International Business Machines Corp is seeking closer ties with local governments across China to develop a network of so-called 'smart cities', its proposed urban models for efficient, eco-friendly living on the mainland.
United States-based IBM, the world's largest information technology services provider, said it was pursuing talks with several mainland cities to follow the lead taken by Shenyang, whose government last week agreed to invest about 300 million yuan (HK$341 million) to become the nation's smart-city model.
The company has apparently put that strategy on the fast track after it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Guangdong Information Industry Department, which aims to jumpstart smart-city programmes across the southern coastal province.
The smart-city initiative, which IBM is pursuing in other countries, aims to aggressively adopt new technologies to greatly improve the operation of a city's interconnected core infrastructure, including energy, water, transport and communications.
The Shenyang government has started collaborating with the city's Northeastern University and Beijing-based IBM Research China Laboratory, one of the US company's eight global research facilities, to create a range of advanced systems designed to transform the capital of Liaoning province into a more efficient and environmentally sustainable metropolis.
Thomas Li, the director at IBM Research China Laboratory, said the scope of the Shenyang project made it the company's largest smart-city programme worldwide.
IBM's collaboration with Shenyang is to create solutions that would significantly reduce carbon emissions, conserve energy, manage water efficiently, track the supply of food from farm to fork, enhance transport systems, create environmental emergency response plans and allow for a more active approach to eco-responsibility.