Guizhou Big Data Academy was established at Guizhou University in May 2014 and was jointly invested in by the Guiyang Municipal People's Government, the Gui'an New Area Administrative Committee, and Guizhou University. It is based on the superior environment for the development of big data in Guizhou Province and the solid foundation of Guizhou University’s existing disciplines, industries, and scientific research resources.
Currently, the Academy is composed of academician studios, Guizhou Big Data Collaborative Innovation Center, Guizhou Province Big Data Analysis Technology Engineering Laboratory, Guizhou University Undergraduate Training Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Guizhou Province Big Data Innovation and Entrepreneurship Public Service Platform), and Qiandongnan branch of Guizhou Big Data Academy.
The Academy has 50 faculty members, including 35 researchers and 15 other personnel. There are currently 15 full-time staff, including one Cheung Kong Scholar and winner of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, five professors, five associate professors, four other personnel, and 50 part-time researchers. It is estimated that about 10 doctoral and higher-level talents and two to three laboratory staff will be introduced each year for the next three years. The academy follows the “National Big Data Industry Development Plan 2016-2020” and actively responds to the development strategy of big data of the province. It has built a big data collaborative innovation ecological center, which focuses on research and integrates scientific research, personnel training, and technology innovation.
Since its establishment, it has focused on smart transportation cloud, smart travel cloud, smart agricultural cloud, and e-government cloud; overtaken research on the collection, storage, analysis, processing, and application of big data; and promoted the cultivation of high-end talents and industrial incubation.
(1) Serving Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Academy has institutions like "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Platform for Guizhou Big Data Academy", with more than 80 experts, 24 student innovation and entrepreneurship teams, 20 incubated enterprises, and four joint research and development centers of schools and enterprises. The Academy has won numerous domestic awards, including Top 30 of the 2014 Autonavi LBS National Application Contest and Outstanding Application Awards, Top 26 of 2014 GCBD Big Data Business Model Competition as well as Single Project Award and Excellent Project Award, second prize for 2016 Microsoft "Imagine Cup" Guizhou Division finals, etc.
In addition, the Academy has cooperated with domestic and foreign companies, such as Amazon Web Service, SAS, and Alibaba and conducted multible trainings for student teams and teachers on cloud computing, big data, and data security. In 2017, it held “Big Data Education and Talent Training Seminar of 2017 China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week” and other large events.
(2) Promoting Big Data Industry Development with Big Data
The Academy aims to achieve a top-level design of big data in Guizhou Province, that is, “improving the government’s governance capacity with big data, promoting economic transformation and upgrading with big data, and improving people’s livelihood with big data services”. It takes advantage of resources integration, conducts innovative and systematic cooperation of “Government-Business-University-Research”. It built the Bijiang District Agricultural Big Data Center in Tongren City, the Guizhou Agricultural Big Data Platform in Longli County, and the Grid Based Precision Service Management Platform for Social Governance for the Pearl Community in Huaxi District, and the Guizhou Statistics and Publication Platform. The Academy also used the resources of “Government-Business-University-Research” to establish the “Guizhou Big Data Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance” and promote the construction of the "National Technical Standard Innovation Base."
(3) Conducting Domestic and Foreign Exchanges and Cooperation
The Academy utilizes its advantages and has in-depth cooperation with the Beijing Institute of Big Data Research, and maintains exchanges with big data research institutes such as the China National Information Technology Standardization Committee. It has completed research projects together with experts and scholars at home and abroad such as Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology, Columbia University, and Hong Kong City University, and has visited some first-tier technology companies such as GCBD, China Telecom, Alibaba, Baidu, Lenovo, and Inspur for technical cooperation. Moreover, it has also carried out project research and development with international technology companies such as Shenzhen Huawei and Guangzhou SAS Cooperation.
(4) Promoting Research on Big Data
Based on the scientific research foundation of Guizhou University, the Academy participated in the National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program) and major training program of the National Natural Science Foundation. It has hosted several provincial projects. It has participated in the work of the Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition Committee of the China Computer Federation, Machine Learning Committee of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, and CSIAM Activity Group on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.
The focus of the Academy in the future is to improve its overall strength by team building, development platform construction, and the strengthening of foreign exchange so as to realize technology research and development, application, and business incubation in the field of big data in Guizhou University.
