Participants at the press conference for the 2017 China International Big Data Industry Expo. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The first China International Big Data Industry Expo will be held May 26-29 in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China’s Guizhou province, organizers announced at a press conference on Thursday in Beijing.

Themed “Digital economy leading new growth”, the expo is expected to attract over 50,000 people, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent CEO Pony Ma and other delegates from leading companies in the big data industry as well as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or those of the Chinese Academy of Engineering with expertise in this field, according to Xu Qin, deputy mayor of Guiyang.

Originally initiated as a local event in 2015, Guiyang Big Data Expo has been upgraded into a national-level event for the first time this year, to reflect its significance in promoting development of the big data industry, said Sun Wei, vice director of the Department of High-Tech Industry of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.

Some attendants of the press conference try out VR glasses. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

More than 40 forums will be held throughout the expo focusing on seven core issues, including the national big data pilot zone, digital economy, blockchain, digital security, data sharing and opening, artificial intelligence and intelligent manufacturing.

This expo is also going to run the 2017 China International Big Data Mining Competition, the winners of which will share a four-million-yuan（$580,000） award.

The expo is going paperless with attendants able to finish all of the procedures including booking tickets, receiving and exchanging information by smartphone, according to Lin Bin, vice-director of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Beijing Sub-council.

As the largest expo of its kind in China in terms of scale and influence, as described by Lin, this expo attracts both global tycoons and domestic start-ups.

In May, Ding Dong, vice-president of Beijing Digital Hail Technology, said he will bring a newly developed complete data visualization system to the expo, hoping to seek partners in the industry.

“We expect this expo will provide us with much greater space and more opportunities,” said Ding.