In recent years, Shanghai has made great efforts to enhance the core functions of the city, actively promoted the construction of the capital of international conventions and exhibitions, and the exhibition economy has entered the “accelerated run” era. At present, the city's available exhibition area has exceeded 1 million square meters, ranking first in the world's major exhibition cities.

According to reports, in 2017 Shanghai's exhibition industry directly spurred related industries to earn more than RMB 120 billion, and the convention and exhibition economy “leads” throughout the country. The exhibition industry is showing international, professional, market, and brand development trends. According to a survey conducted by the International Association of Exhibition Industry, more than half of all Asia's B2B exhibitions have a net area in China. Among them, a number of indicators such as the number of exhibitions in Shanghai and the exhibition area rank first in the country and rank among the top in the world.

With the completion of the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai) in 2014, Shanghai has solved the problem of insufficient facilities for the original large-scale exhibition venues.

By 2020, the annual exhibition area in Shanghai is expected to reach 20 million square meters. There will be 50 exhibitions with a scale of 100,000 square meters or more and the number of institutions entering the International Association of Exhibition Industry will exceed 35, with an international exhibition area accounting for 80%.