The "City, Creativity and Future" Summit Forum, part of the first Ordos International Creativity and Culture Conference, opened on Aug 23.

Officials of the governments of Inner Mongolia and Ordos were present to welcome the attendees, and to outline the city's advantages and policies in developing creative and cultural industries.

Ordos, a resource-oriented city, is exploring new roads for innovation and entrepreneurial development, said Bai Yugang, secretary of the Ordos municipal Party committee, adding that the city feels that creativity and innovation support its future.

Ordos is striving throughout the conference to establish a cultural exchange and services platform through activities such as creative design competitions and summit forums, according to Wu Lan, head of the Ordos publicity department.

The summit forum attracted outstanding scholars in the field of creativity and culture, and urban planners from home and abroad, including Liu Guangzhong from Tsinghua University, Professor Luca Fois from the Polytechnic University of Milan and Gan Yong, academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Gan shared his opinions on the roles of technology, digitization, and networking in design creation.

The summit also witnessed the signing of an industry-university-research strategic cooperation agreement.