Big data, AI competition for college students kicks off

Representatives ink contracts at the signing ceremony for deep integration, co-construction and cooperation between colleges and companies. It took place in Guiyang, capital of southwestern Guizhou province on Oct 22. [Photo/gywb.cn]

The launch ceremony for the big data and artificial intelligence skills applications competition for college students -- as well the signing ceremony for deep integration, co-construction and cooperation between colleges and enterprises -- took place recently, officials said.

It was held in Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province on Oct 22.

Officials said the competition is a professional event focusing on the application of big data and AI skills.

In the wake of the registration for the event starting on Sept 20, it attracted a total of 321 teams from 12 universities in the province and more than 1,100 college students.

According to local media reports, the competition is divided into three stages: preliminary heats, semi-finals and the final.

There is a first prize with a prize of 50,000 yuan ($7,091.37); two second prizes with a prize of 30,000 yuan; three third prizes with a prize of 10,000 yuan and several honorary mentions awarded with a prize of 2,000 yuan.

After the launch of the competition, the preliminary competition was held on Oct 23-25.

Some 11 colleges and universities in Guizhou province answered question papers and focused on basic knowledge in areas such as databases, high-level programming language and HTML5 front-end development.

The competition organizers said the top five teams in each competition area would be promoted to the second round.

Meanwhile, in order to encourage and cultivate more excellent teams, the organizing committee will select the best from the teams that have failed in the preliminary competition.

As a result, 10 teams will be selected to advance to the semi-finals.

At the signing ceremony, Guizhou Yiyun Big Data Service Co Ltd signed contracts with Guizhou University, Guizhou Industrial Polytechnic College and Guiyang University.

Guizhou Boyuan Xunling Education Technology Co Ltd, an enterprise located at Guiyang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone (Guiyang HIDZ), signed a contract with Guizhou University of Commerce to jointly establish a base for school-enterprise deep integration and co-construction cooperation.

The event was jointly held by Guizhou local enterprises such as Yiyun, Boyuan Xunling and other top enterprises in the industry such as Dell, Tencent Cloud, Red Hat, Oracle and universities in the province.

Officials said it aimed to attract, tap and cultivate special talent in the applications field of big data and AI technologies.

At the same time, relying on the construction of school-enterprise base, it aimed to stimulate the application of innovative thinking by college students.

It also aimed to promote the teaching reforms, among other things. It also aimed to guide students to practice in their future industry in advance of joining the workforce full time.

The other goal was to reserve more excellent talent for the development of the big data and artificial intelligence industry in Guizhou.