The U.S.-China Commission released a contracted report written by SOS International on China’s Internet of Things on October 25, 2018. The Report says that since 2009, China has taken steps to catalyse domestic IoT research and development (R&D) and infrastructure development through robust planning initiatives and extensive financial support. After years of this support, the Chinese IoT market has grown rapidly, passing 1 trillion RMB (approx. $154 billion) in value in 2017, with expectations that it will reach 1.8 trillion RMB (approx. $264 billion) in value by 2020. Global IoT industry growth trends have been similarly robust: by way of comparison, some experts believe that IoT infrastructure investment is expected to reach $421 billion in the United States and $274 billion in Europe by 2021. Chinese experts anticipate that an “Internet of Everything” era will arrive once IoT is adopted widely in developed countries, and some assess that China has already developed a relatively complete IoT supply chain, including chips, components, devices, software, systems integration, operators, and applied services. On the ground level, China is leveraging the country’s sizable economy, state investment in new technologies, and state-subsidized foreign policy initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to encourage other countries to adopt its technology, and with it, its standards. China is explicit in its support for “standardization work” and will likely continue emphasising this work and strategy for the IoT and other new and emerging technologies.
|
