With innovative materials and sustainability exhibitors, from left: Zacharias Cheng, president of the Innovative Entrepreneur Association; Jenny Koo, deputy executive director of HKTDC; Katherine Fang, chairman of the HKTDC Garment Advisory Committee; Jeffrey Lam, chairman of the HKTDC Home InStyle and Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair Organising Committee. Photo Credit: Hong Kong Trade Development Council
Hong Kong is hosting a cluster of seven licensing and lifestyle industry fairs in the final week of April, demonstrating a coordinated approach to harnessing cross-sector sourcing synergies and business exchange.
Running concurrently from 27 to 30 April (with licensing events through 29 April), the events organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) comprise the Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair, Home InStyle, Fashion InStyle, Hong Kong International Printing & Packaging Fair, DeLuxe PrintPack Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Licensing Show and the Asian Licensing Conference.
Together, these fairs will gather some 5,600 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions including Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. First-time exhibitors include participants from Finland, Germany, Iceland, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
The concentration of the events into a cluster allows buyers to source across multiple sectors in one trip, while organisers lean into stronger cross-pollination between industries through themed zones and shared programming.
For instance, the Reimagine themed floor at Hall 5 of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre will merge forward-looking elements from both the Gifts & Premium Fair and Home InStyle exhibitions.
Another example is The Gerontech and Innovative Material Pavilion, funded by the Innovation and Technology Commission, in response to the rise of materials innovation and the success of last year's gerontech living product showcase. This year, both elements have been brought together in the Pavilion of 20 local exhibitors.
Sustainability is another theme threading across the cluster, with the seven fairs collectively bringing together 820 green exhibitors.
Supporting the physical events is HKTDC’s EXHIBITION+ hybrid model, with AI-powered sourcing tools designed to improve matchmaking and visitor efficiency. The Click2Match platform uses AI to connect buyers and exhibitors, while Scan2Match enables follow-up discussions online after the fairs. New this year, an on-site SmartBot service will help visitors search exhibitors and generate personalised routes.