Shenzhen thrived on foreign-trade-related processing industries when it was first established as a municipality in 1979. In the 1990s, the municipal government made the decision to foster high-tech industries that would consume less energy, cause less pollution and turn out more added value. Today, high-tech sectors are the most important part of the city's economy.

The IT-related sectors, namely computer, mobile phone and software, have undergone rapid development. In 2007, the output value of high-tech products totaled 759.8 billion yuan, ranking first in the country's large and medium-sized cities. The added value of high-tech products reached 180.8 billion yuan, up 29.18 percent over the previous year and comprising 31.39 percent of the city's GDP. More than half of the high-tech products, worth 370.8 billion yuan, had their own intellectual property rights and accounted for 58.92 percent of the output value of all high-tech products. The number of patent applications submitted by Shenzhen firms and individuals has seen a quick growth, as has the number of inventions. In 2007, Shenzhen submitted a total of 35,808 patent applications, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year. PCT international application also topped mainland cities in 2007. Shenzhen also tops mainland cities in the number of famous national brands and international brands produced. The Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Park turns out 11.9 billion yuan worth of industrial products on every square kilometer of land, the highest in China.

The first China Hi-Tech Fair (CHTF) was cosponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic cooperation, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Information Industry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Shenzhen Municipal Government. The annual fair has been held for nine years since, drawing an increasing number of exhibitors and visitors each year seeing the number of cosponsors growing from the original five to more than 10. The only State-level trade fair for new and high technologies and products, the fair has offered a trading platform for research centers, transnational companies, venture capitals and start-up firms.

To make up for the shortage in science and technological resources, Shenzhen has created a virtual university campus to draw scores of top Chinese universities to open research centers in the city. The CAS has also launched an advanced technology research institute in Nanshan District. In the newly built University Town, nine national key labs under three top Chinese universities are in the plan. All these will help Shenzhen to materialize high technologies and upgrade its industries.