01.

The 2023 World Internet of Things Expo recently concluded in Wuxi.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the “Belt and Road” initiative. At this pivotal moment, leveraging its strong IoT industry foundation, Wuxi deepened international cooperation, welcoming 147 overseas guests and 54 foreign exhibitors. The IoT Expo in Wuxi partnered with the IoT exhibition in Barcelona, Spain.

During the expo, 53 major projects were signed, with a total cooperation amount of 108 billion yuan, covering areas such as vehicle networking, industrial internet, intelligent computing power, and artificial intelligence, showcasing the strong momentum of Wuxi’s IoT industry development.

Over four days, the expo received more than 3,000 visitors. According to incomplete statistics, over 15% of exhibitors reached cooperation intentions with clients during this year’s expo.

What is particularly exciting is that the communication efforts during this expo were quite “stunning”.

During the expo, a comprehensive media campaign was organized, including the “2023 World IoT Expo All-Media News Action,” the “Into the IoT Capital” foreign media journalist tour, the “Finance Celebrities Wuxi IoT Special Event,” and the “Let’s Explore the 2023 IoT Expo” activity for young influencers;

Inviting 101 media outlets with 264 journalists, 8 foreign fans, 12 finance celebrities, 150 video influencers, and 16 self-media personalities to participate in the event’s promotion.

According to incomplete statistics, at least 500 high-quality original reports and new media products were released, with over 6,000 articles related to the “IoT Expo” across the internet, achieving a total communication volume exceeding 1.03 billion.

How did a manufacturing city with a deep and rich background become so popular in a specific industry and gain such significant attention?

I feel that behind this lies a new “Wuxi Model” in the era of self-media.

02.

This year’s Wuxi IoT Expo has a distinct characteristic:

It not only values mainstream media promotion but also emphasizes the voice in self-media.

“Ming Shu Zatan” is a well-known self-media outlet focusing on current affairs and finance in China. Its founder, Ming Jinwei, was invited to Wuxi and felt during his few days there:

The Internet of Things is no longer the “dragon-slaying technique” spoken of by experts, but has become a vast industry that makes social production and people’s lives smarter, more efficient, and more humane.

Famous online influencer“Pingyuan Gongzi” Shen Peng, who has over a million followers and ranks in the top ten on Zhihu’s influence list, with likes in the top five and reading volume exceeding one hundred million, loves reading science fiction novels. He took a ride on an unmanned bus, experienced industrial robots that are more precise than manual operation, visited the “City Brain,” and witnessed one piece of “black technology” after another, exclaiming:Wuxi is a “science fiction world”.

“Discover Jiangnan” is a well-known regional economic commentary media in the Yangtze River Delta, currently boasting over 1.2 million precise followers online. The commentator and editor-in-chief, Zhu Lisheng, released a video titled “Why the World IoT Expo is Held in Wuxi,” reflecting on history while looking to the future, with the video reaching 1.46 million views.

A self-media influencer from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Bay Area Linski, raised a question after conducting research:

In cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan in the Greater Bay Area, where the technology industry is also very developed, why can Wuxi in the Yangtze River Delta excel in the sensor industry?

He created a video that quickly surpassed 100,000 views across the internet.

Chen Changzhi, editor-in-chief of “Shanghai Hualue Intelligence Library,” and his colleagues visited the IoT Expo. After researching places like Nanshan Vehicle Networking Town, Longxin Technology, and Xuelang Digital, he was inspired to write a deep observation article titled “The World IoT Capital: The Wuxi Model of China’s Intelligent Manufacturing Rise,” summarizing the three “core driving forces” behind Wuxi’s IoT industry from its emergence to its strong rise.

In addition to these external influencers, Wuxi is also home to a group of self-media individuals actively contributing to the city’s image.

Interestingly, at this IoT Expo, these self-media individuals did not operate solo but collaborated through a self-media alliance, achieving outstanding results.

Sixteen well-known local self-media personalities and 150 video influencers from Wuxi teamed up to enter the expo, showcasing the lively interactions, innovative IoT applications, and life-affecting IoT black technologies through their videos and photography across the internet.

As of October 24, the dedicated topic “Let’s Explore the 2023 IoT Expo” achieved a comprehensive communication volume of over 21 million across multiple platforms, becoming a strong supplement to the overall promotion of the expo.

03.

Self-media individuals passionately and proudly represent Wuxi, telling the city’s industrial story and allowing more people to see and understand Wuxi. They are becoming a new force supporting Wuxi’s emergence.

The term “emergence” has been frequently mentioned in recent years, ultimately reflecting a change in the logic of urban development. The era of blindly rushing forward has passed; the competition for voice in the internet age has become an important means for urban transformation and upgrading.

Take the internet-famous city of Zibo, which gained attention through “barbecue.” In March alone, this city with a population of 4.7 million welcomed 4.8 million tourists, and during the May Day holiday, it undoubtedly topped the popular tourism list.Moreover, after the “Village Super” phenomenon in Guizhou gained attention, the hosting area of Rongjiang County received 1.0737 million tourists in May, a year-on-year increase of 39.73%, achieving a total tourism revenue of 1.241 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 52.08%.

Wuxi can emerge through food, cultural tourism, or even just scenery, but this time it chose a different path:

Industry

On one hand, the IoT industry track, from being the only national sensor network innovation demonstration zone in the country 14 years ago to now being the only national-level advanced manufacturing cluster in the IoT field, Wuxi has always been at the forefront of China’s IoT industry innovation and development, and it undoubtedly has this strength.

On the other hand, industry emergence is not simply about creating scenery or engaging in cultural tourism to buy trending topics; those are often just temporary fads. Wuxi is taking a solid path of transforming industrial advantages into urban branding, which is a more sustainable way of shaping the city’s image.

Although it is the most challenging path, it is also the most valuable way for a city to emerge.

04.

The secret to Wuxi’s emergence has always been hidden in the city’s spiritual core, summarized in four words:

Open and Inclusive

These four words are labels that almost every city would attach to itself, but Wuxi is one of the cities most qualified to speak about them.

Not to mention other fields, at least in terms of promotion, Wuxi’s government has achieved a positive interaction with civil forces, which is very valuable in the current context.

For a long time, we have seen that in many places, the official and civil self-media often operate in completely different spheres or even in opposition, leading to a lack of interaction and mutual trust. The result is that officials are busy worrying about sudden negative news, while self-media are busy creating eye-catching negative stories and hot topics, leaving officials exhausted from firefighting.

Why does Wuxi do well?

We believe that on one hand, Wuxi’s various measures in recent years have earned recognition from ordinary citizens and the outside world, which has led to the “self-media water” from the public;

On the other hand, the Wuxi Municipal Cyberspace Administration and other regulatory bodies do not treat self-media as a threat but instead communicate, guide, and support them. This has led to the current situation where a grand IoT expo allows Wuxi’s significant industrial positive energy to “emerge”.

Wherever a city is open and inclusive, its image stands out, and it becomes a place where excellent talents aspire to be.

Now, many cities regard “emergence” as a key step in transformation. In the increasingly competitive trend of urban development, how to tell their story well and attract more resources in talent, economy, society, culture, and politics has risen to a strategic height for local governments.

Wuxi’s answer is that official support and guidance, combined with the power of civil self-media, form a new “Wuxi Model” for urban brand shaping and communication. This model undoubtedly has significant exploratory value and practical significance in the current context.

Announcement

The era of extensive research has begun.

Benliu Finance Society, in collaboration with domestic high-end think tanks,

is launching the “Research on the Yangtze River Delta” activity

targeting the Yangtze River Deltacities, industries,

enterprises, parks, and development zones

to conduct customized high-end research

planning yearbooks, blue papers, etc.

Internal references directly reach high levels,and cooperation inquiries are welcome.

Contact number: 18961880071 (same as WeChat), Director Liu.

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