Guiyang will build a big data application and innovation center to improve technologies and management modes within the province’s traditional industries.

The project was announced by German management software provider SAP and Yunyan District Industry Investment and Development at the Guiyang Big Data Forum on Oct 21, after the two parties signed a deal to set up the center in Yunyan district.

The center will use SAP’s HANA platform, which helps local enterprises analyze real time data to make crucial management decisions. Guiyang and SAP plan to help 1,000 enterprises with the big data services; the first ten have been selected to trial the platform.

Guiyang has been making a name for itself as a center of big data lately by issuing policies and strategies to develop the industry there. About 3.14 billion yuan ($484 million) was spent on information infrastructure in 2015. The city also hosted a big data expo in 2015 and 2016, attracting participants from around the world to discuss the development and application of big data.

Yunyan district hopes to capitalize on the city’s focus on big data and grow its economy. It plans to set up more accumulation areas of big data-related enterprises by making use of the preferential policies and infrastructure found in the Guizhou capital.

Edited by Jacob Hooson