The World Design Cities Conference (WDCC 2025), taking place in Shanghai from Thursday to Sunday alongside other international events, is driving innovation, strengthening the city’s design capabilities, supporting new brand development, and contributing to high-quality economic growth in the metropolis, say officials.
Hosted by the Shanghai municipal government in cooperation with UNESCO, WDCC 2025 features two major exhibitions, one in Shanghai and one abroad, an international design forum with 100 participants, and two thematic forums focused on global creative city design, according to Zhang Ying, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.
In addition, WDCC 2025 will also host specialised forums across five design disciplines - industrial, architectural, fashion, digital, and services.
In addition, five sessions focused on industry ecosystems will be organised to promote supply-demand connections, attract investment, showcase new products, hold fashion shows, and support talent recruitment, Zhang said.
Moreover, Ge Dongbo, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informationization, stated that the city’s creative design sector has achieved double-digit annual growth in recent years, with its total value surpassing 1.6 trillion Yuan ($230 billion) so far, according to China Daily.
Shanghai has also developed a comprehensive industrial framework integrating industrial, architectural, and fashion design.
According to Ge, hosting events such as WDCC 2025 and the concurrent “Shanghai Design 100+” global competition has helped convert design achievements worth over 250 billion yuan into tangible outcomes.
The city’s design industry ecosystem is steadily advancing, with 21 national-level industrial design centres and 200 municipal-level design innovation centres now established.
Furthermore, in 2024, Shanghai’s advertising sector generated 335.1 billion Yuan in revenue, marking an 8.4% increase from the previous year.
During the first seven months of 2025, revenue rose 10.7% year-on-year to 220 billion Yuan.
Zhang Hongbing, an official at the Shanghai Market Regulation Bureau, noted that the city accounts for 40% of the nation’s creative design business in advertising and 22% of the country’s creative talent.
Also, earlier this month, the Shanghai municipal government unveiled 12 new measures to promote innovation in the advertising sector, with a focus on leveraging artificial intelligence.
The initiatives encourage the use of AI large language models and the development of intelligent advertising creative design tools. Eligible AI-driven creative advertising projects can receive special funding of up to 20 million Yuan.