2026 World Manufacturing Convention Officially Opens in Hefei, Anhui
Hefei, China — The 2026 World Manufacturing Convention officially opened on the morning of 20 September in Hefei, Anhui, under the theme “Smart Manufacturing, Creating a Better Life”. This marks the eighth consecutive time the convention has been held in Anhui. The United Kingdom served as the guest of honour for this edition; the British Ambassador to China, Wei Lei, delivered a welcoming address at the venue, while Solange Amichia, representing the Minister of the Cabinet of the Presidency of Ivory Coast, read a congratulatory letter from the President.
The convention attracted over a thousand guests from around the world, including more than 500 foreign representatives, as well as over 40 overseas companies from the United States, France, Russia, and other nations participating in group exhibitions. The exhibition area spans 70,000 square metres. In the Luogang Park, an interactive zone was established to showcase the implementation of all-space unmanned systems, alongside various meetings aimed at exploring cross-border industrial cooperation between China and Europe, China and France, and China and the United Kingdom.
The convention continues to achieve remarkable milestones in attracting investment. In 2025, 735 projects were realised through the convention, with total investment reaching RMB 380.2 billion. During the preparatory stage for this year’s convention, 946 cooperation projects with an investment value exceeding RMB 400 billion have been identified, dominated by projects from ten emerging strategic industries. Simultaneously, the convention continues to foster communication and cooperation across six market categories: central state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, foreign enterprises, Hong Kong and Macau enterprises, Taiwan enterprises, and Chinese diaspora enterprises.
Data reflects the rapid growth of Anhui’s manufacturing industry. The operating income of large-scale industries has surpassed the trillion RMB milestone, while the High-Quality Development Index of the manufacturing industry has risen from 7th to 5th nationally, ensuring Anhui remains an industrial leader in central and western China. From January to July 2026, the added value of large-scale industries across the province increased by 12.7% year-on-year, marking a new 58-month high. Industrial profits reached RMB 195.9 billion, a 63.5% increase compared to the same period last year, with the industry’s contribution to provincial GDP reaching 58.3%.
In the first seven months of this year, the output value of emerging strategic industries in Anhui increased by 17.3%, accounting for 46.1% of the total output value of large-scale industries. Production of new energy vehicles, integrated circuits, and robotics increased by 27.5%, 28.6%, and 32.8% respectively compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, 17,000 large-scale industrial enterprises have completed smart and digital transformations, with 8 “lighthouse factories” established, and the cumulative number of “top three” category products reaching 1,907 units.
Anhui will continue to develop new sectors such as connected intelligent vehicles, integrated circuits, and robotics; nurture future industries including quantum technology, biomanufacturing, and hydrogen energy; and continue to drive digital-smart and green transformations, while building advanced manufacturing industrial clusters worth trillions of RMB.
The 2026 World Manufacturing Convention serves not only as a central platform to showcase the accumulated development of Anhui’s manufacturing industry over the years but also as a new starting point for Anhui to further integrate into global industrial chains and share industrial opportunities.