Hi-tech fair bridges Chinese innovators with world

SHENZHEN - An exhibition featuring Chinese hi-tech products and technology opened Thursday in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province.

The China Hi-tech Fair 2017 has drawn more than 3,000 exhibitors from over 30 countries and regions.

Covering a total area of 120,000 square meters, 12 exhibition zones feature hi-tech products in environmental protection, biological sciences, new energy, new materials, military and civil integration, and sensor technology.

Gao Zimin, deputy mayor of Shenzhen, said people from 80 countries and regions will look for business opportunities and the number of visitors will exceed 500,000 during the six-day event.

As well as the release of over 1,000 new products, around 100 technical meetings and forums will discuss different sectors. Fair organizers have arranged meetings between overseas purchasers and domestic hi-tech companies, and investigation tours for international exhibitors, Gao said.

A Belt and Road pavilion has drawn exhibitors from 27 countries and regions, the most since the pavilion was set up in 2015.

"The fair has brought more international attention, communication and cooperation between Chinese hi-tech players and their foreign counterparts," said Gao, adding delegations from Argentina and Papua New Guinea are attending the fair for the first time.

"We look forward to cooperation in renewable resources, technology and application research, transport and security," said Ruben Galleguillo, minister of Planning and Industry of the Argentine La Rioja Province, who is heading the Argentine delegation.

Galleguillo witnessed the signing of a contract on new energy products between Chinese automaker BYD and the La Rioja provincial government, involving 50 electric buses.

Liu Ruopeng, a computer science doctor who founded the metamaterials and aviation business Kuang-Chi in 2010, met his current business partner, Gilo Industries Group, an aerospace engineering company based in England, at the fair in 2015.

"They were very interested in our jetpack design, which enabled a man to fly, in the exhibition hall," Liu said.

Through later exchanges, they found that Kuang-Chi's vision of expanding the range of human activity to aerospace matched their vision very much, deciding to enter a cooperation to help the company upgrade the jetpack with more stable engines, he said.

In January, Kuang-Chi announced the investment of $30 million to jointly develop aerospace technology and commercialization.

The upgraded jetpack is now being displayed at the China Hi-Tech Fair.

"We look forward to developing more partnerships at the fair to further improve our product to achieve its commercialization," he said.

The annual science and technology fair, launched in 1999, is the largest and the most influential in China.