Data expo gets the attention of millions
The Guiyang International Big Data Expo 2015 attracted millions of Internet visitors on opening day.
It is the first exposition of its kind in the world and one part of the city's plan for its big data industry and quest to blend capital, better technologies and human resources.
The city has put a lot of effort into its big data industry by connecting data, information and networks in its response to President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, which he announced in 2013 to revive old trade routes across Asia, Africa and Europe.
In joining the effort, Premier Li Ke-qiang sent a message to Guiyang and the Big Data Expo on May 26.
At the two sessions in Beijing this March, Li articulated the importance of big data in his Internet Plus strategy, which combines the mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things and manufacturing to encourage e-commerce, industrial networks and Internet banking.
He said the current economic landscape has "a favorable wind that can carry the Chinese economy to a higher level".
Shortly after Li's announcement, Guiyang officials vowed to use the Internet Plus strategy to focus on the big data industry.
Internet Plus' purpose is to help Internet companies go global and, as the world's most populous country, China has an ocean of data from many digital devices.
Big data has reformed the city's industrial structure and generated a new business model involving big data that can help factories, supermarkets and data workshops for trade, analyses and exchanges.
The region's preferential policies and its pristine environment have attracted entrepreneurs from China and abroad.
The city began taking the lead earlier this year by starting a citywide free Wi-Fi project.
Officials followed that with the opening of the nation's first big data laboratory, a big data public site, big data exchange center and many more service providers in cloud computing, call centers, data processing and social data analysis.
(China Daily 05/30/2015 page10)
