The optoelectronics & information industry was founded quite early in Wuhan. The industry has delivered strong, effective, and sustained growth in recent years, especially in East Lake Developing Zone, where a number of universities and institutes, which are engaged in teaching or researching optoelectronics & information subjects, are coupled with many renowned optoelectronics & information companies, both Chinese and foreign. Cooperating together, they enjoy recognizable advantages in high technology, qualified personnel, and firm industry foundation.

Wuhan has always been the cradle of optoelectronics & telecommunications civilization in China. It was Wuhan Institute of Posts & Telecommunications (WIP) that first opened an optical line (8mb/s) for telecommunication.

Early in 1994, Wuhan was given approval to establish a national research center for optical telecommunications engineering. In 1999, a national optoelectronic technology center was founded in Wuhan, which today is China’s largest national technology hub for producing optical fiber & cable, optoelectronic units, optical transmission equipment, and optical instruments. Recently, two standards, namely X.85 and Y.1321, issued by WIP, were approved by the International Telecommunications Association, indicating that the WIP has come to be one member among the world’s most advanced institutions in this field.

From 1971 on, HuaZhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) began to do research in gas lasers, solid lasers, and their respective applications. In the 1980s, the first national key laser technology lab was established at HUST. In the early 1990s, the State Planning Committee gave HUST the go-ahead to establish the first national laser processing engineering research center. More than 10 years have passed since those days. HUST has been responsible for 21 National Tackling-key-problem Science and Technology Projects, and another 10 "State 863 Project". At present, HUST still maintains its leadership in laser technology and laser applications in China. Moreover, HUST is also recognizable for its optoelectronics, physical electronics, optical telecommunications, information processing, digital control technology and so on.

Besides, Wuhan University, HUST, and Wuhan Mapping Science University are facilitated with a national software engineering key lab, a Plastic Forming Simulation key lab, a National telemetric mapping key lab, a national multimedia software engineering research center, a national CAD software engineering center and a GPS engineering research center anyway.