China will hold its first national level information technology exposition next April, aiming to build a platform to speed up the sector's development and upgrading and help Chinese enterprises gain more international influence.

The China Information Technology Expo, co-hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Municipal Government of Shenzhen, will be held from April 10 to 12, 2013 in Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, the organizers told media at a news briefing Tuesday.

An Xiaopeng, deputy director of the Information Technology Promotion Agency of the MIIT, said during the briefing that they aim to build the annual event into an international platform for information technology companies to showcase their latest breakthroughs and gadgets, and for industry insiders to exchange opinions and conduct analyses. The expo will also serve as a trade platform to connect industrial chains and for firms to find potential partners

China has attached great importance to the information technology industry, naming it one of the seven national strategic emerging industries for the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015).

An said that after years of rapid development, China's information technology industry should be ready to step into a higher level as it already has a global leading role in terms of scale. The technology has also witnessed great progress in recent years.

The expo, titled "Speeding up the development of new generation information technology, accelerating the transformation of development mode", will help Chinese firms gain a more active role in the global scene, according to An.

Next year's expo will focus on four major sectors: consumer-oriented products such as PCs and digital homes; emerging technologies such as Internet of Things, cloud computing and mobile internet; basic electronics like high-end integrated circuit and components as well as information system and application, the news briefing revealed.