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Analysis: China's smart city plan to boost regional economic upgrading
BEIJING, Dec 20, 2012 (Xinhua via COMTEX) --
China's latest pilot program for
establishing smart cities nationwide is expected to not only boost
the development of emerging industries including the Internet of
Things and cloud-computing, but also open a window for economic
transforming and upgrading across the country.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on December 10
announced plans to roll out the smart city as part of China's efforts
to boost urbanization. Local housing authorities need to draft their
own schemes for central government review and file their applications
for the pilot programs before the end of this year.
The smart city is a new development model by using new
technologies, such as the Internet of Things, cloud-computing,
artificial intelligence, to boost the information sharing and
coordination within a city system.
According to a just-closed summit forum held in Shanghai,
next-generation information technology, as one of the seven strategic
emerging industries China outlined earlier, has provided the
foundations for a boom in smart cities over the years.
As of September, 2012, a total of 22 cities including Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Wuhan, and
Xiamen, have set the clear aim of "getting smart" soon.
CCID Consulting says China is at the stage of pushing the
smart-city project along, instead of merely theorizing about the
concept.
The construction of smart cities will expand at a rapid pace amid
government calls for action. The Internet of Things, cloud-computing,
green buildings, and other information and communication technology
sectors are expected to grab a big slice of the market.
Cao Guohui, chief strategy officer of China Security and
Surveillance Technology Inc., says "The Internet of Things is a
strong technology base for extending the smart city concept
nationwide, and the smart city in turn is the application of the
Internet of Things". The Internet of Things will surely improve
living standards and urban management.
Jiang Defeng, a smart-city specialist, says China's investment in
smart city projects is likely to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2015.
Smart city construction takes advantage of advanced information
technologies, especially the Internet of Things, to provide fast and
effective information services in traffic management, healthcare, and
environmental protection.
Amid the flourishing of next-generation technologies, the more
important part of building smart cities is that local governments can
seize the opportunity to accelerate economic transforming and
upgrading.
Zhu Min, CEO of Cybernaut (China) Investment, says Chinese smart
cities need to not only emulate successful projects overseas, but
also visualize the concept with upgrading of traditional
manufacturing industry and transforming of business model.
Experts note that for now, most major cities in China are focusing
on improving infrastructure for smart-cities programs, and developing
regional intelligent e-commerce and logistics, while other cities are
stepping up efforts to improve the management of local utilities.
Chinese cities should facilitate the development of smart grid,
smart transportation systems, smart medical treatment, and smart
logistics, and at the same time encourage information technology to
better support the manufacturing sectors. (Edited by Ding Lei,
dinglei@xinhua.org)
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