Shanghai Design Week celebrates city’s creativity

2013 Shanghai Design Week kicked off at the Shanghai Exhibition Center Thursday, featuring more than 30 events that showcase Shanghai's design prowess at venues around the city, local media reported.

The annual event, in its third year, will have several design exhibitions under different themes, according to a report in the Jiefang Daily.

Its organizers have also invited expert designers from different fields to participate in forums about design trends and methods to promote the local industry.

The event began in 2011, after Shanghai joined UNESCO's Creative Cities Network in 2010, becoming the seventh "City of Design" in the global network.

Shanghai's design prowess has undergone great progress over the past three years with prominent achievements in the fields of appearance and functional design, according to local culture and creative industry promotion authorities. Demand for design agencies has extended into the entire industry chain.

Design agencies in Shanghai have been entering the field of creative design consultation to help with product design by providing prospective design research and looking for the breakpoint for the product.

In 2012, Shanghai's industrial design output was 52.73 billion yuan ($8.62 billion). The output for its fashion and creative industry was 7.68 billion yuan and the output for architectural design was 123.56 billion yuan.

Shanghai is home to 130 creative parks.