The growth of international investment, combined with the proliferation of international investment treaties, domestic legislation and international investment contracts, have contributed to the development of a new field of international law that defines obligations between host States and foreign investors. And thus bringing attention to a relatively new mechanism, Investor-state dispute settlement which aimed at resolving related disputes and most frequently refers to internationalized procedures (e.g. ICSID). 

Against such background, the FDI Moot was initiated in 2006 by the Center for International Legal Studies (CILS), King's College London (KCL), Suffolk University, Pepperdine University and German Arbitration Institute (DIS), with the goal of helping future practitioners gain practical understandings of the issues that arise out of obligations between host states and foreign investors. Held for 18 consecutive years, the FDI Moot is now one of the most prestigious Moot court competitions worldwide and attracts students, academics and practitioners every year. 

In order to cultivate Chinese young generations' comprehensive quality of foreign-related legal affairs, improve the academic and practical strength of China's international investment arbitration, promote investment arbitration and expand the talent pool of the related fields in China, as the first arbitration institution in Chinese Mainland to hear investment arbitration, Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) cooperated with CILS in 2020 to operate as the exclusive Chinese National Organizer to annually host the China National Round of the FDI Moot -- the FDI Moot Shenzhen. 

As a full-fledged qualifying round, FDI Moot Shenzhen acts as the only approach for teams from China to advance to the FDI Moot Asia Pacific or FDI Moot Globals. FDI Moot Shenzhen also provides top teams and students with abundant awards, attractive financial support and priority of internship opportunities.