The 2020 World Industrial Design Conference (WIDC) opens in Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong province, on Nov 25. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2020 World Industrial Design Conference (WIDC) opened in Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong province on Nov 25.

The conference was attended by design associations, enterprises, institutions, and universities from more than 40 countries, who shared their insights into the latest industrial design trends.

The five-day event will feature 100 sub-venues around the world via both online and offline channels. An industrial summit on design and industry, a Syrian art exhibition, and more than 1,000 industrial conferences will also be held during the event.

The conference will help guide and accelerate the use of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies for industrial design, said Li Yong, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, at the opening ceremony via video link.

Pan Yunhe, former executive vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Lutz Dietzold, CEO of the German Design Council, and Lee Soonin, senator of the World Design Organization, also delivered speeches via video at the opening ceremony.

The 10 artworks receiving the China Excellent Industrial Design Award are unveiled at the opening ceremony on Nov 25. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 10 artworks receiving the China Excellent Industrial Design Award were also unveiled at the opening ceremony. The award is the most prestigious in China for the industrial design field.

The World Industrial Design Conference, held four times, has become a platform for gathering global design and innovation resources and pursuing cooperation between countries and regions.

The event is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Shandong Provincial People's Government and supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

More than 1,000 outstanding designs are displayed at the Yantai International Expo Centre during the event. [Photo/jiaodong.net]