The Management Sciences Department (MS) organized a study tour to Beijing from May 31 to June 5, 2019. Thirty-five students from the MS Department and the Faculty of Statistics of Renmin University of China formed groups to participate in the 2019 Beijing-Hong Kong Joint University Big Data Competition (2019 京港大学生大数据建模竞赛). Aiming for developing students’ ability of translating knowledge they acquired to real-life big-data analysis, the event enabled participants to exchange ideas, use innovative visualization techniques and models to solve practical problems. Finally in this four-day competition, BANL teams brought home championships and other prizes, as well as the invaluable learning experience.

The event was kicked off in the morning of June 1^st. The data used in the competition was collected from a renowned e-commerce operator. It is comprised of their sales data of mobile phone and the corresponding data of comments including mobile phone parameters, promotion information and comments. During the event, six teams were formed in random and each team needed to determine their research topics with the use of data to conduct analysis and reporting. Working days and nights, students were thrilled to acquire new skills and learn from each other in discussions. The judges were impressed with the students’ presentation and their hard work. Students were given constructive suggestions on areas of improvement such as clarification of problem and the use of effective research method and analysis.

“The competition provided an excellent opportunity for students to sharpen their knowledge and skills of data-analysis, inspiring them on how to use innovative ways to solve problems. Most importantly, the event promoted teamwork and friendship among students of the two universities,” commented Geoffrey Tso, Associate Head of the Department of Management Sciences of the City University of Hong Kong.

“The tour is definitely a rewarding experience to me. Through the event, we demonstrated our talents and applied our knowledge acquired in lesson to real-world problems. We also learnt new skills and made new friends, witnessed the high competence and enthusiasm from the students of Renmin University of China,” said Chen Shiqi, student of the Department of Management Sciences of the City University of Hong Kong.

Congratulations to the winners of the competition: