Getting The Key For The Next Golden Decade Of China Immersive Industry
A Review Of 3rd China Immersive Industry Development Forum
On October 22, 2021, the 3rd China Immersive Industry Development Forum was successfully held at Nanjing International Exhibition Center. This forum was sponsored by Nanjing Culture Investment Holding Group and co-organized by Jiangsu Wenchuang & ILLUTHION.
The core topics of forum were positioned as immersive industry trends, immersive experiences combined with IP development, the future of the metaverse, immersive cultural tourism combined with local cultural and the revitalization of Chinese culture by new media art, the creation of global benchmark immersive night walk projects, the operation of large-scale immersive experiences and etc. We invited the world top digital multimedia art studio Moment Factory, theme entertainment design company MYCOTOO, INC., Tencent Multimedia Lab, Phoenix Digital Technology, Urban Cultural Tourism Research Institute, Green Bird New Media Art, immersive show Nanjing Happiness, immersive cruise Zhiyin Cruise, immersive night walk Night Climbing the Yellow Crane Tower and many other companies, projects and creators to share their valuable experiences.
As the organizer of China Immersive Industry Development Forum in previous years, ILLUTION CEO Jay Kong gave a welcome speech for future expectations for China immersive industry and the long-term cooperation relationship with Nanjing Culture Investment Holding Group and Jiangsu Wenchuang.
I am Jay Kong, CEO of ILLUTHION which is a solution provider of immersive industry and an operator of immersive industry cluster in China. This is the third year that we have co-hosted the 3rd China Immersive Industry Development Forum with Nanjing Culture Investment Holding Group and Jiangsu Wenchuang. Since the forum was launched in 2019, we have come a long way. For those who have attended the forum every year, you will feel the contrast between the youth of the first forum and the maturation of 2021 forum.
The speakers and audience of China Immersive Industry Development Forum are mainly from China. We also co-host This Immersive Globe (Immersive Industry Online Summit) with Epic Immersive. Top companies and creators from different countries all around the world will share their view on This Immersive Globe. The more exciting thing is that we are holding 2021 China Immersive Industry Season from September to December. In addition to 3rd China Immersive Industry Development Forum, our industry season also include a series of activities such as forums, summits, exhibitions, study-tours, competitions and carnivals. In the form of industry season, we integrate the most influential immersive industry activities in China so that those who are curious about the states of China immersive industry can have a one-stop opportunity to comprehensively understand the development of industry and discover brilliant projects and outstanding enterprises.
Of course, the process of organizing industry season and development forum was not as right as rain. First of all, Industry BU of ILLUTHION which is responsible for cultivation of China immersive industry has not achieved a profitable state so far. By relying on the profit subsidies from other profitable departments of ILLUTHION, Industry BU can present the industry report, talents output and various high-quality activities over the years that everyone expects. It is not a sustainable state. Secondly, we invited Bing Hu who is the project operation director of drama city Unique Henan, and Tang Jiaxian who is the general manager of Future Virtual Valley which is a holding subsidiary of Digital Domain. But they were unable to attend the forum for personal reason. So the discussions of immersive attraction and virtual idol are somewhat lacking. Thirdly, many audience gave feedbacks to us that they benefited a lot from the sharing of the speakers from 1st and 2nd forums. Is there any chance to invite them to share again? Unfortunately, the forum was setup for only 8 hours, so we couldn’t add topics to the dense schedule. These are the regrets we have experienced in planning our forum this year.
There are lots of regrets, but none of them can shake our determination to push the industry further to a higher level. China immersive industry is among the top three in the world in terms of both number of projects and scale of the industry. We have over 1,500 market-influential immersive experiences and a market size of over $3 billion. (market size of theme parks are not counted) However, there is still a big gap between China and the world in format richness of immersive industry. There are about 41 immersive formats that can be experienced in China including immersive theatre, immersive new media art, escape room, LARP, immersive night tour, immersive theme park and etc. which is still far behind the 386 immersive formats in the world. I especially hope that when the epidemic recovers, travel return to normal. Overseas companies and guests can have the opportunity to visit China in teams and get to know the mature market in China. And Chinese companies and guests can get to know the inclusiveness and creativity of overseas creators in both art and business.
Of course, we can sit back and wait for that day to come. But the inner voice is always driving me to do something to make this day come sooner. That’s why we are organizing several events including 3rd China Immersive Industry Development Forum at the moment. All the speakers attending the forum today are unique influencers and important voices in the industry. Their opinions influence thousands of people everytime they talk in public. Even so, I think their expressions are not intended to convince the others, but to help each others find like-minded people who share the same vision, who are optimistic about the industry future, and who are engaged in immersive experiencs. Finally, I will conclude my speech with the slogan of 2021 China Immersive Industry Season. Gathering, we are the prairie fire; Dissipating, we are stars all over the sky. Thank you and love you so much!
Immersion Is Endless
Since year 2018 when 1st China Immersive Industry Development Forum was held, the forum has attracted wide attention from all circles. This year, we invited more than 20 industry leaders from all around the world to contribute their wisdom to promote the development of immersive industry for the next golden decade. The core topics of forum include immersive industry trends, immersive experiences combined with IP development, the future of the metaverse, immersive cultural tourism combined with local cultural and the revitalization of Chinese culture by new media art, the creation of global benchmark immersive night walk projects, the operation of large-scale immersive experiences and etc.
Guping Pan, president of Nanjing Cultural Investment Holding Group delivered a speech at the meeting. Nanjing Cultural Investment Group will work with the pioneers, explorers and practitioners of immersive industry to jointly build an ecosystem, share strategies, explore new forms of immersive industry and continue to sponsorship China Immersive Industry Forum in the future.
The forum invited our old friend Jie Lin who is the operation partner of Drama Plus as the forum host. Her professional background enabled the audience to have a better understanding of the backgrounds and topics of the each speakers.
Keynote Speach
MYCOTOO, INC.
Chief Development Officer, Fri Forjindam
TOP 10 REASONS WHY THE FUTURE OF THE IMMERSIVE DESIGN INDUSTRY IS NOW!
The future of entertainment innovation is seeing an exciting trend that merges brand storytelling, intergrated experiential design, technology and live performance. Developers across the globe are placing more emphasis on strategic planning and integration of immersive entertainment into destinations of different scales from mixed used developments, resorts, hotels and cruise ships to retail centers and seasonal events. The immersive design industry is a billion-dollar economy and is here to stay. Fri Forjindam, Chief Development Officer of Award winning entertainment development agency MYCOTOO revealed the top 10 reasons why the future of immersive design is now, showcasing ground breaking entertainment benchmarks around the world.
Moment Factory
Lumina Producer, Jamie Tobin
Inside Moment Factory’s series of Lumina Enchanted Night Walks
Today, many of our interactions with technology unfold through interfaces that isolate us from our surroundings. Moment Factory aim to bring people together by moving entertainment out of screens and into the physical world, to create memorable immersive experiences that elevate sites and promote destinations. The Lumina enchanted night walks are a series of unique outdoor immersive experiences. Each night walk is a luminous journey that reveals the exceptional beauty of a natural site. Visitors of all ages are immersed in an imaginative world, through seamlessly integrated multimedia. Natural sites are enhanced through an artful and innovative digital transformation that establishes a second identity, and helps to maximize the site’s potential by extending economic activity beyond sundown. 13 Lumina Night Walks have been created around the world: 7 in Canada, 3 in Japan, 1 in Singapore and 2 in France. Jamie Tobin revealed the production and creative process behind the development of these award-winning experiences.
Tencent Multimedia Lab
Associate Product Director and Expert Engineer, Cong Ye
Multimedia Technology in the Age of Metaverse
Cong Ye is currently in charge of immersive media related works. He discussed the potential and future of immersive industry with multimedia technology. Based on the general trend of full-scale connetion and interaction, he explained professional terms including the concept of metaverse, full-scale interconnection, the evolution history of immersive technology, the development of representative immersive database and relevant cases of technology application.
Wanyu Gravity Entertainment
Founder, Director of Nanjing Happiness, Xiao Zhou
From Chudian to the Eastworld, from IP Immersive Entertainment to Cultural Tourism Immersive Performance
Xiao Zhou shared unique immersive interactive mode and brand-new stage visual technology and analyzed the successful cases of combining cultural travel, local culture of Nanjing intangible cultural Heritage, celebrities, folk customs, fashion with all muti-sensory level of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. There are four keys elements to creating a benchmark immersive experience: building products by immersive design thinking, sufficient differentiation with other areas of the city, a space where local people who live in the city often go there, a space where tourist must go there.
Green Bird New Media
Art Director, Junting Lin
Traveling in Art, Immersing in Realm –
Translating Traditional Cultural Connotations with New Media Art, Shaping Immersive Experience Situations
Junting Lin put forward two starting points self-care and social identity. He pointed out many real-life and virtual cases of interaction with audience. It is an inevitable trend to understand profound traditional culture through the carrier of information technology, authorized IP and the integration of culture, technology, art and business. In a rapidly changing age, the development of industry is inseparable from the support of new media technology. If culture cannot be connected with life, it will disappear.
Wuhan Chaozong Cultural Tourism Co.
Director of Strategic Consulting Department, Hongxing Zhou
The Operation and Development of Immersive Tourism Performing Arts –
Take immersive cruise Zhiyin Cruise as an Example
Hongxing Zhou shared the expression of digital technology and performance form of Zhiyin Cruise which is the first drifting multidimensional immersive theatre in Yangtze River. As a regional tourism project of Wuhan’s 13th Five-Year Plan, its creativity and intention from the very beginning was aimed a new cultural benchmark of Wuhan. As a product, The inspiration of zhiyin was breakthrough in innovation. The concept of immersive cruise ship had the property of transportation, sightseeing and theater.
Roundtable Dialogue One
Licensing Development – How to introduce IP and develop immersive experience in the era of licensing?
Sunac Wing Dragon Technology
Deputy General Manager, Lei Tang
Lei Tang is currently in charge of IP strategy execution and technology integration business. Lei Tang analyzed the reasons that benchmark projects combine the themed IPs and immersive experiences. First, the top IPs have very strong attraction effects which solve the problem of passenger flow. Second, strong culture is the content behind IP which lays a foundation for immersive experiences and provides the experiences for tourists. Third, the top IPs can form a strong emotional connection with its fans, making it easier to achieve a higher re-purchase rate and business transformation, thus solving the operation problem.
Cityneon Holdings
Director of China Operations, Dinggang Lu
Dinggang Lu is specialized in experiential entertainment, experiences of film IP, experience of cultural integration as well as creative investment of exclusive licensed IP of historical relics. He shared his points with the audience from both creativity and implementation.
Huaying Cultural Tourism Group Co.
Prisident, Jianlin Yang
Jianlin Yang is focus on immersive night walk show and immersive interactive show. He created benchmark projects Dream of West Chamber, Dream of Taihang Mountains and etc. From the tourism performing arts to immersive night walk show, he broke through the traditional way of watching, allowed the Chinese story to be told in a immersive night walk show format. Visitors will be better engaged and immersed by interactive storytelling.
Beijing Phoenix Digital Technology Co.
President, Xiaodong Wang
Phoenix SATELLITE TV established a culture + technology enterprise in order to adapt to the market of digital technology. Xiaodong Wang is focus on high-quality digital contents of culture, exhibition, intangible heritage traditional culture, children’s education and etc. His company created excellent cultural IP and a series of IP-related products. The mission of Phoenix TV is to spread Chinese culture by cultural creativity and digital technology.
Roundtable Dialogue Two
Cultural tourism and night tourism – How can immersive experience activate cultural tourism and night tourism?
Urban Culture and Tourism Research Institute
Founder, Yuzheng Liu
Yuzheng Liu has devoted himself to the research of urban culture and tourism with creative ideas, contents and experiences. He shared about the ideas and usages of digital creativity, outdoor lighting, cultural travel, night travel, trend and specific technologies.
Shenzhen Light and Shadow Centennial Technology Co.
Founder and President, Hao Huang
Hao Huang introduced how immersive performing arts with digital multimedia empowered different industries and created more different experiences for users.
Shenzhen Digital Tiger Image Co., LTD
President and General manager, Rui Li
Rui Li introduced how the R&D team generated design, creation, implement and operation, which brought different and new experiences through visual effects and technology.
Liangye Technology Group Co. LTD
Director of Night Climbing the Yellow Crane Tower, Fei Liu
Fei Liu put forward the significance of transformation of cultural products. One Benchmark work must be done to kill out among their peers in the culture and tourism industry.
Shenzhen Century Lighting Technology Co.
General Manager, Hongtao Zhao
Hongtao Zhao is engaged in the one-stop work of lighting design, implementation of outdoor and indoor theme scenes in theme parks. The core competitiveness of theme parks is immersion which is created by the full themed environment through equipment, sound and special effects to give visitors a parallel world experience.
Roundtable Dialogue Three
Technology integration – Art x Content x Technology, how to mix them perfectly ?
Immersive Creation
General Manager, Bin Li
Bin Li mentioned the biggest transformative issue arising from the convergence of art, content and technology into the application scenario. Creators of Blockchain and NFT arts were not done by traditional art graduates, but AI researchers. Art creation is completely open for the people from totally different fields.
Shenzhen So Art Technology Co., LTD
Creative Director, Zeping Yuan
Zeping Yuan shared about how to connect art and cultural travel scene. It depents on visitors’ self-definition. From the perspective of the development of art history, art as a manifestation of spiritual form served only emperors and generals at the beginning. Then more and more people could see different art forms. Today’s technological progress makes creation tools more and more convenient to help artists create their ideas and feelings they wan.
Dalian Botao Culture technology Co., LTD
Co-founder, Creative Design Institute, President, Haibin Wei
As for art itself, it is also a cutting tool. Haibin Wei mentioned that family-orientied entertainment emphasized more art elements. Arts should not be superior.
Beijing Lanjing Technology Co., LTD
General Manager, Lin Li
Lin Li is mainly engaged in the development of exhibition and performance software which is the core part of the performance system. Helping artists truly realize their imagination was what he needed to do.
At the end of the forum, speakers, staff and part of audience took photos on stage. Looking back at the whole forum, you could see the focused eyes of the audience, the retention rate at the end of the forum, the unanimous professional recognition of the speakers and the complaining that one day is not enough. All the participants had a sense that industry identity was emerging. The identity was not about concept of future industry, was beyond the buzzword, was a confidence built by all the creators whose benchmark immersive experiences were proven great successes in both art and business aspects again and again.
See you next year!
2021 China Immersive Industry Season
2021 China Immersive Industry Season is a coming-of-age ceremony for China immersive industry co-hosted by ILLUTHION, MANA, Jiangsu Wenchuang, 16 vertical platforms and enterprises from immersive industry as well as institutions and media that pay great attention to China immersive industry.
2021 China Immersive Industry Season delivery 17 major events and projects which will present the unique characteristics of China immersive industry including Conference of Immersive Cultural and Tourism Industry Elements Trading Platform, 2021 This Immersive Globe (Immersive Industry Online Summit), 3rd China Immersive Industry Development Forum, (Hainan International Cultural and Creative Week) Immersive Industry Empowered Urban Renewal Forum, Digital Creative Quebec, 2021 Sandbox Immersive Film Exhibition(SIF), 2021 World College Students conjuring Communication Conference, 5th season of China Immersive Industry Study Tour (Shanghai), I CUBE 2021 Immersive Digital Content Competition, the final of 1st Season EGA Escape Room Design Competition, 2021 VRplay Virtual Entertainment Carnival, immersive interactive restaurant The Great Expedition, New media art exhibition Painting Tour of Thousands of Rivers and Mountains · The Forbidden City Immersive Art Exhibition, Immersive interactive theatre £¥€$, immersive Kunqu opera Six Stories of Floating Life, immersive night walk show Dream Back To Chexi, immersive outdoor theater Mountain City Lane Renai Wilderness Theater.
If you are a consumer and still don’t know where the fun experience is. If you are an investor and still don’t know where the outstanding companies are. If you are a developer and still don’t know where the boundaries of the industry are and what kind of experiences are worth developing. Please do not hesitate to pay attention to 2021 China Immersive Industry Season. From October 1 to December 15, 2021. You will experience immersive theatre, immersive exhibition, escape room, LARP, virtual reality, mixed reality, conjuring, cultural equipment in all formats here. You will get everything from industry season from hot experiencs to business service, development learning, creative innovation and ideas sharing. This is a collective appearance of China immersive industry and a concentrated display of comprehensive strength. Welcome to share the achievements of China immersive industry.
