Sixty-eight delegations from 44 countries and regions and international organizations are participating in the 21st China Hi-Tech Fair (CHTF), which opened its doors in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday.

Major highlights of this year's fair are technologies from aerospace, energy conservation, telecommunication, blockchain, and biomedicine sectors. A total of 3,356 exhibitors will display tens of thousands of products on the 140,000-square-meter exhibition area during the five-day event.

Dubbed as "China's No.1 technology exhibition," the Shenzhen-based annual fair is the bellwether of China's technology trend and accelerators for innovative startups. It provides a platform for the two-way communication between research labs in universities, institutes and investors from the market. Scientists and researchers can discuss with the market insiders about how to transform the lab products to available commodities that can cater to the market demands. 

Back in 1999, when the high-tech fair was first held in Shenzhen, Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent, took down his first and the most critical venture capital from the investors at the exhibition hall. The 20-plus-page business plan he used to present his company strategy had been revised for 66 times, according to the local media report. It was that amount of investment that laid the foundation for the then one-year-old startup growing up to be a multi-billion-dollar tech giant 20 years later.

The first product he demonstrated to the investors had a household name—QQ, a mainstream messaging app dominating China's domestic market for almost a decade before the company's other flagship product, WeChat, came out. The significance of the product is far beyond chatting. Instead, it had revolutionized the way people communicate. Other well-known brands like Huawei, ZTE all promoted their companies to the whole world by virtue of the platform.

This year has attracted a lot of unicorn startups to attend as well, with their business ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) to autonomous driving. The segment sectors include AI chips, algorithm software, facial, speech, and image recognition technologies.

The Shenzhen City government initiated the CHTF in 1999 in a bid to boost the economy through technical innovation and has since been held annually.