Chongquin
is a city-region that boasts 56 universities, massive science and
technology parks with research centers such as Haifu, investigating
non-invasive technologies to deal with cancer via ultrasound; massive
multimedia digital projects and broadband-based outsourcing and data
centers. The urban intensity of Chongquin is every bit like Manhattan
and its skyline at times can be mistaken for Hong Kong.
No one
that I know back home in North America has ever heard of it. Yet, here
I was on business to this incredible city and its neighbors in the
southwest of China, talking about intelligent cities to civic leaders
and finding great interest by everyone I spoke to about becoming one.
Their voracious appetite to become part of the world stage gave me the
opportunity to raise the idea of becoming an Intelligent Community with
the mayors, the head of the region's foreign affairs and the heads of
some of the area universities. People were clearly interested but as
one of the mayors said, "we do not have the confidence to be an
intelligent community."
Confidence, now there is an attribute
that I had not thought about. We have criteria ranging from broadband
infrastructure, knowledge work, creativity and innovation, digital
inclusion and marketing and advocacy, but we never discussed
confidence. Here is a city that has all the markings of an intelligent
city, and they would dearly love to be considered one, but they lack
confidence.
Clearly
by size alone these cities should have all the attributes to become
intelligent cities. Massive consumer and business acumen; major transit
facilities; research and data centers with significant double-digit
gigabyte broadband services; and a culture of use of advanced
technologies. Cell phones abound in these parts, even among some of the
poor but entrepreneurial market vendors and street hawkers. Smart
notebooks sit on the tables at Starbucks and other local hotspots. No
wonder, a major partnership of HP and Taiwan's Foxconn are pumping out
large quantities of laptops and notebooks from the nearby industrial
park.
And yet they lack confidence. Judging from the wave of
enthusiasm on the streets and in the lecture halls, I am sure that that
will soon change.
John Jung: December 2009 Archives
Ask
many westerners about southwest China and they will look puzzled. They
can quickly name cities along the eastern coast of China, like
Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin, but haven't a clue about cities like
Chongquin, Chengdu, and Kunming. Yet these cities boast populations in
the order of 32 million, 13 million and 6 million people, respectively
and have most western commodities available to their impressively well
dressed and market astute consumers. Salvatore Ferragamo, Rolex, Rolls
Royce, BMW, Boss, Canon, IBM, HP, Microsoft, Apple are common names on
the street and on the tops of buildings.
