Meeting Smart Cities at CIFTIS

Cities are places where people live in concentrated communities and platforms where innovative resources converge. Walking through the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) feels like stepping into a “city of the future.”

Unmanned inspection vehicles that can detect gas leaks 24/7, AI smart streetlights that dynamically adjust brightness based on road pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and driverless road sweepers that automatically avoid pedestrians or obstacles… From urban renewal and intelligent construction to green, low-carbon development and the circular economy, innovators are turning their visions of a better life into patented technologies and innovative products.

A Lamp Wick Embraces New Technology

“We came to CIFTIS to show the world the strength of independent innovation in China’s LED industry.” Fujian Zhongke Xinyuan Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd. brought its signature product to CIFTIS: an ultra-high-power COB light source.

This innovative technology, which fills a domestic gap, was independently developed by Hong Maochun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Mindu Innovation Laboratory, and his team. After more than two years and hundreds of formula adjustments, they successfully developed fluorescent ceramics and LED packaging technologies with independent intellectual property rights, launched the world’s first kilowatt-level KCOB light source module, and broke technical barriers in the high-power LED lighting field.

“Around this technology, Zhongke Xinyuan has filed more than 10 invention patents and six PCT international patent applications,” said Geng Jianfei, an employee of the company. He introduced that the new product has an extremely long lifespan, showing no light decay after more than 50,000 hours, and its overall cost of use is only half that of conventional products. Therefore, it has not only been used in urban lighting, automotive lighting, projection lighting, and industrial lighting such as ports and airports, but has also successfully entered international markets including Japan, South Korea, and the United States, bringing “Chinese light sources” to the world.

A Kilowatt-Hour of Green Electricity Warms New Lives

“Delivering Light, Warming Lives.” At the booth of Beijing Energy Holding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Beijing Energy Group), visitors can directly experience new developments and changes in green transformation, digital empowerment, smart safety, and other fields.

“Green Electricity to Beijing” is a brilliant chapter in Beijing Energy Group’s new energy development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. On site, a sand table model visually demonstrates the Zhangjiakou–Beijing Renewable Energy Comprehensive Application Demonstration Project, invested in and built by the Beijing branch of Beijing Energy Group’s clean energy subsidiary.

“During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, we delivered a total of 170 million kWh of green electricity, helping all venues achieve 100% green electricity supply for the first time in Olympic history and demonstrating China’s renewable energy technological strength to the world,” said a staff member at the booth. The project would not have been possible without the support of hard-core technologies. For example, a concrete-steel hybrid tower technology, used for the first time in China’s alpine regions, was applied to 4.5 MW large wind turbines and granted an invention patent. At the same time, several technologies applied for the first time effectively improved wind turbine availability and power generation efficiency, increasing power generation by about 3% and reducing operation and maintenance costs by about 20%.

A relevant person in charge of Beijing Energy Group said that looking toward the 15th Five-Year Plan, the group will continue to promote the transformation and upgrading of the wind and solar industries, deeply integrate digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data into the entire clean energy chain, and build a “green engine” for new quality productive forces.

An Old Building Gets a New Look

At Building 19, Kaiyangli Third Community, Fengtai District, Beijing, an entirely new technology enabled a dangerous old building to be “demolished and rebuilt on the original site”—each room was manufactured in a factory, transported to the site, and assembled. After the foundation was completed, the main structure hoisting took only six days, and 38 households realized their dream of comfortable housing.

This is the “star” product displayed by China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as China Construction Eighth Engineering Division) at CIFTIS: the CMC steel-concrete composite module. It combines the dual advantages of steel structures, which are suitable for intelligent manufacturing, and concrete, which is durable and economical. It fills a gap in the world’s modular building structural systems and packages 103 patents into a product “patent package.”

At the exhibition, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division focused on the theme “Empowering the Full Chain, Building the Future Intelligently” and showcased a series of scientific and technological innovation achievements. An intelligent plastering robot can cover 300 square meters per day, more than three times the efficiency of manual work, with measured verticality and flatness reaching 100% on site; a pipeline laser rust removal robot uses high-energy lasers to achieve non-destructive, green rust removal, with efficiency more than three times higher than traditional manual work; and a floor tile hollowing monitoring robot introduces millimeter-level precision standards into the decoration process, effectively improving project quality.

Innovation never stops, and the future has arrived. Intellectual property is deeply empowering urban construction and is becoming an “accelerator” for urban renewal. Through the window of CIFTIS, a “dream factory” for smart cities is rising rapidly.