The 17th China Hi-Tech Fair to be held in Shenzhen from Nov 16 to 21 is currently the largest and most influential scientific and technological fair in China. Photos Provided to China Daily

Left: A remote-controlled drone displayed last year. Right: Businesspeople from more than 50 countries have visited the fair in the past.

The 17th China Hi-Tech Fair, or CHTF, will be held in Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center from Nov 16 to 21.

The annual event is currently the largest and most influential scientific and technological fair in China and is known as "the number one technology show in China", fair organizers said.

Fan Junchao, director of the marketing department at Royole Corp, said the company participated in the fair because many well-known high-tech companies take part and the event has introduced many scientific research products to Shenzhen and the country.

CHTF's exhibition area is more than 150,000 square meters this year and in past years nearly 3,000 exhibitors from more than 50 countries and more than 500,000 visitors have attended annually.  

At this year's fair, Royole will present their latest product "Royole-X", which is a foldable mobile screen device featuring groundbreaking technology that enables the world's highest pixel density display with 3300 ppi - 10 times higher than current leading smartphone displays.

"The fair is a feast of technology trends and concepts," Fan said and added it would show audiences the rise of high-technology development.

In 2012, Liu Zihong, a Stanford University graduate, founded Royole after quitting his job at IBM in the United States and brought his innovative ideas to Shenzhen. Today, it is one of the leading high-tech startups.  

This year's CHTF is expected to attract more high-tech startups like Royole, especially as it plans to set up independent sections for inventors, young high-tech enterprises and university student entrepreneurship, to provide a platform for innovation, ideas and products of small and medium-sized innovative enterprises, individual makers and students.

The fair hosts a road show for about 50 small and mini-sized high-tech companies to promote their projects to more than 100 investors.

At previous road show events, high-tech companies have attracted investments of tens of millions of yuan and the successful fundraising has given them advantages for rapid development.

Bellsent Technology Co, a Shenzhen-based solution provider for smart cities, received a 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) investment at the 12th CHTF and now has projects in Tianjin and Hunan and Zhejiang provinces.

The fair has always supported the development of makers. Last year, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences displayed about 30 projects by makers and was very popular.

This year, more than 100 maker projects, spaces and supply chains will participate in the fair and will show their projects in the 1,000-square-meter exhibition space on the second floor of Hall Five in the exhibition center.

A 3-D Shenzhen market map displays the history of Shenzhen maker groups - from conception to production. It also shows the current development environment for incubators, communication events and training.

Selected representatives from the Maker Institute by the China Academy of Science, Shenzhen-Hong E-hub in Qianhai and other platforms will illustrate Shenzhen's maker culture.

These makers will also be able to find potential clients, business partners, suppliers, investors and service providers for product design, branding and manufacturing.

This year, CHTF will also launch a "Startup Weekend" road show, covering smart homes, open source hardware, 3-D printing, sports, education and consumer electronics, which has attracted several makers and their projects from home and abroad.

In addition, the Startup Weekend will choose 16 to 20 projects that cover smart hardware, mobile Internet, wearable devices, smart homes and Internet plus to compete for the Maker of CHTF - Academy Award.

The fair invited 45 university maker teams from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other major cities in China to present their latest innovations.

As well as the exhibition, startup pioneers and industry experts will also share their insights about the development opportunities in the high-tech industry in the era of mass entrepreneurship and innovation at a summit on Nov 17.

One of the speakers is Wang Xiang, senior vice-president of Xiaomi Corp, a 5-year-old startup that has developed into the world's third-largest smartphone maker.

Dubbed "China's Silicon Valley", Shenzhen has been stepping up efforts to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. The government has set up a special 200-million-yuan fund to develop entrepreneurship, with the aim of nurturing a further 30,000 makers, 50 maker spaces and 10 service platforms for makers each year.

The city government has raised the maximum amount for loans to budding entrepreneurs to 200,000 yuan from 100,000 yuan.

Shenzhen's environment for innovation and entrepreneurship is the most favorable of all mainland cities, excluding the four municipalities, according to an annual survey published in September by Tsinghua University's TusPark Research Institute for Innovation.

grace@chinadailyhk.com