UK goes GREAT at China’s Big Data Expo

This week saw the UK Day at China’s national Big Data Expo in Guiyang. Big data is a significant priority for the Chinese Government, which was highlighted by the attendance of Premier Li Keqiang to give the opening speech. Premier Li described big and open data as the new oil in our economy and the new diamond to be mined across borders. It was interesting to hear the Premier’s vision for driving economic growth through innovation, using data connected by Internet+ (China’s national plan to upgrade the Internet) to drive new e-commerce platforms, cutting edge manufacturing processes and new high quality products and services to citizens. Guiyang has been chosen by the Chinese Government as the country’s centre of big data, which is seeing large scale investment in data infrastructure.

The UK was the only country to be invited to have a dedicated stand and country of honour day. The Science and Innovation Network worked closely with UKTI to bring a UK delegation of institutes, universities and businesses with world leading experience in big data and its application.

From the science and innovation perspective, we were lucky to have the following institutes: the Data Science Institute at Imperial College, Nesta, Nottingham Geospatial Institute, Open Data Institute, Open Knowledge Foundation, Ordnance Survey International, Oxford Nie Financial Big Data Laboratory and University of Bristol.

I chaired a very interesting panel with both UK and Chinese speakers that discussed the Government policies needed to support the development of big and open data to create economic growth; how to strike a balance between data protection and restrictive regulations; and the future of UK-China collaboration, which generated many interesting and diverse ideas.

Most excitingly of all was the energy and enthusiasm that surrounded the match making activity. Interest in collaboration was so great, it was truly difficult to walk around the room. But of course this is just the start. I will be tracking outcomes from the mission with interest to see which projects take off.

The Big Data Expo and UK Day was a fantastic event that really demonstrates how the UK’s reputation and abilities in science and innovation creates business opportunities through supporting the journey from idea to new products and services. Bringing these elements together with the discussion on policy frameworks to manage big and open data provided a great opportunity for both sides to learn from each other and develop more comprehensive partnerships.

And there were so many great photos. If that had been our measure of success, it would have been our best event ever. I hope you enjoy the photos and one day get a chance to visit Guiyang Big Data Expo yourself.