SHANGHAI, Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 6, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China and Shanghai's municipal government jointly held a press conference in Beijing announcing the first China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair (CSITF). This inaugural event, which is scheduled to be held in Shanghai between May 8 and 11, 2013, will have as a theme "driving development through innovation, protecting intellectual property and boosting technology trade". CSITF is designed to be a national platform to showcase and exchange international technologies, promote and put into use world standard high-tech applications, help companies and organizations gain international technological support and transform technological innovation into practical and usable results.

The inaugural CSITF will be devoted to three areas: exhibition, forums and transaction services. The exhibition portion of the event will focus on six major technology areas: intelligent manufacturing, next-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials as well as energy saving and environment protection, collectively showcasing the best of China's homegrown along with foreign advanced application technologies, as well as high-tech products and applications in the form of end products, models, images and pictures. The scheduled forums will include the opening ceremony, the summit forum, themed professional forums and several transaction service forums, as well as a series of policy promotion conferences, innovation demonstration conferences and project matching sessions. The transaction service part of the event - a highlight of CSITF - brings together the most talented professionals from the leading professional institutions throughout the entire technology transaction ecosystem worldwide under one roof to provide technology consulting on evaluation, transferring and licensing, intellectual property, investment and financing as well as investment promotion services.

Zhou Liujun, director of Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of China's Ministry of Commerce, said that CSITF is of great significance in boosting the development of technology trade, in implementing an innovation-driven development strategy nationwide and in speeding up the development of an innovation-driven economy. The fair is also one of the important steps in boosting the development of technology trade. "We aim to encourage and to guide domestic and foreign companies in discussing and negotiating autonomously and equally based on their own supply and demand via the platform and in helping companies avoid and reduce trade risks via economy and trade platforms, and by doing do, provide a benefit to these companies."

Zhou added that China has been running a technology trade deficit for many years. "China's manufacturing and service companies and organizations continue to find it necessary to learn advanced technologies from their foreign peers when setting up and managing their manufacturing facilities as well as during their transition and upgrade processes and the Chinese government also encourages them to do so as a way to improve their competence. As a result, the demand for technology imports is strong in China. The strong demand is testament to the rosy prospects for the development of technology trade in the country."

Zhang Xinsheng, deputy director of the Shanghai Commerce Commission, said that CSITF is committed to innovation in terms of position, goals, products on display, form, service target and performance assessment. CSITF plans to take the lead in hosting both physical and virtual fairs, with the aim of holding physical fairs annually and virtual fairs daily, and in establishing a technology driven service industry chain for technology trade, that is truly trade-centric in relation to trade, finance, human resources as well as consulting and legal services. In addition, CSITF will explore new modes for intellectual property protection (IPP) as it pertains to technology trade in a move to improve China's image for IPP and boost technology trade and legal protection.

SOURCE China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair