China poised for leadership role in smart city technology as rural to urban migration continues

China will take the lead in developing smart city technology in the coming five years, tapping a potential market worth US$1.5 trillion globally, Chinese officials said.

Chinese authorities said smart city technology has  becomes a key national policy to help drive the country’s rapid urbanization, Dr. Shan Zhiguang, Director for the State Information Center's Informatization Research Department said on Tuesday at the Aisa-Pacific Smart City Development Summit Forum in Shenzhen.

He believes the smart city mode of development is ideal for the country's urbanization, adding that hundreds of government-led smart city pilot projects are under way across China.

“From now to 2020, over 100 million Chinese people are moving into cities from the countryside. It’s an impossible mission for any of developed countries in the west.” Shan said.

Few areas in the world could have as big a smart city market as China. About 70 per cent of the population estimated to reach 1.4 billion people by 2030 will be living in cities, according to Chen Ying, deputy director of the software division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Shan said the central government has made great efforts in the field since 2013 by introducing various support policies and launching pilot projects across the country in the construction of smart cities.