Prior to ICC Tainan, there was only one convention center in Tainan, which was the Commercial Exhibition Center Tainan (Chinese: 南紡世貿展覽中心).[1] The convention was a joint venture between two private companies, Want Want China Time Media Group and Tainan Spinning Co. Ltd.[2][3]
After the merger between Tainan County and Tainan City in 2010, the Tainan City government expressed interest in constructing and operating its own convention center.
In August 2015, the Executive Yuan approved the construction of Greater Tainan Convention Center, with an initial budget of $2 billion NTD.[4] The construction of the convention center started on 8 May 2018. The project was designed by King Shih Architects.[5]
The convention center has a spacious entry plaza to its north. The rectangular building includes a lobby adjoined to conference rooms of differing sizes. The building also includes an exhibition hall and the parking and loading area.[5]
The exterior of the building has a brick-like color scheme, which evokes Tainan’s Fort Zeelandia and Fort Provintia and their brick walls. The inspiration taken from these ancient forts originally built by Dutch East India Company echoes with the era when Tainan once was the capital for international trade in Taiwan. The brick design then smoothly integrates with the interior, which has a modern, high-tech aesthetic.[5]
The exhibition hall has a high ceiling design with lightweight, bow-shaped tension truss that spans 81 meters across the hall. This design represents the concept of Kunsheng (Chinese: 鯤鯓), a mythical creature that resembles a whale, and has a long relationship with the city of Tainan.[8]
The main exhibition hall can held up to 600 standard-sized booths, or 10,000 people. There are 10 conference rooms in different sizes, each have been given a historic name related to Tainan.[13][14]
Located on the 3rd floor, it is the largest conference room in the convention center, with a capacity of 1,000 people.
Tayouan is the Dutch translation of the name for the bay near modern-day Anping of Tainan, named by the first Dutch settlers. The name “Taiwan” was later derived from this word. This name was given to the largest conference room to symbolize the historical significance of Tainan as a trading hub.[15]
Located on the 3rd floor, it is the second largest conference room in the convention center, with a capacity of 800 people.
Zeelandia refers to the ship Zeelandia that Martinus Sonck used to sail to the Pescadores (modern-day Penghu) and Formosa (modern-day Taiwan). He was the commander who withdrew the Dutch forces from Pescadores to Formosa, and became the first governor of Dutch Formosa.[16] He later constructed Fort Zeelandia, which was named after the ship, as a navigational landmark and to oversee maritime trade in Tainan.[17]
Located on 1st floor, it consists of 5 meeting rooms, each with a capacity of 100 people.
Nusantaria refers to Nusantara, an Old Javanese term describing the islands outside of Java that were under the realm of the Majapahit Empire. This region became pivotal to international trade from the 17th century when the Dutch East Indies served as a trading hub between China, India, the Islamic world, and particularly Tainan of Dutch Formosa.
Located on the 1st floor, it consists of 3 meeting rooms, each with a capacity of 20 people.
Orange is a reference to the Orange City in 1624, the original name of the Dutch settlement in Tainan before it was renamed to Fort Zeelandia when it finished construction. The name was derived from the Prince of Orange, which during that time was the title held by the stadtholder of all provinces of Dutch Republic, including Holland and Zeeland.[18]
The convention center also has an information center, a medical room, lockers, gender-neutral restrooms, parent-child restrooms, breastfeeding rooms and prayer rooms. For food and beverages, there is also a Starbuck mini-store and a 7-Eleven store located within the convention center.
The convention center also provides taxi booking service and wheelchair rental service.
The convention center was chosen to be the main venue for the National Games in Tainan 2023. The event was held from 21 October 2023 to 26 October 2023. The opening ceremony, the National Games banquet and the closing ceremony were all held in the convention center.[19][20][21][22]
The convention center was one of the two venues for the 2024 Taiwan Lantern Festival. It was held in the site of the convention center from 24 February 2024 to 10 March 2024.[23][24] The festival showcased more than 300 art installations and light shows and 170 live performances.[25] The festival had attracted more than 15 million visitor from all across Taiwan and the world.[26]
Alongside the festival, the 2024 Taiwan International Orchid Show and the 23rd World Orchid Conference was also held, with the convention center being one of its two exhibition areas.[27][28] It was also held during the same period from 24 February 2024 to 10 March 2024.[29] The event attracted more than 1,000 participants and 350,000 visitors from 62 countries to both exhibition areas.[30][31]
As an opening show for the festival, the grand Taiwanese opera show 1624 was presented by the National Center for Traditional Arts (NCFTA) to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Tainan. The show took place on 24 and 25 February 2024 at the convention center.[32][33]
The convention center hosted the 2024 Southern Semiconductor Forum on 7 June 2024, which was also the final day of Computex. The forum discussed some of the latest and future semiconductor technologies, while highlighting the crucial role Tainan played in the development of semiconductors. The main feature of this forum was when Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, and Jason Chen, CEO of Acer, held a discussion about their perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI).[34][35]
The convention center hosted the 2024 Asia Agri-Tech Expo & Forum from 19 June 2024 to 21 June 2024. The 2024 Livestock Taiwan Expo and 2024 Aquaculture Taiwan Expo were also held concurrently.[36] These three exhibitions was previously held in Taipei, and this was the first time they were held in Tainan.
The exhibition showcased the latest agricultural technologies and achievements, while promoting industry transformation and upgrading. There were 400 booths set up by around 250 producers and companies from 13 countries, and featured 52 agricultural, livestock, and aquaculture professional forums and seminars. The exhibition had attracted over 27,811 professional attendees from 33 countries.[37][38]
The convention center served as the main venue for the 2024 Creative Expo Taiwan, which was held from 26 August 2024 to 1 September 2024.[39]
During the event, the convention center featured a diverse array of exhibitions, performances, and interactive experiences, with participation of over 570 brands and nearly 700 booths. The convention center attracted over 12,000 people on the first day alone.[40] For the duration of the week-long event, the event attracted 620,000 visitors in total across all 5 venues.[41]
The convention center hosted the Tainan International Green Industry EXPO for 2022, 2023 and 2024. The exhibition was first inaugurated in 2022. The exhibition showcased the latest innovations in green technologies and provided a platform for fostering partnerships within the green industry.[42][43] It also hosted professional seminars, which had attracted 30 speakers and 650 participants in 2023.[44]
In 2024, the exhibition attracted 80 exhibitors from seven countries, with a total of 250 booths.[45][46] The exhibition for 2025 will be renamed to Taiwan Carbon Neutral & Sustainability Expo.[47]
Tainan Automatic Machinery & Intelligent Manufacturing Show
The convention center hosted the Tainan Automatic Machinery & Intelligent Manufacturing Show (CTMS Tainan) for 2022, 2023 and 2024.[48][49] The exhibition is organized by the Commercial Times.[50]
^吳, 俊鋒 (2022-04-15). "台南會展中心即將啟用 南紡世貿走過10年謝幕了". Liberty Times Net (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on 2024-11-23. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
^"Ruins of Fort Zeelandia". Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture. Archived from the original on 2024-11-24. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
^Teng, Cathy; Newell, Phil (July 2024). "What Happened in 1624? —The Legacy of Dutch Rule in Taiwan". Taiwan Panorama Magazine | An international, bilingual magazine for Chinese people around the world (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2024-11-24. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
^"Fort Zeelandia". Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture. Archived from the original on 2024-11-24. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
^ ab"中華民國112年全國運動會". sport112.tainan.gov.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on 2024-11-23. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
^"產業聚落減碳交流 推動淨零轉型 | 中華日報|中華新聞雲". 中華新聞雲 / China Daily News (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2023-10-30. Archived from the original on 2024-11-23. Retrieved 2024-11-23.