On June 28, the BOE Global Innovation Partner Conference 2023 (BOE IPC•2023), themed "The Internet of Screens: Integration and Symbiosis," grandly opened at the Beijing·Biren Yi Chuang International Convention and Exhibition Center. As the sixth industry event hosted by BOE for global display and IoT ecosystem partners, and coinciding with the company's 30th anniversary, BOE presented the IPC WEEK. It attracted global industry experts, ecological partners, and leading enterprises to create a series of innovative activities, including keynote speeches, thematic forums, BOE×Partner Innovation Exhibitions, Innovation Partner Programs, strategic cooperation, and many industry-first new product launches.
At the conference, Yao Xiangjun, Executive Vice President of BOE and Chairman of BOE EWIN, delivered a keynote speech titled "The Internet of Screens Brings Culture to Life," sharing a series of practices and innovations by BOE EWIN in the field of digital culture under the guidance of BOE's "Internet of Screens" strategy. He introduced in detail the first full-scene digital art museum created by BOE EWIN - the Suzhou Bay Digital Art Museum. Yao Xiangjun stated that the Suzhou Bay Digital Art Museum is not only an art museum but also a place that can stimulate people's creativity and innovation potential, fully integrating with various industries. "The stories of all industries are worth retelling in a way that combines culture with technology!" Here is the transcript of Yao Xiangjun's speech:
Good morning, everyone! The topics we just discussed were more related to technology and industry, which might be quite intense. I hope the next 10 minutes will be more relaxing for you. The topic is about the relationship between screens and culture, titled "The Internet of Screens Brings Culture to Life."
In the long river of human civilization's evolution, with technological progress, the media for cultural dissemination have evolved from pottery, bronze, bamboo slips, and silk to the screen era. In the past, we said that cultural people were book readers, but now, with screens everywhere, more people are actually reading screens than books. Therefore, screens and culture have a close relationship.
Culture is a major industry. In 2016, the digital creative industry was included in the strategic emerging industries. I believe this is a significant sign of the progress of Chinese society, incorporating soft sciences and more right-brain-focused elements into the strategic emerging industries. Last year, digitalization became the focus of innovation in the cultural industry.
Additionally, let's look at this data. With the introduction of a series of policies to promote the development of the cultural industry, the scale of the digital cultural industry is growing rapidly. It was 1.8 trillion in 2017, and it is expected to reach about 10 trillion by 2027. Therefore, the digital cultural industry will be a 10 trillion-level major industry, which is worth considering for all of us here on how to find growth opportunities within this industry.
According to BOE's "Internet of Screens" development strategy, we have also implemented practices in the field of digital culture, which highly align with the three stages just shared by Chairman Chen. In the exploration phase, we pioneered the digital art display terminal BOE iGallery globally; in the practice phase, we continuously enriched our product family, created the international standard for digital art display based on the innovation of iGallery, and established an industry alliance based on this standard; in the integration phase, we are promoting the serialization, scene-based, and ecosystem development of our products. A significant plan for this phase is to implement the "Millions of Digital Cultural Scene Experience Plan," which will bring digital culture to every corner and into thousands of households. To this end, we have conducted a lot of innovative practices, enriched our product system, and most importantly, pioneered the first full-scene digital art museum globally. In summary, our biggest takeaway from the cooperation practices under the guidance of the group's "Internet of Screens" is this: to achieve breakthroughs in the innovative industry, the key lies in innovation, and the key to innovation is to adhere to the spirit of pioneering.
To better engage in the digital cultural industry with our ecological chain partners, we have also taken the lead in establishing the Digital Art Display International Standard Industry Alliance under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. To date, more than 260 units, including content institutions such as the National Art Museum of China, technical partners like Tencent Cultural Tourism, and application partners like Wanda Cinemas, have joined the alliance. The alliance is not just a concept; it has done practical work, namely the previously mentioned "Millions of Digital Cultural Experience Scene Plan." As the chairman said, let the screens integrate more functions, derive more ecosystems, and embed themselves into more scenarios. I believe that scenarios related to culture fully meet these three characteristics and have great potential.
So far, we have made extensive applications in cultural institutions such as the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, and the National Library of China. In addition, in broader public spaces like schools, shopping malls, hotels, hospitals, bookstores, etc., there have been many applications, and we have also applied iGallery and Xiao Ke Ping to family scenarios. I will share a few cases to help you understand what we have done.
Last year, during the international ice and snow event, there were three major contributions from BOE behind the beautiful scenes: first, the super floor screen; second, the main torch platform; third, the digital badge. Behind every beautiful scene, there is a huge force of technology.
Another case is the "Century's Hundred Digital Experience Exhibition" we collaborated with the National Art Museum of China a couple of years ago. We digitized 100 pieces of art treasures in the museum to make them more accessible to the public. Due to the pandemic restrictions, only 2,000 people could enter the museum each day, so not many people could see those works. By collaborating with the museum and digitizing these works, we mobilized the deployed iGallerys across the country to simultaneously launch the Century's Hundred Digital Experience Exhibition in various spaces such as schools, communities, families, hotels, etc. Within a month, the number of visitors exceeded 10 million. There is a short video to show you the event's scenes (video played at the scene).
What touched me in this video was a little boy in Changsha who might not have the opportunity to enter the National Art Museum of China. At that time, we hoped that through digital means, he could directly appreciate the works of the National Art Museum on the blackboard and corridors of his school, and the effect was almost identical to the original. This is the impact that the integration of technology and culture can bring to the next generation, which makes us feel that engaging in cultural-related businesses is very meaningful.
Next, I would like to share with you our latest innovation - the Suzhou Bay Digital Art Museum, the world's first full-scene digital art museum. Technology must be leading, content must be rich, experience must be good, and functions must be diverse. It is not only a digital art exhibition but also a base for the industry alliance, a center for innovation achievements display, and a science education base for young people. Why is it called a full-scene digital art museum? First, all artistic content is fully digitized, with traditional classic works digitized, and new media art, AI-generated art, NFT digital collections are all concentrated and presented; the second feature is the digitization of exhibition methods. We hope to create an art museum that allows user participation through more digital and interactive methods, not just for viewing but for participation. There are many AR/VR creations, immersive experiences, and various interactive methods involving the five senses, allowing visitors to the museum to have more experiences and imaginations about the future and the integration of technology and culture; the third very important point is the full digitization of venue operations. We have built a full-scene smart venue system that we hope will use data to drive daily operational optimization. We need to know how many people come each day, where each person stays on which exhibition item, which exhibitions are popular, which are not, and how we should optimize. In addition, it allows people who do not understand technology to easily control venue operations.
Our digital art museum integrates a lot of culture and also a lot of technology. I want to emphasize that this museum is not just a work of BOE; it is a cross-disciplinary integration crystallized by our participation with 11 alliance members and more than 50 experts from the fields of culture, technology, and visual health.
We have made many attempts, but we still feel that it is only version 1.0. It is gratifying that after the museum opened, the popularity far exceeded our expectations. Within two months, our total reception exceeded 70,000 people, and there were more than 260 government and enterprise investigation teams, far exceeding the expected maximum number of visitors. We sincerely invite everyone to visit our museum in Suzhou when it is convenient and discuss more cooperation.
I believe that the current version 1.0 of the museum is still immature because there will be many new technologies in the future, including AI, more new displays, and better cultural content, which should allow it to continue upgrading. With the advent of the AI era, the most indispensable thing for humanity is creativity. I especially hope that our digital art museum can be a place that stimulates people's creativity and innovation potential, so it must have the vitality to continue upgrading. Now, many places are contacting us, and we will continue to layout and iterate versions 2.0, 3.0... Today, there are some partners, including Chairman Liang of Yibin (Yi Development), who came over and said that we will cooperate to build one right away. I especially hope that more partners from the technical and content sides will join us in building more digital art museums together.
You might think that the digital art museum is just about culture, but I want to say that it is not just an art museum. In fact, it can fully integrate with various industries. Why do I say that? For example, the project we are working on now is called the "Eye Valley Pupil." Wenzhou has a characteristic industry called the optometry industry. They wanted to create an exhibition hall and, after seeing our art museum, said it should be done like this. So, we transformed their planning museum into a different exhibition center using the narrative logic of cultural relics and digital display methods, telling different stories of innovation in the optometry industry, allowing people to see, see clearly, see for a long time, and see far. This story tells the innovative stories of all well-known enterprises. So, I have a takeaway: there was a famous saying in the past: "All industries are worth doing again in a digital way!" Now we feel that the stories of all industries are worth retelling in a "culture + technology" way!
There are characteristic industries everywhere, and we look forward to more cooperation to create more amazing experiences that integrate technology and culture.
That's my share, and I look forward to working with partners here who are in technology, content, and the application side to jointly build a million new digital cultural scenes.
Thank you!
Subsequently, Chen Mingjie, Director of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, delivered a keynote speech titled "Brilliant Central Axis 'Eye' Color Presentation," introducing the cultural value, protection, and inheritance of the Beijing Central Axis, and called for strengthened protection and inheritance of cultural heritage, adhering to the principle of protection first, inheritance second. In terms of inheritance, it is necessary to "transform the heavy into the agile, the ancient into the fashionable, and the niche into the mass." Chen Mingjie said, "'Transform the heavy into the agile'; whether it's the Forbidden City or the Temple of Earth, the cultural relics on the central axis are very heavy. We must strive to express the heavy cultural relics in an agile way, truly entering people's hearts. 'Transform the ancient into the fashionable' means that cultural relics should be expressed in a fashionable way, truly entering the hearts of young people. 'Transform the niche into the mass' means to go beyond the professional circle, to go beyond self-admiration, and truly let cultural relics enter the hearts of the people, enhancing the spiritual strength of the people." Finally, Chen Mingjie expressed his gratitude to BOE EWIN for providing technical support for the "Brilliant Central Axis" special exhibition at the Capital Museum.
