The Jiangsu municipal government hosted the first news conference promoting the 2017 World Internet of Things Exposition (WIOT) on Aug 11, in the provincial capital Nanjing.

The first news conference for the 2017 World Internet of Things Exposition (WIOT) takes place in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Aug 11. [Photo/wiotexpo.cn]

To be held in Wuxi from Sept 10 to 13, it’s the second consecutive year that the city has hosted WIOT, the largest national-level exhibition of its kind.

Deputy secretary-general of Jiangsu Wang Zhizhong details the development of the IoT industry in Jiangsu province. [Photo/wiotexpo.cn]

Wang Zhizhong, deputy secretary-general of Jiangsu, said the province is at the forefront of China’s internet of things (IoT) industry. He highlighted the province’s 461 billion yuan ($69.21 billion) IoT industrial value in 2016, coming in at a growth rate of around 28 percent per year for the past six years. 

Jiangsu has made several technological breakthroughs and achieved industrialization in recent years, particularly in the fields of core chips, communication protocol, co-processing and intelligent control. This is not to mention, Wuxi, the WIOT host city, being home to the world’s fastest supercomputer – the Sunway TaihuLight – made entirely from domestic components. 

Wang said that there are more than 20 IoT international standards and 70 national and industrial standards formulated with the lead or participation of Jiangsu’s related companies and associations. And that a large amount of competitive leading enterprises and technical small-and-medium-sized companies have been attracted to setup in the province.

Gao Yaguang, vice-mayor of Wuxi, answers journalists’ questions about Wuxi’s IoT industry. [Photo/wiotexpo.cn]

Gao Yaguang, vice-mayor of Wuxi, reiterated the mayor’s points. “Wuxi’s IoT core industry is worth an estimated 210 billion yuan, and we have 150,000 employees, which have been growth by more than 30 percent for the last three years,” Gao said. 

“It has formed an industrial chain covering all aspects of the internet of things, from sensors and networks to processing applications and support services.” 

Many key enterprises, such as pharmaceutical multinational AstraZeneca, e-commerce giant Alibaba and Chinese tech developer Huawei, have signed strategic agreements with Wuxi this year. In the past 12 months, Switzerland, Germany, Australia as well as other countries have visited Jiangsu province seeking cooperation.