Tech innovations take spotlight at Canton Fair

A visitor checks out a motorbike during the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Thursday. WANG ZHUANGFEI/CHINA DAILY

Inside the Pazhou Complex, Leaw Cheeeyrn, a Malaysian businessman with high-level paraplegia, was able to walk with the assistance of a robotic exoskeletal device.

"It was wonderful and I hope there will be more such high-tech products to help us walk," he said.

He was accompanied by his wife at the China Import and Export Fair, which opened its 140th session in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Thursday.

At the event — also widely known as the Canton Fair — domestically produced high-tech products, especially artificial intelligence-driven electronic products and medical equipment, were highly favored by foreign buyers.

The fair aligns with new trends in foreign trade, with 64 percent of the 32,000 participating companies utilizing new technologies such as AI and industrial internet, according to the organizers.

The proportion of new and green products exhibited reached 23.2 percent and 26 percent, respectively, both setting records, the organizers said.

China's manufacturing sector has been continuously transforming and upgrading, leading to an optimized foreign trade structure and a steady increase in the technological content of import and export products.

Electronic components, industrial robots, 3D printers and new energy vehicles have performed exceptionally well, becoming new drivers of foreign trade momentum, the organizers said.

"We are very interested in selling these products to Malaysia, where there will be high demand for intelligent robotic products," the Malaysian businessman said.

The exoskeleton robotic device, developed by RoboCT — a Chinese company dedicated to the development and application of exoskeleton robotics — has been sold to more than 50 countries and regions.

"We have developed intelligent products that help people with walking disabilities walk again and better," said Zhang Jiyu, co-founder and chief operating officer of RoboCT.

On the fair's opening day, the company's exhibition booth attracted a large number of foreign buyers from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, Japan and South Korea.

The company displayed its new rehabilitation service of mind-driven exoskeletons powered by brainwave signals and its GoGo-H Pro climbing series — a consumer-grade assistive exoskeleton for daily mobility.

"We have brought a comprehensive product lineup covering medical rehabilitation, daily mobility assistance and industry support, aiming to showcase to our global partners the full-spectrum application capabilities of Chinese exoskeleton technology," Zhang said.

The company, based in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, realized a year-on-year increase of 46.22 percent in overseas sales in 2025. In the first eight months of this year, its overseas sales increased about 149.76 percent year-on-year.

At the fair's 139th session in April, the company — participating for the first time — successfully obtained the contact information of over 40 overseas distributors, with the total value of intended orders exceeding $3.5 million.

"The fair is an important window for Chinese manufacturers to reach the world and a key milestone in our globalization strategy," said Zhang.

The fair, seen as a barometer of China's foreign trade, runs in three phases from Oct 15 to Nov 4.

Over the past 70 years, the fair has grown into China's largest and longest-running international trade event, with the most complete product range, the largest number of buyers and the highest transaction volume.