Science key to global internet conference

Great Wall Club CEO Hao Yi (first from left) and guests at the launch of GMIC 2017 in Beijing on Dec 9, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Next year's Global Mobile Internet Conference will focus on science as it travels to nine cities around the world, according to a press conference held in Beijing on Friday.

The annual mobile internet event will start in Tel Aviv in March and then move on to Mexico City, Beijing, Tokyo, the Silicon Valley, Jakarta, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and Bangalore, according to GMIC organizers, the Great Wall Club.

Great Wall Club chief executive Hao Yi said the conference had become "the world's largest and most influential mobile internet conference and is regarded as the wind vane of the mobile internet industry" since its start in 2009.

He predicted that the renaissance of science will be the driving force of the second half of the internet industry.

"Science will be one of the key words of the GMIC next year," said Hao.

"By gathering together world-renowned top scientists, leaders of start-ups and forward-looking investors, we wish to bring fresh blood and subversive thinking to open new doors for scientific and technological innovation," he said.

The G-Summit, where renowned scientists share insights with entrepreneurs and investors, will be held not only in the Silicon Valley but also in Beijing next year.

The G-Startup, competitions for entrepreneurial companies, will be also held in different cities.

Meanwhile, the GMIC will be held alongside the GMIC X, a gala with the theme of technology and entertainment, to be held in Beijing in April, and the G Festival, public expos of the latest technology and innovations.

"Our influence increases as we connect with the consumers," Hao said, adding that the GMIC X and the G Festival "let the whole society pay attention to the development of science and technology".

Visitors look at robots that are equipped with the Turing operation system at this year's GMIC Beijing on April 28. [Liu Zheng/chinadaily.com.cn]

Great Wall Club was founded in 2008 with the idea of bringing together leading innovative companies to promote innovation and growth of the internet industry.

It has nearly 1,000 global members that are from the mobile internet industries.

The company organized the first GMIC in 2009 with the purpose of building a bridge for the communication between companies in the east and west.

The GMIC embraced a surge in the number of participating foreign companies in 2011, riding the wave of a booming Chinese mobile internet market, which grew 43 percent year-on-year to 6.4 billion yuan ($927 million) in the first quarter of 2011, according to consulting firm iResearch.

Big names such as Rovio Entertainment, the developer of mobile game Angry Birds, and Inmobi, India's largest mobile advertising company, participated in the event that year.

In 2014, the GMIC continued to draw more participants and expanded to four cities: Beijing, Tokyo, New Delhi and the Silicon Valley.

In 2015, it added another four cities: New York, Jakarta, Bangalore, Sao Paolo and Taipei.

In 2016, Great Wall Club teamed up with music company Modernsky to host the first GMIC X, a visual feast that combined performances and awards for tech companies, and was followed by 430 million netizens. It also held the first G Festival in Beijing that year to connect with the general public.