China’s future data scientists are ready to test their mettle.
Physical books used to be the dominant vehicle to convey information, but not anymore. Most information nowadays is digital, enabling faster transmission and wider socioeconomic impact. Fudan celebrated the World Book and Copyright Day on April 23 this year by underscoring the importance of making sense of and being creative with the information available to them with the launch of the 2nd Open Data Research Competition.
The competition calls on professors and students across China to make use of open data resources for innovative research and promotes collaborations among universities, research institutes and industries to share and utilize data.
From left to right: Chen Sihe, Director of Fudan University Library, Zhang Ying, Deputy Director of Shanghai Economic and Information Commission, Chen Zhimin, Vice President of Fudan University, and Wang Mingzheng, Director of Information Center of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, announce the launch of the Competition on April 23 to celebrate the World Book and Copyright Day.
Ge Jianxiong, an eminent historical geographer and professor from Fudan Center for Historical Geographical Studies, delivered a keynote speech on the relationship between information and human civilization, pointing out that human’s abilities to obtain information was a key factor to the development of civilization.
Professor Ge Jianxiong spoke at the launch ceremony.
With five months to finish their projects, contestants are encouraged to form teams and conduct research on current topics such as epidemic control and economic recovery. The best papers from from these research projects will be published in Library Journal, a Chinese publication founded in 1982 managed by the Shanghai Library. The winning teams will be offered internship opportunities. Promising ideas will be applied for industrial purposes.
Last year, two teams, “MSN” and “Zero” representing Fudan University, won the first prize and the second prize respectively in the competition.
The competition also involves an academic training camp where reputable data scientists are invited to give lectures on data collection and analysis at top universities in the Yangtze River Delta. The public will be able to watch the lectures live via four platforms, including Zoom, Bilibili, SEMAN (the official live streaming platform of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission) and Zaojiu (an online content producer and distributor founded in 2015).
The competition is jointly organized by Fudan University Library, Information Center of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Zhejiang University Library, Nanjing University Library, Anhui University Library, and Shanghai Big Data Joint Innovation Lab For Research under the guidance of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Shanghai Municipal Economy and Informatization Commission.
For more information on the 2nd Open Data Research Competition, please visit: http://www.huiyuan.sh.edu.cn/competition/#/welcome
