Chongqing – On August 26th at 9 o’clock, the Smart China Expo 2019 kicked off with an opening ceremony at the Yuelai International Expo Center in Chongqing. The expo will feature conferences, 46 forums, and eight contests and events. This year’s Smart China Expo will make use of all 14 exhibition halls.

On the morning of August 26th, the 2019 Smart China Expo opened at the Yuelai International Expo Center in Chongqing. Shown above is Chinese Vice Premier Liu He of the CPC Central Committee.

The expo will last for four days between August 26th and August 29th, and five hundred thirty projects totaling almost 817 billion yuan (around $115 billion) of investments were signed during the ceremony. The investment projects included 5G technology, artificial intelligence, IoT, and Integrated Circuits. The agreements were made between local Chinese partners and investors from overseas, like Britain, Germany, and Singapore.

The opening ceremony was attended by members of the Chinese Central Committee, the Chongqing Municipal Committee as well as several dignitaries such as the Vice-President of South Korea, and the First Vice-speaker of Portugal. Also attending the opening ceremony are leaders of international organizations, embassy and consulate officials, academics, and experts from around the world. These include 128 famous scholars, in the field of big data, 13 Nobel prize winners, four Turing Awards winners, and 2 Fields Prize winners. There are participants from more than 60 countries and regions and more than 800 enterprises taking part in the expo over the next four days.

“Nowadays, with the rapid development of modern information technology, such as the Internet, big data and artificial intelligence, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has been vigorously promoted,” said Vice Premier Liu He, at the opening ceremony. Referring to the steps taken to promote start industries in China, and in Chongqing in particular in the past few years. Liu He also read out loud a congratulatory letter sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During the opening ceremony, the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, also gave a speech, noting that “Many people believe that such an expo should be held in Silicon Valley, but it’s held in Chongqing. The expo held in Silicon Valley represents technological progress, but in Chongqing, it represents social progress.”.