Globally renowned corporate executives and experts will share their insights about the industry

Global business leaders and experts in the information technology industry will gather in Guiyang later this month to discuss the future of big data technologies and hash out cooperation opportunities with domestic companies.

The Guiyang Big Data Expo 2016, which includes an exhibition, the China Big Data Summit and the China E-Commerce Innovation and Development Summit, as well as dozens of other activities, will be held from Wednesday through Sunday in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Event organizers estimate that the number of attendants at the expo will surpass 20,000.

A number of renowned business leaders from major international and domestic companies will be present at this year's event.

The big names include Qualcomm President Derek Aberle, Dell Chairman Michael Dell, Foxconn Chairman Guo Tai-Ming, Tencent Chairman Ma Huateng, Baidu Chairman Li Yanhong and JD CEO Liu Qiangdong.

More than 2,300 experts from Chinese and foreign universities and institutions will share their insights about big data and related industries in seminars and forums, according to organizers.

Major activities at the five-day event will be the big data and e-commerce summits, the exhibition and a so-called tongker-maker competition.

Tongker is a new concept proposed by the host city of Guiyang and refers to a person or a team of individuals who have the capability of finding solutions to problems in all aspects of life, such as a company's specific logistics issue. The name is a play off the concept and title of maker, which in this case would convert a tongker's solutions into a viable business idea.

Well-known domestic and international companies, including Dell, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Foxconn, Huawei, Tencent and Alibaba will display their products, technologies and services during the exhibition.

Forums and seminars on various topics will be held at the event's main venue, the Guiyang International Convention and Exhibition Center, as well as at other sites in Guiyang, the neighboring Guian New Area and Qiannan prefecture.

Big data, intelligent technologies, smart manufacturing, e-commerce and internet-led innovations will be among the focuses of this year's event, said Xiao Lu, deputy chief of the Guiyang Industry and Information Committee, which is organizing the forums and seminars during the expo.

He said the event will highlight both high-profile dialogues and public participation.

"While big-name industry insiders are here to share their insights, Guiyang's residents as well as visitors from the rest of the country can take part in the event and learn about the recent developments in emerging industries," Xiao said.

The public, in addition to participating in the tongker competition, will have access to publicity events on big data and related fields.

Xiao said a major goal for the expo is to explore new ways to commercialize big data and related technologies.

He said there will be a forum on big data assets, where government officials, experts and industry insiders will discuss measures on property rights protection as well as facilitations for big data transactions.

The host city of Guiyang is on the forefront of Guizhou's big data industry.

Seeing the great potential of the industry, the Guizhou provincial government has designated the big data industry as one of the three strategic sectors in its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20). Guizhou was approved by the central government earlier this year to be China's first big data pilot zone.

The provincial capital Guiyang aims to pilot the development in Guizhou and become China's "data valley", according to local officials.

Guiyang has planned to build an experimental area for big data technological innovation and the plan was approved by the Ministry of Science in July last year.

The city has established China's first big data exchange and is home to many data centers of renowned companies including Hewlett-Packard and JD.com.

zhaoshijun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/24/2016 page19)