The 2020 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Intellectual Property Trade Expo will be held online from Oct 28 to Nov 3 due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the organizing committee announced during a press conference on Aug 13.

Mai Jiaomeng, director of the organizing committee and director of the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation (Guangdong Intellectual Property Administration), gave an introduction on this year's event at the press conference.

The number of organizations that will participate in the expo will see a remarkable increase to more than 2,000, being nearly seven times than that in the previous edition.

An annual special exhibition area will be set up for the first time, focusing on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. High-quality forums and special activities will also be held during the expo.

Ma Shu, member of the organizing committee and deputy secretary general of the Guangzhou municipal government, noted that the expo will hold a trade exhibition, an IPR forum of the Greater Bay Area, as well as special activities on IPR online.

The trade exhibition will set up seven digital pavilions themed on areas like patented technologies, geographical indication products, copyright culture, and IP operation.

The online forum will integrate various kinds of activity resources, such as meetings and lectures, to gather attendees like entrepreneurs, experts, scholars, and representatives from think tanks from home and abroad to carry out discussions on pressing issues in IPR.