China embraces the Internet of Things - to the tune of €1.45 trillion a year

New online development in China could earn the equivalent Australia's GDP - in a single year

by Peter Cluskey - The Irish Times, Jul. 08, 2015 – 

If there was ever a doubt about the Internet of Things and its capacity to spark a "fourth industrial revolution", just watch how China has embraced it in the past six months alone - anticipating huge technological change combined with remarkable economic growth.

East or west, what's different about the IoT is it's the latest link in an evolutionary chain that began with our ability to "connect" online, developing since then to the point where we can use that connectedness to innovate and do business more efficiently.

China-watchers at international consultants McKinsey predict new online development could fuel up to 22 per cent of the country's GDP growth between now and 2025, depending on how enthusiastically it's adopted and how prepared the infrastructure is to cope. Then, in 2025 - in that one single year - it could generate as much as 10 trillion yuan (about €1.45 trillion) in added GDP, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Australia.

For the Chinese, that prospect has been welcome but hugely problematical. Up until two or three years ago, China's official position on the internet was that it was just a communications platform, albeit one with huge potential, particularly for administering its far-flung regions. But since the start of this year, that attitude has changed dramatically - and definitively.

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