ying expressed sincere greetings to the guests coming from afar and friends who participated in the forum online. Zhang Yan, Party Secretary and Director General of Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce, and Corinna Nienstedt, Minister of Government Affairs of Hamburg, reviewed the origin of cooperation between Ningbo and Hamburg, saying that the economic and cultural exchanges between the two sides have been fruitful in recent years. It is good timing to hold this forum on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany. Zhang Guohua, president of China Advertising Association, said that he hoped Chinese brands could learn from the successful experience of brand made in Germany to German brand transformation, and expected that this forum would make Ningbo manufacturers enter the international market, create Zhejiang manufactured products logo and Ningbo brand, and add new impetus to the process of digitalization. Lutz Dietzolt, chairman of German Design Council, highly praised the efforts made by Zhejiang Wanli University and German University of Brand Applied Science in the construction of cross-cultural brand discipline. The chairman said that he would lead famous German brand enterprises to support the Sino-German School of Design and Communication jointly built by the two universities to carry out in-depth integration of production, teaching and research. He Qian, deputy chief inspector of Ningbo Education Bureau, affirmed the significance of this forum for its promoting academic and cultural exchanges and industry-university-research cooperation between China and Germany, and deepening mutual learning and win-win results between Chinese and German brand industries. Lin Liangfu, president of Zhejiang Wanli Education Group, said in his speech that Zhejiang Wanli University has always been committed to cultivating international high-end applied talents. Zhejiang Wanli university will continue to build a bridge between China and Germany and broaden the international view of teachers and students with the platform of China-Germany Brand Innovation Forum.
During the seminar, more than 10 senior experts in the field of brand science from China and Germany delivered keynote speeches and discussed the status and future of brand digital innovation. Based on the experience of digital brand building, the experts analyzed and looked forward to how brands will follow the trend and seize the opportunities of digital transformation to stand out and change with time when new business forms such as Web 3.0, NFT and meta-universe are coming. In the last round table discussion, Zhang Yiping, Executive vice president of Sino-German School of Design and Communication, Pang Juai, associate professor of School of Humanities and Communication, Ningbo University, Stefan Waller and Michael Jonas, professors of German Brand University of Applied Science, And other online Chinese and German industry guests had in-depth discussions on brand change and unchange in the new normal, and expressed their views on the organic combination of brand value and new digital technology means.
In response to the One Belt and One Road initiative, our university and the German brand University of Applied Science jointly established the Sino-German School of Design and Communication of Zhejiang Wanli University and the Hamburg campus of Zhejiang Wanli University. Adhering to the principle of integrating production and education, we jointly cultivate international applied brand talents and actively build the discipline system of brand science. The China-Germany Brand Innovation Forum will set up a think-tank platform for brand innovation and construction of Chinese and German enterprises.