American company RFG Environmental Group will bring its latest advances in reducing indoor air pollution to the 15th China Hi-Tech Fair.

The fair opens on Nov 16 in Shenzhen, the southern city bordering Hong Kong.

The fair has more than 110,000 square meters of exhibition space this year, making it the country's biggest high-tech show.

The exposition of innovations is becoming more influential among foreign companies looking for Chinese partners for market exploration, seeking technological cooperation or attracting Chinese investors.

According to a statement from the organizing committee of the trade fair, 29 delegations from 20 countries, including the United States, Russia, Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom, will have exhibitors at the fair.

"The number of foreign delegations and their exhibition areas both doubled when compared with that of last year," said Gao Guohui, deputy secretary-general of the organizing committee.

Another 100 delegations from more than 20 countries, including Brazil and Mozambique, will also participate in the fair, he added, highlighting the growing involvement of the international IT community.

The Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium has been a loyal and frequent participator in the fair.

Together with Visit Brussels and Brussels Convention Bureau, the foreign trade and investment agency Brussels Invest & Export are also taking the opportunity to provide consultation and services to Chinese companies and individuals in terms of trade, investment and tourism, according to the statement.

De Wolf & Partners, a Belgian law firm, is joining the fair this year, providing on-site legal consultation for Chinese companies regarding international technology transfer, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and other issues related to doing business in Europe. Catalonia of Spain, an autonomous region where Spain's second largest city Barcelona is located, will display a package of partnerships between the public departments and private companies on promoting the development of mobile communications and smart cities, which are cities of the future where computing technology will be utilized to improve efficiency of infrastructure and public services.

The Russian delegation will be composed of a number of leading scientific research institutes, universities and innovative companies, covering a wide range of sectors, including robots, new materials, aviation and radio physics.

They will display the latest technological achievements, such as earthquake monitoring and early warning systems, nano-materials and remote-controlled air vehicles for biological monitoring and atmospheric research.

Backed by the State, the fair was launched in 1999.

It is co-hosted by eight ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, two top academies in China - the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as the Shenzhen municipal government.

With a theme of innovation-driven development and improving the quality of economic growth, the fair showcases China's latest technological achievements and products at a time when the country is shifting its focus to high-tech research.

This year a major priority is commercialization of new innovations, with the goal of accelerating the process of turning new ideas into products.

In addition to posting the new technologies seeking investment on the website of the fair at www.chtf.com, the organizing committee has also arranged a special area for information release conferences, and it will host more than 50 over the course of the six-day fair.

The statistics from the organizing committee showed that the fair attracted nearly 3,000 exhibitors, more than 15,000 projects and roughly 3,000 investors last year. The number of visitors reached 538,000.

According to a survey conducted by Shenzhen Wanren Market Research Co, a third party selected from public bidding for the fair evaluation, some 55 percent of the participated exhibitors said they have achieved their purpose in the fair while about 56 percent said it's a valuable fair to attend.

Given the high popularity, the fair has attracted a group of leading companies and research institutes from China and abroad to showcase their new technological achievements.

According to the statement, companies including Cisco, Microsoft and ZTE will market smart city solutions to Chinese cities seeking the necessary technology to pursue sustainable urbanization.

Lenovo, Founder and Great Wall will focus on mobile Internet technologies and products.

The wider application of industrial robots in electronic manufacturing has fueled invention and technological improvement in the area, which can enhance the production capability and the quality of China's manufacturing industry, according to the statement.

Industrial trends and policies will be discussed at a series of forums during the fair attended by government officials, economists and industrial leaders.

The fair also features professional meetings in the fields of software development, smart city, new energy, green construction, mobile phone construction and smart TV.

In response to the central government's call for thrift in government-sponsored activities, the fair will not hold a closing ceremony this year.

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(China Daily 11/16/2013 page6)