With the theme of "IoT creates a new future", the 2017 World Internet of Things Exposition (WIOT) took place in Wuxi from Sept 9 to 13.

Deals for projects worth a combined 18 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) were signed over the course of the four-day event.

The event consisted of a main conference, 10 sub-forums, an exhibition of IoT applications and products, the third Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) International Smart Cities Conference and eight related events.

Some 39 experts from top-rated Chinese and overseas institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Engineering, International Telecommunication Union, and Auto-ID Labs, were invited to attend the event.

Prestigious IoT-related entrepreneurs at home and abroad including Ma Yun, chairman of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, Xiong Qunli, president of China Electronics Technology Group, and Kapil Raval, HP global vice president, gave keynote speeches at the main conference.

More than 9,000 attendees engaged in discussions and exchange ideas on a range of topics, such as smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence, smart environmental protection, smart healthcare, information security, big data and finance.

The exhibition, covering 50,000 square meters for cutting-edge technologies and products of IoT, smart manufacturing, smart transportation, and smart life, attracted 522 companies from more than 20 countries and regions, including 23 Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Google, IBM, and Siemens.

A total of 173,000 visitors came to the exhibition to experience the latest IoT technologies.