The official website and social media feeds for the 2017 World Internet of Things (WIOT) Exposition went live on Aug 8. 

The sites will help promote China’s leading event for the internet of things industry, which is set to take place in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, on Sept 10-13. 

More than 500 companies are set to attend this year’s WIOT, including tech industry heavyweights such as Alibaba, Huawei and Inspur, as well as 2,000 of IoT industry experts.

Officials pose for a photo at a ceremony to launch the official website for the 2017 WIOT in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Aug 8. [Photo/wiotexpo.cn]

The event launched its official Chinese website (wiotexpo.cn) and English website (en.wiotexpo.cn) yesterday, as well as its official accounts for social media channels including Weibo and WeChat. 

The website (wiotexpo.cn) provides a huge amount of information about this year’s WIOT, including the latest news, agenda, exhibitors, high-profile attendees and the host city of Wuxi.

Prospective attendees can also register for the event via the website, as well as watch live streams of some of the most famous landmarks in Wuxi.

The Wuxi government launched a four-day media tour to promote the 2017 WIOT on the same day, which will run from Aug 8 to 11. 

Reporters from national and regional media have been invited to attend the tour, which will focus on displaying the giant strides made by Wuxi’s IoT industry since the 2016 WIOT. 

Nearly 2,000 IoT companies were based in Wuxi as of the end of 2016, and the city’s IoT industry is worth an estimated 205 billion yuan ($30.5 billion). 

The industry has grown by at least 20 percent year-on-year for the last five years, according to Wuxi municipal government. 

The reporters will visit some of the leading players in this rapidly growing industry, including AstraZeneca, Envision, Memsic, the Intellectual Sports Park of Wuxi and the Wuxi Intelligent Transportation System, among others. 

The companies cover a wide range of industries covering all aspects of the internet of things, from sensors and networks to processing applications and support services. 

The expo will reflect this diversity too. It will feature 10 summits on subjects ranging from intelligent manufacturing, to artifical intelligence, big data and smart environmental protection.