A press conference is held in Beijing on June 25, announcing that 2018 World Internet of Things expo will take place between Sept 15 and 18 this year. [Photo/wxrb.com]

China's top Internet of Things (IoT) event, the 2018 World Internet of Things Exposition (WIOT), is set to take place in Wuxi, Jiangsu province from September 15-18, according to a press conference held in Beijing on June 25.

This year's WIOT will be bigger and more high-profile than ever before. Over 500 companies are due to attend the 2018 WIOT, 30 of which are Fortune 500 companies, including the Chinese giants Alibaba and Huawei, who specialize in e-commerce and telecommunications respectively.

Covering an area of 50,000 square meters, the expo will stage five theme exhibitions featuring the latest cutting-edge IoT technology, including a communication and platform support system exhibition, a smart manufacturing and sensor thematic exhibition, a smart life exhibition, a smart transportation and Internet of Vehicle exhibition and a smart city exhibition.

The expo will showcase the latest products, advances, models and development trends related to the IoT.

The world's first city-level Internet of Vehicle LTE-V2X (vehicle to everything) application demonstration area will also be officially presented to the public during the 2018 WIOT.

Additionally, the expo will feature 10 forums focusing on fields related to the IoT, including intelligent manufacturing, industrial internet, 5G and Internet of Vehicle technology, artificial intelligence, big data, information security of the Internet of things, smart sensing, distributed energy, smart environmental protection and smart agriculture.