Technology and the new urban China

Jim Hagemann Snabe

Urbanization has always characterized the evolution of contemporary China. From 1950 to 2005, China's urbanization rate rose to 41 percent. In the past decade, its urban population increased by 10 million each year. In the next 10 to 15 years, urbanization will fuel China's economic growth and bring significant changes that rival the tremendous change of these past decades. Technology can help unlock the benefits of urbanization and solve some of the challenges we associate with it today.

All roads lead to urbanization, especially in diverse China. In mountainous Southwest China, farmers raise goats and sheep for a living while simultaneously growing grass, creating a virtuous value chain that enriches the farmers, benefits the environment and changes the rural landscape. Through empowering technologies such as the cloud, farmers can gain insights about the market demand in South America before they plan their annual production, avoiding wastage and losses.