Big data will soon be reshaping our daily lives and social interactions on a large scale, said experts at the 2016 Global Big Data Applications & Research Forum in Qingdao, Shandong province on Nov 17.

The 2016 Global Big Data Applications & Research Forum opens in Huangdao District, Qingdao on Nov 17. [Photo/news.bandao.cn]

Focusing on the theme "big data creating value and wisdom leading the future", the three-day event attracted more than 600 experts and industry leaders from home and abroad, such as Kirk Borne, a global top 25 big data scientist, and John Margaglione, global vice-president of systems engineering at the Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) Big Data Platform.

Jointly organized by Shandong provincial government, Qingdao municipal government and HPE, the forum was the first of its kind held in Qingdao.

The organizers intend the forum to become a platform for discussion among the world's leading big data companies, and ultimately for the promotion of the integration of the big data industry, the optimization of its industrial structure, and innovation in its industrial organization.

Zhang Wufeng, vice-governor of Shandong province, Zhang Xinqi, mayor of Qingdao, and HPE's Asia-Pacific President Tim Moylan attended the opening ceremony.

Zhang Wufeng said that information technology has been advancing rapidly and the application of big data has broad market prospects. Shandong province will focus on innovation and development, giving impetus to industrial transformation and upgrading, and the implementation of the big data strategy laid out in its 13th Five-Year Plan.

According to the vice-governor, several big data innovation centers and bases will be constructed in the Shandong cities of Jinan and Qingdao, with the goals of finding solutions to major technical difficulties and cultivating a batch of well-known brands and leading enterprises.

These centers will also be used to promote the integration of the province's manufacturing sector with Internet technologies, and to propel the adjustment and upgrading of industry in the province more widely.

Huangdao district in Qingdao will also be developed into a national comprehensive experimental zone for big data research, development and application.

Zhang Xinqi said that the forum is a great event in the history of informationization in Qingdao, for it offers a crucial supporting platform and great opportunities for the development of the city's big data industry.

The mayor introduced that Qingdao has been vigorously implementing China's national strategies of "Internet Plus", "Internationalization Plus" and "Marine Plus".

The city is striving to become a national innovation center, an advanced manufacturing industry base and an ocean technology center with a competitive edge over the rest of China's eastern regions. Qingdao has made good progress in this regard, standing out from the crowd in this year's assessment on the development of the big data industry in each region.

Tim Moylan said that HPE's cooperation with Shandong signals that his company has transformed into a full-service IT, technology and enterprise products and solutions provider.

HPE's Asia-Pacific President Tim Moylan delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Global Big Data Applications & Research Forum in Huangdao District, Qingdao on Nov 17. [Photo/Sdchina.com]

The Qingdao-HPE Software Global Big Data Global Research and Industrial Foundation, currently under construction in the Qingdao New Coast New Area, will serve as a prototype for future smart cities driven by big data.

The Qingdao-HPE Software Global Big Data Global Research and Industrial Foundation signed a series of cooperation agreements with local companies during the opening ceremony of the forum.

It will work with Future Point of View, a digital consulting firm based in Oklahoma, USA, to build China's manufacturing and industrial 4.0 big data innovation center.

A cloud computing and big data value-added service center will also be jointly built by HPE and a Chinese Internet company.

Five big data scientists gave keynote speeches on big data after the opening ceremony, including Kirk Borne, John Margaglione, Wang Bohua, CEO and chief technology officer of Inspur Group, one of the world's largest global data centers and cloud computing solutions providers, and Mark van Rijmenam, a well-known international big data strategist.

Four sub-forums also took place to discuss big data-related issues.

The Qingdao New Coast New Area was designated by the Shandong provincial government to build a comprehensive experiment demonstration base of big data in October.

In October 2014, Qingdao-HPE Software Global Big Data Global Research and Industrial Foundation started construction with a total investment of more than 22 billion yuan ($3.2 billion).