A delegation of leading figures from China’s big data industry were given a tour of Guizhou province from Feb 4 to 5, as the southwestern province looks to become a nerve center for China’s rapidly emerging big data sector.

Approximately 200 big data scholars, experts and industry insiders joined the field trip.

Guizhou has been working to build itself into a service and application center for big data companies in recent years. The industry was worth more than 500 billion yuan ($7.27 billion) to the province’s economy in 2016, according to local statistics.

Several world-leading tech giants, including Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba and US microchip producers Qualcomm, have chosen to locate big data projects in Guizhou, while local online logistics company Huochebang has enjoyed enormous success and its network now includes 300,000 member companies and 2.3 million truck drivers.

Organized by Guizhou’s Beijing liaison office, the field trip included site visits to Guizhou Big Data Bureau, Guizhou Big Data Demonstration Center and local big data enterprises. Through the trip, the delegation got a comprehensive understanding of Guizhou’s big data industry and made suggestions for the industry’s future development.

An investigation report based on the results of the field trip and its related symposiums will be produced over the next month, according to the organizers.

He Li (L5), deputy governor of Guizhou province, takes part in the opening ceremony of experts’ delegation tour in Guiyang on Feb 4. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

A delegation of big data experts visits a cloud computing park launched by China Telecom in Guiyang, Guizhou province. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Edited by Dominic Morgan