The Chinese government has flagged the incorporation of blockchain technology into ambitious new infrastructure investment plans unveiled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 17 April a meeting convened by the Chinese Politburo called for “strengthening investment in traditional and new infrastructure,” with leading domestic analysts expecting infrastructure investment in China to reach between 22 – 26 trillion yuan in 2020.
A routine meeting of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) held on 20 April provided a clearer definition of the “new infrastructure” that will be included in these expanded investment plans for 2020.
According to NDRC “new infrastructure” will consist primarily of the three areas of information infrastructure (信息基础设施), integration infrastructure (融合基础设施) and innovation infrastructure (创新基础设施).
Information infrastructure primarily refers to new technologies including:
- 5G,
- The Internet of Things,
- The Industrial Internet of Things,
- Satellite internet,
- Artificial intelligence,
- Cloud computing,
- Blockchain,
- Data centres,
- Smart computing centres.
Integration infrastructure refers to the use of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies to support the upgraded performance of traditional infrastructure and includes:
- Smart transportation infrastructure,
- Smart energy infrastructure.
Innovation infrastructure refers to public benefit infrastructure which supports scientific research, technological development and product creation, and includes:
- Major scientific and technological infrastructure,
- Science education infrastructure,
- Industrial technological innovation infrastructure.
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