World Design Cities Conference 2023, hosted by the Shanghai municipality, will take place in the city from September 26 to Oct 2.

The event, as part of the city's efforts to build itself into a global center for design and creative industries, was founded last year. This year the WDCC 2023, with the theme of "Design Beyond Creativity", will have No. 68 Longhua Road East in Huangpu district as its main exhibition venue, with a series of branch events held all over the city. The WDCC 2023 will also host overseas events at the Milan Fashion Week and the Design London festival.

According to Wu Jincheng, head of the municipal commission of economy and information technology, the WDCC aims to facilitate the coalesce of scientific innovation and creative designs, build a platform for the global designing industries to communicate, and explore new possibilities of high-quality development for the city.

The creative and design industries achieved a total output of 1.64 trillion yuan ($2.25 billion) in 2022, and the city is dedicated to nurturing new designing talents and incubating new creative centers and enterprises, Wu said.