SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 (Xinhua) -- China's southern city of Shenzhen hosted an event in Silicon Valley Monday to seek pragmatic collaboration with the birthplace of U.S. hi-tech innovation.

Shenzhen and Silicon Valley can leverage each other's advantages in infrastructure and service-related conditions to foster collaborative innovation and create synergy, Wang Weizhong, secretary of the Communist Party of China's Shenzhen Municipal Committee, said.

He made the remarks at the "China Shenzhen-U.S. Silicon Valley Investment Collaboration and Exchange Conference" hosted by the Shenzhen Municipal Government in Santa Clara, California.

The event was attended by executives of Chinese and U.S. companies as well as entrepreneurs interested in launching startups in China.

Wang briefed the conference on Shenzhen's business and industrial environment.

Last year, Shenzhen's GDP reached about 330 billion U.S. dollars, making it China's third largest city in terms of economic size. It has fostered seven Fortune Global 500 enterprises and 14 unicorn startups, according to Wang.

So far, 280 Fortune Global 500 companies have invested in Shenzhen and the number of listed companies has surpassed 380.

"Silicon Valley is the world's capital of innovation. It has impacted the development of global hi-tech," Wang said. "Shenzhen will help innovators in Silicon Valley to transform their technologies into products at the fastest speed."

As an innovation hub of China, Shenzhen's patent applications have accounted for nearly half of the total applications in China for 14 consecutive years, according to Invest Shenzhen, an organization assigned by the Shenzhen government to attract investment.

The city will ensure intellectual property protection (IPP) and a fair and transparent business environment for foreign companies, Wang said. Shenzhen has so far issued 36 IPP policies.

Chen Liren, global vice-president of Qualcomm, said seven of the 10 top smartphones are made in China, and five of these seven are made in Shenzhen.

Qualcomm set up a research center in Shenzhen in 2015. Since then, the company has been working closely with the Shenzhen government, Chen said.

"China and the United States are the world's leading innovators, which have (a) strong mutual and beneficial relationship," he said.

Chinese Deputy Consul-General in San Francisco, Zhang Jianxin, said innovation and entrepreneurship will become a new highlight of sub-national cooperation between the two countries, which will contribute to the China-U.S. relationship.