China urges fresh standards for the internet of things

A visitor enjoys virtual bike racing at the World IoT Expo held in Jiangsu province in October. [Photo/China Daily]

China has called for a global effort to jointly set up a demonstration platform for the internet of things and promote the healthy development of the global IoT industry, according to a statement released in Beijing on Thursday.

Initiated by the World Internet of Things Convention Organizing Committee and other alliances, the declaration advocates a global effort to build universal IoT standards and establish a world IoT fund to support the global development of IoT industry.

He Xuming, executive chairman of the committee, said the information revolution had already changed people's daily lives, while the IoT, which is more comprehensive and much larger, will thoroughly change people's lives and production modes.

"The fourth revolution will be the intelligent revolution. The IoT is most applied and practised in China. As a global leader in the deployment of the IoT, China will work with other nations to set the game rules, leading IoT innovation and development."

According to the declaration, the IoT is deemed as a multi-dimensional intelligent network system connecting people and things, things and things, and things and people, and the system also concerns the function of public social operations and management.

He predicted that the IoT will create dozens of global markets in the future and each will be worth more than one trillion yuan ($143.88 billion).

Experts said the booming IoT will bring new opportunities for both China and other nations.

"In the construction process for the new intelligent revolution, Chinese enterprises and technologies have really done a great job," said Zhang Yi, chairman of the EU-China City Council.

"All nations should work together to embrace and develop the IoT, which can really benefit everyone in the globe."

In 2015, China's IoT industry was worth up to 750 billion yuan, accounting for 31 percent of the global total.

Liu Yanshen, vice director of the National Engineering Research Center for E-learning, said the IoT is the direction and the driving force of the new industrial revolution, and China needs to grasp the opportunity to build an international system for the IoT.

"The core of IoT development lies in application and innovation. China needs to deploy the IoT in various areas, including smart cities, industry, agriculture, military, education, health and energy."

Headquartered in Beijing, the World Internet of Things Convention will be held in 2017 and more offices will be built in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America and South America.