Officials discuss the outcomes of the 2017 World Internet of Things Exposition (WIOT) in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, on Sept 13. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2017 World Internet of Things Expo has facilitated a surge of investment in internet of things-related projects and businesses, the expo's organizers stated in a press conference on the final day of the event in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Sept 13.

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

The host city of Wuxi was one of the biggest beneficiaries of these agreements, with three of the biggest confirmed projects to be built in the city.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group inked a deal with the Wuxi government to construct a major new IoT industrial park in Xuelang town, which will house three data parks and a hub for IoT companies.

Alibaba's rival Tencent also confirmed that it will locate its Tencent TUSI IoT Laboratory in Wuxi. Tencent will partner Intel on the project, which is designed to develop a set of standards and technology to improve security for its mobile payment service.

Business incubator and investors AVICUI Technology, meanwhile, announced that it will launch an AVICUI Innovation Center in Wuxi to support hi-tech start-ups, bring new research achievements to market, and promote the integration of civilian and military research.

The expo also lived up to its theme of "IoT creates a new future". The more than 500 start-ups that attended the event signed agreements worth 128 million yuan with companies, investors and public organizations.

More than 500 of the brightest minds in IoT attended the expo, including foreign and domestic academics, researchers and entrepreneurs, to share their ideas on the development of the industry.

Several reports were also released at the expo exploring development trends in the IoT industry. This included a preliminary version of the Standards for National Smart Manufacturing Capability Maturity and a white paper on industrial IoT.