Nowadays, data has become an important factor of production, and the big data industry's development is of great significance. The recently concluded China International Big Data Industry Expo 2023 ("Big Data Expo") in Guiyang has once again presented new achievements and applications of the big data industry. The Big Data Expo was founded in 2015 and officially recognized as a national-level expo in 2017. It has now become a benchmark and an international specialized platform discussing the developments of big data.

On the annual theme of "Integrating Digital and Real Economies, Unlocking the Future with Computing Power," Big Data Expo 2023 mainly focused on "changes" and "innovations" in economic development, life, and social governance in the digital age. Guests from different countries had in-depth discussions and shared insights into relevant fields.

"Big Data Expo 2023 is characterized by internationalization, specialization, and marketization. By giving greater attention to national strategies, we highlight key areas such as the East-to-West Computing Resource Transfer Project, data circulation, and artificial intelligence to present the integration of theory and practice. It will place a heightened focus on the industry's forefront technology and digital empowerment," said Ma Ningyu, Executive Deputy Director of the Executive Committee of the Big Data Expo 2023 and Mayor of Guiyang City.

328 renowned enterprises from 50 countries and territories participated in this year's Big Data Expo. At the expo, the six theme halls, namely "International Exhibition Hall," "East-to-West Computing Resource Transfer Project Hall," "Digital Industry Hall," "Industrial Digitalization Hall," "Innovation Scene Hall", and "Digital Life Hall," showcased new technologies, products, and solutions from the global big data field. Many of these innovative achievements have left a deep impression on the visitors.

An exhibitor brought a spatial big data visualization technology. They processed data on tornadoes from the last 40 years into 3D visualization. 3D visualization models were built with data such as longitude, latitude, time, location, and magnitude to mine and present the laws hidden behind each tornado in an intuitive manner. 

"In the future, we will transform the presentation of data from behind a flat screen to holographic projection, so that it can appear around us and we can have conversations with virtual data in real space. By digging out the value of data and making it useful for us, we can make judgments and decisions based on the patterns of the data," said Li Yingtong, a staff member of the exhibitor. 

The development of digital technology has also made social governance more efficient and intelligent. The "One-Stop Government Services (Yi-Wang-Tong-Ban)" mobile platform of Guizhou Digital Government has broken the data barriers of various governmental departments in the past and achieved data sharing among different departments. Now, the "One-Stop Government Services" mobile client hosts services and functions of different departments in one place, and over 4,000 procedures and services related to work and life can be efficiently completed on this mobile client, bringing immense convenience to the people.

This year, the "One-Stop Government Services" mobile client has launched dedicated sections for the elderly and young, providing targeted services to groups with special needs through big data matching.

"We have connections to databases of human resources and social security, education, and health and produced profiles of young people between the ages of 14 and 45. We accurately analyze their profiles to know whether they are in school or graduating and whether they need to find a job. As for government policies, we categorize policies by label and match the labels with users, so now policies are actively applied to people instead of requiring people to find them," said Yang Fei, who in charge of digital government development of the exhibitor.

The Industrial Internet Application Scenario Contest was another new highlight at this year's Big Data Expo. The competition solicited solutions nationwide to pain points encountered in the digital transformation of traditional enterprises in Guizhou. 24 out of 205 participating teams from across the country entered the finals. Focusing on fields such as biomedicine and phosphorus chemical engineering, the teams provided digital solutions to quality and management issues for enterprises. The winning teams will be directly involved in the transformation and upgrading efforts of enterprises.

"Today the six challenges corresponded to real orders worth RMB 70 million. The competition was actually an enlarged version of the bidding projects. The competition is intended to enterprises in the real economy grow and achieve the goals of attracting investment, gathering talent, and promoting industrial development," said Pan Jun, head of the competition organizing team at the Big Data Expo 2023 and Director of Guiyang Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology.

Guizhou is a key pioneer in implementing the big data strategy in China. From the establishment of a national big data comprehensive pilot zone to the creation of a digital economy development innovation zone, Guizhou is driving deep integration of digital and real economies, accelerating industrial transformation and upgrading, and promoting high-quality economic and social development through the application of big data concepts and technologies.

"Since 2018, we have provided over 80,000 digital diagnostic reports and helped more than 20,000 enterprises to access cloud technology and empowerment, promoting the transformation and empowerment of the real economy. With a constantly rising integration index, and the growth rate of Guizhou's digital economy has ranked first in China for seven consecutive years," said Jing Yaping, Director of the Big Data Development Administration of Guizhou Province.

An exhibitor who provides services for the freight industry has built a digital platform with big data, helping the traditional freight industry operate more efficiently and intelligently. How does this digital platform work? Mr. Xu has been driving trucks for transporting goods for 20 years. A few days ago, he was driving a truck loaded with daily goods from Jiangsu to Guiyang. Previously, Mr. Xu had to spend a lot of time and effort finding goods for the return trip every time he delivered the goods to their destination.

Mr. Xu was able to make only two round trips a month due to the delay in searching for shippers. After arriving in Guiyang this time, he no longer worried about returning with an empty truck. While unloading the goods, Mr. Xu opened the client of a digital freight platform on his phone, and the platform accurately pushed information on suitable shippers based on Mr. Xu's situation. Mr. Xu chose an order from Guiyang to Jiangsu. After communicating with the shipper over the phone, he quickly settled the deal. The digital freight platform used by Mr. Xu integrates data in terms of vehicle model, shipping, rate, and route, and realizes rapid matching of orders and intelligent planning of routes with technologies such as AI and cloud computing.

"With the help of big data, we have doubled the number of trips per month. Now I can make four round trips a month. I have been driving trucks for 20 years. To be honest, this business was mentally and physically exhausting in the past. I always felt fatigued after driving. Now we can find orders on the way. It is easy to accept or reject orders," truck driver Xu Huanle said.

In the past 12 months, over 3.5 million drivers have received orders and completed their tasks through this platform. Last year, the platform completed 120 million freight orders with a total value of RMB 261.1 billion. At present, the platform has covered more than 300 cities and over 100,000 routes across the country. The rapid development of digital technology has significantly improved the industry's efficiency.

"Now, the monthly driving distance of drivers registered on the platform has increased from 9,000 kilometers in the past to 12,000 kilometers, and the empty running percentage has decreased from 37% to 32%. In recent years, the platform has helped reduce carbon emissions by over 10 million tons," said Hu Yang, director of the exhibitor's smart transportation research center.

At the booths of this year's Big Data Expo, we saw significant changes in rural areas as the result of digital empowerment, from rural environmental rehabilitation to rural e-commerce, from characteristic rural tourism to the development of agricultural industries. In Tianzhu County, Guizhou Province, the free-range breeding of indigenous chickens in over 300,000 mu of camellia woods is one of the main industries in the locality. Long Buzhong is a breeder at the Tianzhu Free-Range Chicken Farming Base. Early in the morning, he releases over 2,500 chickens of new varieties to the camellia woods. His biggest concern every day is the number of steps the chickens take.

"It takes 150 to 180 days for the chickens to reach the finisher weight. The free-range chickens need to run up to 1 million steps. If some chickens run less, I will chase them and make them run. How do I know they run less? I do not count their steps. Instead, it's what big data told me", said Long Buzhong, a breeder at the Running Free-Range Chicken Farming Base. 

The chickens all wear a foot ring on their legs, which contains a small chip that matches the networked receivers and signal sources distributed around the chicken coops. In this way, the motion data of each chicken is captured by the receivers through the foot loops and then pushed in real time to the background digital platform, where the data is analyzed and organized.

"We put a foot ring on the chicken when it is more than a month of hatching. We can log in to the mobile phone APP to see their exercise and how many steps they walk in a day. That is, the chickens have their 'health records'," Long Buzhong said.

In addition to the steps taken by the chickens, the IoT system of the farm also synchronously transmits the humidity, temperature, light intensity, and other data of the day to the platform. By gathering data from different dimensions, chicken files are kept with traceable QR codes.

"The platform records where each chicken came from, how much it exercised, how much it ate every day, and how much it is worth now. First, it maintains traceability of the chickens, and second, it evaluates the assets. By knowing the total value of a group or a batch of chickens, we are able to raise funds for the farm," said Guo Song, technical head of the chicken farming base.

Currently, as the first phase of the farming base project, all 50,000 chickens wear foot rings. With the foot rings, a complete IoT system connects the entire chain of production, sales, service, and financial enterprises through advanced digital technology, enabling the transformation and upgrading of the industry and injecting a strong force into rural revitalization.

"In addition to providing data on the entire life cycle of chickens, our platform also collects market sales data, including feedback from buyers in different regions with respect to the types of chickens they like, helping us choose breeds according to customer preferences. Big data empowers poultry farming, makes poultry farming intelligent and high-quality, and truly delivers premium Guizhou goods," Li Bochao, Deputy Director (temporary) of the General Office of the CPC Tianzhu County Committee.

Like free-range chicken farming, many industries now have achieved intelligent industrial development and transformation by combining digital technology and real economy activities. Digital technology is also changing rapidly, constantly facing new challenges and making new breakthroughs to overcome new difficulties.

"After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we launched a new round of efforts for digital technology transformation and digital economy development. Promising trends have been observed in the development of the digital economy. Digitization equips the traditional economy with new engines," said Qi Xiangdong, Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

The future development of digital technology still requires the joint efforts of all members of society. The Big Data Expo serves as a bridge for communication and mutual promotion in exploring and developing new formats in the digital economy era.

The digital economy is continuously promoting the improvement and upgrading of various aspects such as industrial production, social governance, rural revitalization, and transportation. The Digital China Development Report (2022) recently released by the Cyberspace Administration of China shows that the size of China's big data industry reached RMB 1.57 trillion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 18%, becoming an important force driving the development of the digital economy. Data Creates More Value, and Innovation Brings a Better Future. Only by continuously promoting the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, can we generate more new power to achieve high-quality development.