VeChain was invited to the first China International Import Expo that was held during November 5th to 10th, 2018 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).

With the slogan “New Era, Shared Future”, the CIIE is the brainchild of Xi and is set to become a platform for a win-win economic cooperation and a landmark project in the country’s higher-level opening up.

In May 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation would be the China International Import Expo (CIIE). CIIE actively opens the Chineses market to the world and proves China’s firm support for trade liberalization and economic globalization.

The CIIE is “a major policy for China to push for a new round of opening-up at the highest level and a major measure for China to take the initiative to open the market to the world.” President Xi Jinping said when delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.

During the event, government officials, business communities, exhibitors and professional purchasers from 172 countries and regions participated in CIIE exploring solutions offered by the Chinese market.

The inaugural expo came at an inflection point as China transitions to high-quality development and away from the world’s workshop to the world’s market. China is currently the world’s largest middle-income population demanding higher-quality consumer products. During the speech, Xi announced that China’s imported goods and services were estimated to exceed 30 trillion US dollars and 10 trillion US dollars, respectively, in the next 15 years.

The event boasted 8 exhibition areas, including country pavilion for trade & investment, consumer electronics & appliances, automobiles, high-end intelligent equipment, food & agricultural products, medical equipments & health care products, apparel accessories & consumer goods, as well as trade in services.

The area displayed solutions for cold-chain logistics, supply chain management, vaccine traceability, and carbon banking. During the exhibition, delegations and enterprises from multiple countries visited the booth. VeChain’s CEO Sunny Lu explained to the representatives the ‘My Story’ and cold chain logistics solutions co-developed with DNV GL, which can significantly protect the quality of imported seafood products and enhance the customer experience and food safety.

Based on the figures given by the Norwegian Seafood Council, Norway exported 2.6 million tonnes of seafood worth NOK 94.5 billion in 2017. The export value increased by 3% and 539,000 tonners of seafood worth NOK 18.7 billion to Asia in 2017. The increased seafood consumption in Asia is driven by a growing middle class and improved distribution especially in China consuming nearly 12% of current salmon production in Norway.

Delegations from Norway Embassy and Norway Fishery Trade visiting the booth

DNV GL were specifically asked to demonstrate the ‘‘DNV GL-VeChain Digital Carbon Ecosystem Experience Event’’ and the Bright Code solution for an audience at 1.30 pm on 7th of November.

The event started with a speech from Luca Crisciotti in which he stated: “DNV GL has committed to the word ‘sustainability’. Part of that mission is to improve the way we behave as a society. Over the last couple of years, we were able to take advantage of the new digital technology to fulfill our mission and in the same time, to improve the environment we live.”

Luca Crisciotti, CEO Business Assurance of DNV GL

Song Ke, Manager from DNV GL Business Sustainability Division, introduced the Carbon emission reduction model utilizing smart contracts on the VeChainThor Blockchain. The latest implementations of the digital carbon ecosystem were introduced by Tian Xinli, project manager at VeChain, “The Digital Carbon Ecosystem developed by VeChain and DNV GL is an open platform and BYD is one of the earliest participants in the ecosystem. The model of redeeming carbon credits is not new, but the reliability and transparency offered by the blockchain can let these companies, partners, and individuals trust the ecosystem as they join in together. This is a win-win cycle that both individuals and companies can be benefit from.”.

Tian Xinli, project manager at VeChain

Bright Code, a localized version of My Story™ was also introduced by Xuzhe, General manager of Bright Food. Bright Code utilizes the technology provided by VeChain to build a consumer confidence index, generated by an independent third party organization, collecting data on events throughout the entire lifecycle of their products. This solution provides safety, confidence, and an open ecosystem to everyday consumers as well as Bright Foods’ clients, providers, and partners.

As the first unveiling of this solution, Bright Foods provided the following media for Bright Code:

During the entirety of the event, Noah Huo, CMO at VeChain, introduced demos that allowed individuals to participate in collection of Carbon Credits by emission-reducing behavior that will be seen in the open market soon. At release users will be able to redeem products from PICC, iTaotaoke and other unannounced participants.

Noah Huo, CMO at VeChain introduces cycling demo at CIIE

In the solution, activities such as driving electric vehicles, taking public transportation, using clean energy, etc. are behaviors that will be recorded by applications developed by various enterprise participants, and converted to carbon credits using smart contract defined and validated by DNV GL. Individuals then redeem the carbon credits to purchase or receive discounts on products and services offered by ecosystem services. This mission-reduction based reward mechanism is ideal for enterprises looking to enhance their customer relationship management programs and create new methods for driving business value. In addition, corporate social responsibility is a key pillar to any business’s strategy for success.