APCS: Reshaping city development and people’s lives through Internet Plus

Speaking at APCS in Brisbane, Tencent’s SY Lau predicts Internet Plus will enable and encourage the rise of smart cities

(Brisbane, Australia, July 7, 2015) SY Lau, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of its Online Media Group, spoke about the future of cities powered by Internet Plus today at the 2015 Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) and Mayors' Forum.

Championed by Tencent, Internet Plus in a new concept in China describing the relationship between the Internet and society.

nternet Plus provides the backbone for administrations to create innovative way to develop smart cities. The ecosystem created through Internet Plus with online and offline activities can efficiently allocate resources, better connect people to private and public sectors, encourage entrepreneurship and improve lives.

“Internet Plus will create a new infrastructure, one that cleverly and efficiently allocates resources to meet the challenges today and in the future,” said Mr Lau. “Electricity is an essential utility – it’s an invisible force that’s easy to access. The Internet is emerging as a utility that is just as essential as electricity. It is up to us to utilize the Internet fully to enhance people’s lives and power sustainable cities.”

Internet Plus is not just a way to improve lives in urban areas. With technology, rural communities and towns are advancing down a new and different path.

Villagers communicate with WeChat (known as Weixin in China) and organize activities with Moments; they make purchases online, sell their products through an online retail platform and they spend leisure time playing QQ Games. Innovators of Internet Plus in urban areas can learn from the way villagers apply technology and the Internet to improve their lives and communities. Examples include:

• Chongqing, a western Chinese mega-city of almost 30 million people, became the first city to implement the Smart City concept powered by the technology of Tencent. Within 5 years, Chongqing will equip all traffic entry points with nearly 1,000 smart traffic monitors, linking the city’s transportation platform. Real-time monitoring and analysis will provide more efficient management of transportation.
• Didi Dache, a mobile taxi hailing app, informs taxi drivers of their potential customer’s destinations and of other customers nearby. Drivers can decide whether or not to accept the order and, if so, plan routes in advance, saving themselves and their customer’s time and resources.  

Tencent will be a facilitator and connector in the age of Internet Plus. There are already 40,000 Official Accounts in Tencent’s WeChat platform providing easy access to a wide selection of public services.

Connecting people, businesses and governments to each other and to technology is the first step. By the end of this year, Tencent will have 25 Innovation Centers across China, offering over 500,000 square meters of space for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Mr Lau concluded, “Brisbane is the second city in the world after New York to have a position of Chief Digital Officer. This beautiful city is at the forefront of leveraging technology to better serve the people here. We feel the energy and passion the city had and it is a truly valuable time to share our development experience with Brisbane.” 

To watch how technology is changing the people’s lives in rural areas in China, please watch https://youtu.be/aocsQkkNmFg 

ends