Modern buildings stand tall and proud over a clear river in Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province. [Photo/IC] 

Shaoxing in Zhejiang province recently launched a competition to promote open access to public data and the construction of a smart city using big data technologies.

The competition is open to anyone interested in big data research and will choose 12 winners. Winning projects will have the opportunity to be developed and promoted in the city. If the top prize goes to a local resident, he or she will be honored as "A Technical Crackerjack in Shaoxing".

Registration started on Nov 27 and will end on Dec 3.

Shaoxing has been promoting the collection and sharing of public data since May in order to drive the digitalization of government.

As of Nov 21, the city had collected 15.28 billion pieces of public data, quadrupling the figure from last year. The city has also become one of the province’s first pilot zones for open access to public data.

Earlier this year, the big data department of Shaoxing released the Shaoxing Public Data Resource Directory 2019, containing 122,344 data items, nearly one third of which can be freely accessed by the public.

The department is also working to establish an open data platform and promote data sharing in multiple areas.