Press conference of the final of Digital China Innovation Contest, 2019 (DCIC 2019) was held on the afternoon of May 6. According to the news conference, a total of 18 winning teams from four regional finals will attend the final contest and awarding ceremony on May 7.

DCIC 2019 is a high-end core event of Digital China Summit, themed as “Software-empowered Digital Economy and Innovation-driven Digital China”. The Contest is sponsored by Fujian Provincial Leading Group Office of Digital Fujian Construction, Fujian Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, Fuzhou Municipal People’s Government, China Center for Information Industry Development, Digital China Research Institute (Fujian) and China Internet Investment Found.

Centering on big data, artificial intelligence and industrial Internet, DCIC 2019 sets up six questions under the above three categories. These questions were fully launched online in January 2019 and the Contest comprises three stages: online preliminary contest, regional finals and the final contest.

The online preliminary contest lasting for more than two months produced 60 teams to four regional finals held in Shanghai, Xi’an, Beijing and Fuzhou from March 24 to April 4. 18 teams standing out from regional finals are about to attend DCIC 2019 final contest and awarding ceremony on May 7. In the final contest, public defense and evaluation meeting will be conducted on the excellent works of the 18 teams. Excellent data scientist teams and solutions will be screened out to promote the deep integration of new-generation information technologies and conventional industries, and facilitate the settlement of pain spots and tough issues in the development of digital economy.

Focusing on artificial intelligence, big data and industrial Internet, the Contest sets up six questions: Cultural Inheritance: Multi-scene Recognition of Chinese Calligraphy, Intelligent Tallying: AI Counting of Reinforcing Bars, Big Data Medicine: AI Diagnosis of Liver Cancer Images, Consumer Group Portrait: Intelligent Credit Rating, Intelligent Remedy of Offshore Windfarm SCADA Data Loss and Fault Early Warning of Concrete Pump Trucks and Concrete Pistons. All these questions have originated from practical application scenes in enterprises. They reflect the demands of social and industrial development and embody the concept of cultivating innovative talents according to demands. Statistics show that the Contest has attracted 8,915 contestants from 451 universities and 1,182 enterprises located in 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and 2 special administrative regions of China and 12 foreign countries. The number of valid works submitted is 29,554. There are 5,937 domestic student contestants, among whom 2,806 are from 42 universities of the “world-class universities” initiative including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University and University of Science and Technology of China. What’s more, there are 120 overseas students from 12 foreign countries including the USA, Australia, Britain, Japan and Canada. Some are from Stanford University, Oxford University, University of California, Berkeley, Waseda University and Nanyang Technological University and other world-renowned universities. There are 2,268 contestants from enterprises, including Microsoft, Intel, Inspur, Institute of Automation of CAS, Research Institute of Tsinghua of Pearl River Delta and other famous enterprises and research institutes .

According to Zhang Qingya, Secretary and Director of the CPC Committee of Fuzhou Big Data Development Administrative Committee, the Contest targets outstanding data scientists at home and abroad and aims to discover creative technological applications and business modes by setting up professional questions. It is expected to stimulate innovation potentials of contestants and address practical problems in all walks of life. It has a far-reaching influence in the development of digital economy.