IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

Technology is helping China move 250 million people from the countryside to its new 'smart cities' by 2025

Standing in the middle of Yinchuan's cavernous City Hall, it's difficult not to be awed by the scale of ambition of the city's young mayor, Bai Shangcheng.

The building's vast marble foyer bristles with technology: sliding glass doors that greet you as you enter, self-service touchscreens on huge monitors, a cinema waiting room where you can watch films while you kill time, and QR codes scattered liberally around the building to quickly answer common questions, so you don't have to queue for a service desk if you have your smartphone with you.

UOF is a standard document format for the new generation of China's office-related software and it uses XML contained in a compressed file container. It competes with the OpenDocument format, which was developed by the Open Office XML technical committee of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards.

Tanzanian government has chosen Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider based in China, to be its technical advisor in empowering the East African country's ICT sector.

An agreement was signed at the first Huawei Cloud Conference in Dar es Salaam Thursday, seeing Huawei offering Tanzania services on ICT training, education and big data services.

Cities should cooperate globally to pool resources, share ideas and explore the best ways to address common challenges

We are used to seeing global governance and big tech companies as the main components of innovation and industrial transformation. However, the role of cities is also crucial if we want to ensure that the transformation process is inclusive, balanced and centered on the quality of life of citizens. After all, it is in the cities that barriers to the flow of elements such as knowledge, technology, talent and capital are broken down and the integration of science and technology with economic and social governance is facilitated.

Wanxiang Holding Co., Ltd, a China-based automotive giant partners with blockchain-based tech firm PlatOn to develop a “smart city” in Hangzhou, as per a report by CryptoNinjas on June 20.

The report states that the smart city dubbed as “Innova City” will be built through PlatON’s blockchain infrastructure, purportedly for the purposes of interfacing with city resident ID cards and monitoring driving behavior, among others. The report adds a statement from Chief Innovation Officer at Wanxiang, Vincent Wang, who shared more details: “Imagine a smart transit system that tracks and rewards responsible driving behavior, or a renewable power grid that incentivizes energy generation and trading, or even a myriad of urban services that can be validated, built, and offered at ease without the constraints of rigid data silos.”

This may come as a bit of a surprise. Ok, so public services in China are not considered to be world-class yet. But given that the GDP of a number of small countries has been spent on developing China’s e-government infrastructure over the past decade, Chinese citizens have a right to expect more of what their government provides for them online.

Zambia has deployed surveillance camera project solutions on the roads namely the Advanced Road Safety Management System and the Intelligent Mobility Solutions (IMS) – Safe City Project.

These are similar in the conceptualisation and implementation of the work systems because the two systems work complimentary to each other.

“The Safe City Project now under implementation by Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment (ZTE) Corporation is a reflection of China Zambia Security Cooperation. China has provided a large amount of military and security equipment,” said Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie in a speech at the commissioning and handing over of paramilitary police housing units in Lilayi.