An e-commerce big data research institution will be set up in Baotou, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and will begin trial operations in March, according to Baotou Evening News.

The institution will be built by the Baotou government and the National Engineering Laboratory for E-Commerce Technologies (NELECT) of Tsinghua University, the first national research institution dedicated to e-commerce.

The big data industry is currently experiencing a boom in the largest city of North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, with the Nov 7 Inner Mongolia Big Data Promotion Conference bringing the autonomous region into the limelight. The region has vowed to develop itself into China’s Silicon Valley by developing a big data industry through utilizing its regional advantages and boosting local cloud computing. Baotou also hopes to continue to be a top player in related fields.

The city is witnessing the development of an increasingly information-based local economy, and the local government is committed to developing Baotou into a smart city, through developments in big data and cloud computing.