First Hainan International Yacht Design Award Officially Launched

The first Hainan International Yacht Design Award was officially launched in Sanya on 18 October, 2021 at the Academic Seminar on the yacht industry of Sanya CBD. Organized by Hainan Provincial Department of Transport, Hainan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, Sanya Municipal People's Government, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sanya CBD Administration and Hainan Marine Trade Exchange Services Co., Ltd. The event attracted over 100 colleges and corporations from the yacht and design fields and was intended to offer a yacht "design + product" resource alignment platform, drawing upon the policy advantages of Hainan Free Trade Port in order to promote deeper discussion and cooperation in the yacht industry.

Present at the event were Li Zhiqiang, Deputy Director-General of Hainan Provincial Department of Transport, Wu Haifeng, Deputy Mayor of Sanya Municipal People's Government, Sun Yuping, level-2 Inspector of Hainan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, Jiang Jinchen, Director of Design of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and international guests attending online were Michael Breman, the Sale Director of Lurssen Yachts in Germany and Joe Yuan, the Chief Representative Burgess Yachts Asia (HK & Macao).

The Hainan International Yacht Design Award is the first design competition of transport held in Hainan after the release of the Master Plan for the Hainan Free Trade Port which aims to contribute to the development of "Hainan International Design Island", foster local yacht design brands, incubate local enterprises and cultivate outstanding design talents. Wu Haifeng, deputy mayor of Sanya Municipal People's Government, says that “Sanya boasts a pleasant climate, rich tourism resources and an annual ‘seaworthy’ period of more than 350 days, representing unique advantages in developing the yacht industry.” Thanks to the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, Sanya currently has nearly 1,000 yachts, and ranks first in China for yachting.

The average number of monthly tourists traveling by yacht has exceeded 100,000. The total number from January to July this year is already bigger than that of last year. A growth rate of 20% has been maintained despite the pandemic. Hainan's preferential policies such as zero tariff for the first imported yacht, guarantee exempted for the entry of the first yacht, and the integration of multiple certificates for the first yacht have been first implemented in Sanya. All relevant authorities, colleges, enterprises and institutions are expected to engage in a win-win cooperation on deeper levels, accelerate the clustering of upstream, midstream and downstream elements, promote the combination of design works and products through this competition, and drive the sustainable development of the yacht industry.

In light of the relevant planning for the yacht industry in the Sanya CBD and the actual market demands, the competition is divided into three parts: mass production yacht design, super yacht design, and maritime tourism platform design, and yacht designers at home and abroad, heads of major yacht manufacturers and tutors from design colleges have been specially invited as the judges to evaluate the entries from three aspects: interior decoration, exterior decoration and general layout. For each of the three competition parts, there are three gold awards, three silver awards, three bronze awards and several judges' nomination awards, with a total bounty of RMB 400,000.

Huang Yilin, the representative of the jury, described the competition system and evaluation rules at the launch ceremony and the Sanya CBD Administration explained the relevant plans for the Sanya yacht industry in detail to the guests who were present. In line with the CBD's "124866" medium- and long-term plans for developing the yacht industry in Sanya with the overall goal of building the Capital of Yacht in the Asia-Pacific. Sanya will build four implementation paths including one core with multiple ports, optimization of the consumer base, improvements to trading flow and pooling of high-end business forms. Also, Sanya actively establish two platforms including a yacht trading platform and an industrial innovative development alliance platform. They will build eight projects including a yacht trading center, Nanbianhai international yacht wharf and a yacht service assurance base. They will also apply for six policies including second-hand imported yacht age exemptions and promote six event brands including Hainan International Yacht Design Award and Monaco Energy Boat Challenge (China Region).

In Sanya CBD, a world-class yacht tourism consumption center, an internationally renowned yacht exhibition and trading center and a world-leading yacht innovation service center will be built according to the requirements of the Master Plan for the Hainan Free Trade Port. An innovation ecosystem will be constructed around the "government, industry, university, research, usage, and innovation" systems of the yacht industry. The R&D of yacht technology will be promoted for a leap by setting up laboratories, incubation competitions and guidance funds, so as to achieve new breakthroughs in high-quality application and research and improve the core competitiveness and global influence of Sanya's yacht industry.

On the same day, an academic seminar on the yacht industry in the Sanya CBD was also held with the theme of "the bottleneck-breaking road of Chinese yacht design". Representatives from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the China Academy of Art and yacht enterprises delivered keynote speeches respectively and had in-depth exchanges and discussions on China's yacht design industry at the seminar. In addition, many designers and yacht design enthusiasts witnessed the launch of this competition by watching the live broadcast online. The organizers have invited designers and yacht design enthusiasts from all over the world to actively participate in the competition, where they will open their minds and use their talent to present the beauty of yachts and fully display the infinite possibilities of marine life.

Note: This article is a direct translation from the original Chinese Press release for more information go to www.hyda.design