The role of Internet of Things in China's 12th Five Year Plan

China's current wave of enthusiasm for the Internet of Things (IoT) had already begun by the time IoT was incorporated into the 12th Five Year Plan in June 2010. Immediately afterward, the central government and local governments across the country began working on a range of standards, industry chains and applications with the goal of creating an industry worth more than CNY500 billion over the coming decade. During the initial phase of development, the application of IoT will focus on the smart power grid, smart transport, smart logistics and precision agriculture sectors.

While plans for the IoT industry and IoT applications are being published by all levels of government in China, the majority of such efforts will remain demonstration or "model" schemes until at least the end of 2011, and are not predicted to deliver real results for another one to two years. However, China will soon have a considerable presence in terms of TD-LTE wireless communications standards, supporting devices, application standards and solutions. In the long term, these foundations will help to foster the growth of more upstream homegrown companies and industry chains as a whole.