Investors who are cash-flush but idea-poor may want to spend some time at the Shanghai International Industry Fair 2000.

The promotion of high-tech intellectual property is one of the main drawing cards at this year¡¯s event, which opened yesterday at Shanghai Exhibition Center.

Some 2,000 domestic projects that lack either financing or a marketing network will be up for grabs, and state-owned companies will be seeking takers for about 200 property assets they want to sell or exchange.

The five-day event - the city's largest such expo - is one of three national fairs focusing on technology development and exchange. The others are in Beijing and Shenzhen.

The local event carries through on China's efforts to propel its high-tech sector and upgrade traditional industry with cutting-edge advancements, said Vice Premier Wu Bangguo at yesterday's opening ceremony.

"Under our strategy for rejuvenating the nation through science and technology, China will speed up the transformation of ideas into productive forces, with information technology leading the industrial development," he said.

On the floor of the fair, the matchmaking between ideas and capital occurs largely through two bodies set up by the city - the Shanghai Equity and Assets Exchange, which specializes in the sale of state-owned property and equipment; and the Shanghai Technical Exchange Center, which attempts to locate financing for start-up technology companies. Each exchange occupies a hall at the exposition.

Both held promotional forums yesterday to introduce their projects, but no signed deals have been disclosed.

Among the offerings, privately owned Shanghai Xinpu Gene Service Co. introduced a genetics-based diagnosis technology, looking for capital to establish a gene center.

Anhui Modern Television Digital Technology Co. also has a promising project but an old problem - lack of funds to put its idea into production.

The company's newly developed digital video compact disc device not only plays but also records. The firm is seeking at least 3 million yuan (US$361,000) for a technology transfer.

The emphasis on linking up product with development capital is not the only difference at this year's event.

Shanghai's first such fair last year was designed primarily to showcase the city¡¯s shift away from its traditional reliance on textiles and light industry, as well as to boost the export of high-tech products.

That event was co-sponsored by Shanghai municipal government, the State Economic and Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

This year's installment takes the high-tech theme further and has stronger backing from the central government.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Information Technology and the Ministry of Education have now joined the sponsor group. "With high technology leading the fair, city government has worked out stricter standards to make sure all the products fall within that category," Vice Mayor Jiang Yiren said earlier.

Among the improvements is a new rating system that helps fairgoers find what they're looking for.

(Eastday)