Pan Liguo, mayor of Shenyang city, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2016 China (Shenyang) Smart City Innovation Conference on Nov 11. [Photo/Xinhua]

At the 2016 China (Shenyang) Smart City Innovation Conference held in Shenyang, Liaoning province from Nov 11 to 13, smart city construction and big data development were at the top of the agenda for major discussion topics.

Officials from the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, representatives from over 170 domestic and overseas famous high-tech businesses, along with experts and scholars of the big data industry and urban planning attended the three-day event.

The event featured a main forum, 17 sub-forums, and a match-making meeting for government bodies and businesses. An exhibition covering an area of 13,000 square meters was also held, which attracted famous businesses to participate, including Microsoft, Baidu, the largest Chinese search engine in the world and Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology solution provider in China.

With a theme of “revitalization, collaboration, and win-win cooperation”, topics at the event focused on the construction of smart cities, achieving the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries through the application of big data, and strengthening Northeast China’s regional economy development.

The conference site of the 2016 China (Shenyang) Smart City Innovation Conference, which was held in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning province from Nov 11 to 13. [Photo/syd.com.cn]

As a national-level authoritative conference on smart city construction, it marks the third time that this kind of event has been held.

Compared with the previous two conferences, this year’s event has several highlights.

First, the conference was held under the rejuvenation of Northeast China’s old industrial base.

The northeast, including Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, was among the first regions of China to become industrialized. Its traditional industries include steel, automobile, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing and petroleum refining.

However, this once robust industrial base is bearing the brunt of a more-acute slowdown than the rest of the country, trailing well behind in terms of GDP growth.

Exploring an effective way to drive the economic growth and industrial development of Northeast China is a priority.

Secondly, the conference focused on Shenyang’s advanced achievements in smart city construction and big data development.

Pan Liguo, mayor of Shenyang city, announced that the Shenyang Big Data Demonstration Trial Zone officially commenced operation at the opening ceremony of the event, which is the only national big data comprehensive trial zone in Northeast China, and the only one among all sub-provincial cities across China.

The construction of comprehensive big data trial zones is playing an incredibly important role in China’s strategy to promote the development of a big data industry, as the digital economy is becoming a driving force of economic growth.

The third highlight saw the event serve as a platform for international exchange and cooperation on urban planning. This year’s event invited representatives of international institutes to exchange and share cities’ construction concepts, development modes and experiences, including those from the UK, Germany, France, Singapore and Japan, which gives Shenyang, and even China, an opportunity to deepen cooperation with other countries and regions.

Experts, scholars and business representatives discuss topics at the main forum of the 2016 China (Shenyang) Smart City Innovation Conference on Nov 11. [Photo/Xinhua]