Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    THIS year is widely regarded as the year of wearable technology worldwide and for the first time in the China Hi-Tech Fair’s 15-year history, a section has been devoted to wearable devices from home and abroad.

    In Hall 1 of Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, visitors have the chance to try on wristbands, watches, earphones and glasses brought by more than 30 wearable product makers, mostly from Shenzhen.

    A smartwatch for tracking children, made by a Shenzhen firm called BabyWei, attracted the most visitors. The device was launched only a month ago, a salesperson at the booth told Shenzhen Daily. At 399 yuan (US$64.88), the watch, with enough battery capacity to last two to three days, can work as a phone, a GPS tracker and can alert users in the event of an emergency.

    Global brand Fit Bit also set up a booth at the fair to showcase its wristbands that can track users’ fitness levels as well as sleep information. To ride the wearable tech wave, Shenzhen Media Group has an affiliate that is presenting health management wristbands at the fair.

    The wearable devices on display at the 1,000-square-meter section are mostly products meant to be worn on users’ wrists, despite the diversity of exhibitors from all around the wearable technology sector.

    The rising wave of wearable technology has spawned nearly 1,000 wearable product makers in Shenzhen, but more than 80 percent of them are very small, statistics show.

    “Wearable devices displayed at the fair are still in their preliminary stages,” said Zhang Guoxin, director of the Micro & Nano Institute, which is based in Shenzhen. “Shenzhen’s makers of wearable products still focus on wristband devices and competition among them is very harsh.”

    Statistics show more than 300 of Shenzhen’s 1,000 wearable product makers only produce wristband products.

    Shenzhen still lags behind the rest of the world in terms of research on sensors, which restricts the sector’s growth, according to Zhang.

    Shenzhen’s science and technology innovation commission said it has submitted a plan to the city government to offer support to the city’s wearable technology sector.