The Shanxi provincial government signed an agreement with China United Network Communications Group (China Unicom) on Nov 26 to promote strategic cooperation in the construction of an "intelligent Shanxi". Shanxi Daily reported on Nov 27.

Ren Runhou, vice-governor of Shanxi province, and Lu Yimin, general manager of China Unicom, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective parties.

According to the agreement, both sides will carry out industrial information applications in eight fields, including government affairs, finance and transportation.

China Unicom will invest 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in Shanxi over the next three years to make the information network more comprehensive and intelligent. The plan will benefit Shanxi’s social development overall.

Intelligent city construction refers to a sophisticated form of urban development, including social knowledge innovations and intelligent integrative applications. The construction of the city is supported by a new generation of information technology, including mobile Internet, cloud computing and the Internet of Things. Development will focus on infrastructure construction of Internet and data centers.

Edited by Zhou Yuanyuan and Michael Thai