The final round of the 2017 China International Big Data Excavation Competition was held in Guian New Area, Guizhou province, on Dec 28.

The competition, now in its third year, is considered to be the biggest and best of its kind. Guizhou province began the competition to facilitate an exchange of ideas about the application of big data technology in government, businesses, and research institutions.

A participant presents his project during the final round of the 2017 China International Big Data Excavation Competition held in Guian New Area, Guizhou province, on Dec 28. [Photo/todayguizhou.com]

Serving as part of the International Big Data Expo held in Guiyang in May, 2017, the competition began in March and invited 12,646 teams and 50,000 people from 19 countries to participate. The competing projects are expected to be used in administrative services, transportation, finance, and education.

"The competition will benefit small and medium-sized enterprises by providing them with more platforms and data," said Lionel Ming-shuan Ni, a judge at the competition and also vice-president of the University of Macau.

This year's competition has gathered together 121 projects, which involve everything from artificial intelligence and virtual reality to cloud computing and shared economy.

There were 18 consortiums, including TCL-WX Creative Capital Partnership, Infinity Group and Softbank China Venture Capital, negotiating with the projects during the final. Twenty-three especially innovative projects have signed preliminary agreements with investors worth 324 million yuan ($49.75 million).