Creators, inventors, technological developers and venture capital investors from China and overseas will gather in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen to attend the country's largest high-tech fair from Nov 16 to 21.

The China Hi-Tech Fair, an annual event since 1999, serves as a window for China's top technological achievements, a stage for international exchanges of technological development, a platform to encourage individual innovation and experiments and a tie to keep creative communities around the world close.

With the theme of "Creative Entrepreneurship, Cross-border Integration", the CHTF 2015 will cover an exhibition area of more than 110,000 square meters at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

The exhibition areas will be divided into sections for national high-tech projects, projects from Chinese provinces and municipalities, projects from universities and institutes and foreign delegations, as well as several specialized shows, including exhibitions on IT, energy conservation and environment protection, new energy, electronics, smart cities, opto-electronics and startups and investment zones.

At a time when the central government of China is highlighting a strategy of innovation-driven development, the fair has gained wide attention for its unparalleled strength in promoting technological development in China, said Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin, who also serves as director of the organizing committee of the CHTF.

"The fair is expected to play an important role to accelerate the changes from 'made in China' to 'made by China', from 'Chinese speed' to 'Chinese quality' and from 'Chinese products' to 'Chinese brands'," Xu said.

According to the mayor, the fair will focus on five sectors this year. It will highlight technological innovation and showcase the latest innovation-driven developments and achievements; encourage innovation and entrepreneurship to revitalize economic growth; emphasize trans-industrial integration and nurture new development modes; promote openness and innovation and explore new cooperations; and consider new development modes for the fair.

The organizing committee said the new technologies and products will focus on Internet Plus, smart wearables, smart cities, smart homes, life and health, next generation IT, energy conservation and environmental protection, electronics, biology, high-end equipment manufacturing and new energy.

As an echo of the country's Belt and Road Initiative, the fair has set up a special area in its international pavilion to facilitate more frequent communication and exchanges between visitors and exhibitors from countries and regions along the routes.

There will also be a forum on technological cooperation among countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

"We hope the fair can connect the technologies and capital to create win-win situations for the countries and regions in the area," Xu said.

Some 21 delegations from 19 countries including Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Russia, Singapore and Turkey, have confirmed their attendance at the CHTF.

As individuals have emerged as an active power in innovation and creativity, the CHTF has included booths for small-and-micro-sized technological startups, inventors, creators and university students to display their achievements and products.

The organizing committee of the CHTF has also arranged project road shows, technological exchanges and idea sharing to satisfy the needs of startups.

Official statistics show there were about 550,000 visits by people from 83 countries and regions to the fair last year, including 3,600 exhibitors.

About 80 percent of the exhibitors said they would attend the fair again when surveyed. Figures also show that every booth in the fair hosted 235 professional visits each day during last year's six-day fair.

chenhong@chinadaily.com.cn