Smart cities aren't smart enough because information is still disintegrated, fragmented and not openly shared, said Wang Haifeng 王海峰 National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Institute of International Economics director at the Guangdong Big Data and Cloud Computing Summit.
Smart cities should not merely aggregate information but develop data processing and other services, argued Wang. Wang contends smart cities should have
- public governmental information sharing platforms containing key info on public security, customs, inspection and examination, banking systems and social security
- deep data processing and analysis capabilities with cloud computing; agencies should analyse collected data to improve civil services
Smart cities are the future of urbanisation, says Yao Bing 姚兵 former Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development vice director. Their significance goes beyond intelligent use of IT in urban governance to include smart civil participation and people-oriented, inclusive and sustainable development, explains Yao.
Academy of Prospective Industries published a report titled 'Report on Smart City Construction', recommending that smart cities
- enhance IT industries and safeguard information security
- develop internet of things (IoT)
- accelerate R&D of key technologies
There are over 300 prefectural-level smart cities, says the report, and the industry is expected to grow 30 percent to reach C¥20 tn by 2021 (Note: previous reports talked of 500 cities and a potentially C¥1 tn industry by 2020). Shenzhen and Hangzhou are most promising, said Wang. Another emerging smart metropolis is the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay area, argued Yang Xueshan 杨学山 former Ministry of Industry and Informatisation (MIIT) vice minister.