In recent years, “Big Data” has become a new ubiquitous term. Big Data is transforming science, engineering, medicine, healthcare, finance, business, and ultimately society itself. The IEEE International Conference on Big Data 2013 (IEEE BigData 2013) provides a leading forum for disseminating the latest research in Big Data Research, Development, and Application. We solicit high-quality original research papers (including significant work-in-progress) in any aspect of Big Data with emphasis on 5Vs (Volume, Velocity, Variety, Value and Veracity): big data science and foundations, big data infrastructure, big data management, big data searching and mining, big data privacy/security, and big data applications.