科技美学思辨：“中国工业设计之父”柳冠中将出席2026全球化新品牌AI竞争力大会

This article shares key details of the upcoming 2026 Global New Brand AI Competitiveness Conference, where Guanzhong Liu, known as the "Father of Chinese Industrial Design", will deliver a keynote speech. The core takeaways are as follows:

1. Basic conference information: Hosted by Yibang Power, the annual flagship event for cross-border e-commerce and brand globalization will be held in Hangzhou on July 23 under the theme "Get a Head Start on Tech Aesthetics". It will cover cross-sector go-global case studies and gather resources from leading platforms, service providers and prominent investors.

2. Liu Guanzhong’s core design views: The original mission of design is to meet fundamental human needs such as food, clothing, housing, transportation and communication. Its core is solving real problems, rather than pursuing flashy designs or luxury configurations. In the era of globalization and AI, Chinese brands should not only export products, but also output new concepts and lifestyles. Liu advocates "changing lanes to surpass", replacing possession-oriented consumption with sharing-based usage.

This article provides actionable insights on brand building, product development and strategic positioning for brands pursuing global expansion, as summarized below:

1. Go-global strategy: Liu Guanzhong argues that in the age of globalization, Chinese brands should not stop at just exporting products. Instead, they should proactively output unique brand concepts and lifestyles, pursue the "change lanes to surpass" path by replacing possession-oriented consumption with sharing-based usage, build differentiated competitive advantages and unlock new growth opportunities.

2. Product R&D direction: The core of product design is to address real user needs, rather than chasing cool aesthetics or premium configurations. Brands should develop products rooted in specific daily scenarios such as commuting and housing to align with users’ fundamental needs, and avoid falling into fruitless competition centered on appearance.

3. Industry resource opportunities: The conference gathers a wide range of go-global case studies, platform decision-makers and capital resources. Brands can attend to access cutting-edge insights and connect with potential partners.

This article offers practical guidance on strategic positioning and opportunity exploration for cross-border sellers, as summarized below:

1. Go-global growth opportunities: In the era of globalization and AI, sellers can step out of the red ocean of possession-oriented consumption, pursue the "change lanes to surpass" strategy, lay out the new track of sharing-based usage, build differentiated competitive edges and open up brand new growth space.

2. Product optimization direction: Product development should return to core user needs, with a focus on solving real problems in daily life, rather than blindly pursuing trendy looks or luxury configurations. This approach helps sellers avoid homogeneous price competition and improve the actual user value of their products.

3. Industry networking opportunities: As the annual flagship event for the cross-border industry, this conference covers cross-category go-global cases and gathers leading platforms, service providers and prominent capital players. Sellers can attend to catch up on the latest industry trends, connect with resources and grasp the new landscape of global cross-border business.

This article provides multi-dimensional insights for manufacturing factories pursuing transformation and global expansion, as summarized below:

1. Product design and manufacturing direction: Liu Guanzhong’s design theory points a clear direction for factories: the core of design is solving real user needs. Instead of stacking specifications, competing on materials or pursuing flashy looks, factories should develop products rooted in users’ real daily scenarios to meet actual market demand.

2. Go-global transformation direction: In the age of globalization, factories should not settle for only doing OEM exports. They should actively transform to build their own brands, outputting lifestyles aligned with Chinese design philosophy along with products, pursue the differentiated "change lanes to surpass" path, and increase product added value.

3. Transformation resource matchmaking: The conference gathers go-global brand cases across categories, e-commerce platform resources and service provider resources. Factories pursuing digital transformation and e-commerce go-global expansion can attend to gain cutting-edge experience and connect with industry resources.

This article shares insights on industry trends and business direction for service providers serving the cross-border ecosystem, as summarized below:

1. New industry development trends: Chinese brand globalization has entered a new stage, upgrading from pure product export to brand concept output. The integration of technology and aesthetics has emerged as a new development direction, and the shift from possession-oriented consumption to sharing-based consumption will become the mainstream trend going forward. Service providers can adjust their business layout around these new trends.

2. Core pain points of clients: A large number of brands and manufacturing factories currently fall into the trap of pursuing flashy appearance and price wars, straying from meeting real user needs. Many enterprises lack clear direction on how to complete the upgrade of brand globalization.

3. Business entry points: Service providers can develop corresponding service products centered on the integration of technology and aesthetics, output of globalization brand concepts, and building new consumption models. Meanwhile, the conference gathers a large number of industry client resources; service providers can attend to connect with potential clients and expand their business.

This article provides insights on demand positioning and strategic adjustment for cross-border e-commerce platforms, as summarized below:

1. New demands from brand clients: Chinese brand globalization has entered a new stage, where brands are no longer satisfied with just selling products through platforms. They now need platform support to output brand concepts and build brand value, to match global consumers’ demand for new consumption models. Platforms need to upgrade their service systems to meet brands’ new demands.

2. New merchant recruitment direction: The integration of technology and aesthetics, and sharing-based consumption driven by the "change lanes to surpass" strategy will become the new growth outlet for cross-border business. Platforms can adjust their recruitment strategy around this new trend, prioritize onboarding brands aligned with the new direction, and build differentiated platform competitiveness.

3. Industry development opportunities: The conference gathers extensive resources from brands, capital players and service providers. Platforms can attend to promote their platform policies, connect with high-quality go-global brands, grasp the latest industry trends and avoid outdated development paths.

This article offers valuable insights for researchers in the fields of industrial design and cross-border industry, as summarized below:

1. New industry development trends: China has now formed an independent and complete theoretical system for industrial design. Chinese brand globalization has entered a new stage shifting from product export to concept output. The integration of technology and aesthetics is the new industry direction, and the replacement of possession-oriented consumption with sharing-based consumption marks the new development trajectory of the industry.

2. Core theoretical research outcomes: As the founder of Chinese industrial design, Guanzhong Liu has established theories including "Design for Way of Life", "Affordance Theory" and "Symbiotic Aesthetics". Among them, his "Affordance Theory" builds a systematic methodology for Chinese design disciplines, while "Symbiotic Aesthetics" provides a new perspective for the integration of industrial design and aesthetics. These theories, recognized by international academia, are important research outcomes for China’s design field.

3. New research direction on business models: The "change lanes to surpass" approach and the new sharing-based consumption model proposed by Liu provides a completely new business model direction for Chinese brand globalization, which carries high research value.