Starting in 2018 in Zagreb/ Croatia as an initiative of the civil society now in Skopje a second World Congress of Entrepreneurs followed in 2019 being hosted by Northern Macedonia. The idea is to bring together scientists, entrepreneurs and governments in an annual event circling around the territories of ex-Yugoslavia.

"The Conference is an ideal platform for speeding up the knowledge transfer about innovations" Prof.Dr.B.Hallier said. "I am very happy that we could integrate the competition for High Schools and Secondary Vocational Schools of Skopje into this event of great publicity! If we have an entrepreneurial youth and teachers promoting applied sciences we do not have to be afraid of the future" he added.
 

In 2011 Prof.Dr.B.Hallier has been awarded the title "doctor oeconomiae honoris causa" by the Czech VSE University in Prague (YouTube) for his innovations in Applied Trade Sciences and research on Trade Cycles as Sector Analysis. Those observations are now enhanced by statements about the time-lag between the innovative prototypes/initial kick-offs and the penetration status "major impact on operative business".

Starting with the changes in Western Europe in 1800 with the dominance of harbors/Colonial trade towards industrialized manufacture and consumer cooperatives, from 1875 onward department stores, retail cooperatives, catalogue mail orders leapfrogged the trade sector all 25 years, followed after World War II by self-service supermarkets, big boxes/ shopping centers and in the beginning of this millennium by internet (B2B/B2C). The same time-periods have been observed by Hallier in the development of the technical tool "barcoding" from the printed version (1975) via the chip-technology (2000) towards two-dimensional/QR codes and the Internet of Things. For Prof.Hallier this observation is a hint that for the penetration of innovation the real bottleneck are the human beings in their limited ability to adapt to changing environments quicker than one generation: he therefore speaks of the "Darwin Effect in Applied Trade Sciences".
 

Twenty years ago the image of innovative retail in China was created by the market-entrance of big boxes from the USA or Europe like Walmart, Carrefour, Metro or IKEA. The latest newcomer in this category is Costco. For Prof.Dr.B.Hallier there will be a change of mindset in the future. "Traffic jams are no incentives for longer shopping-distances. Small local shops with fresh assortments in connection with e-byke-delivery wil be the hot topic in future in Asia" he stated in his 4 weeks China lectures.

In Foshan nearly 60 Chinese retailers attended his one-day-seminar about the success-story of the German discounter ALDI and its different approach in the UK or in Shanghai's test market (Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3, Picture 4, Picture 5, Picture 6, Picture 7). Interviewed by CCTV in the ALDI store Hallier claimed that those missing China as a market will decline in global competence (see also CCTVplus). For him retail is changing its benchmark: innovation in this century will be driven by Asia!
 

Current discussions on "Low Carbon Cities" or "Smart Cities" seek to address future developments of cities under the condition of climate change employing amongst other things energy saving technologies; "green retreats" in mega-cities (like this roof-garden on top of an ecology-oriented supermarket in Heifei/China) are not only needed for personal relief but also as "micro-climate zones" for air-circulation within cities.

The 25th International REAL CORP Conference for city-and reginal planning will deal with those hot topics and be organized at the occasion of the 150ies anniversary of the University of Aachen/Germany from April 15-18th 2020 - a city connecting Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and being since Charles the Great for 1200 years the heart of Europe (Call for papers).
 

The very first root of APREC is an exhibition and conference in 1983 in Tokyo/Japan - an activity which was graced by the Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone and by this also got its political high level reputation. The intention is a bi-annual event to promote the modern/organized retail-industry as a sector across Asia Pacific and which therefore is rotating among its various national retailers associations.

China was host first in 2005 in Beijing and now for a second turn in 2019 in Chongqing - an agglomeration of 31 million inhabitants. The international Asian Pacific network was awarded at this occasion by the Peace Circle Chair Collection Certificate of the Chinese Government. More than 4.000 business people visited the Conference with speakers of all big Chinese players. In the Closing Ceremony the APREC-flag was handed over for the 2021 Congress to Indonesia.