Jiang Wangcheng, CEO of Huawei IoT Solutions, introduces the OceanConnect IoT platform at the Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) Summit Forum in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Sept 11. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

More than 600 business leaders and industry experts attended the Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) Summit Forum in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Sept 11.

Hosted by Chinese tech giant Huawei and Wuxi municipal government, the event was held as part of the ongoing World Internet of Things Exposition.

The forum was designed to promote the latest achievements in NB-IoT and accelerate its application across China.

Discussions focused particularly on NB-IoT network arrangements, experimental trials and fostering a business ecosystem beneficial to the development of new NB-IoT technologies.

"NB-IoT infrastructure construction is fundamental to modern urban administration and the realization of massive IoT application, according to the 2016-2020 Five-Year Plan for information and communications technology," said Wen Ku, the director of China's State Communication Development Department.

Chinese telecommunications companies China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom have developed NB-IoT platforms and devices, laying the foundations in terms of hardware and information transmission for companies to start applying NB-IoT-connected solutions.

Helping the NB-IoT industry achieve lift-off will depend on three things—developing industry standards, high-quality chips and the right industrial ecosystem—according to Jiang Wangcheng, CEO of Huawei IoT Solutions.

Wuxi could be well placed to dominate this emerging industry. The city is well-established as a hub for the IoT industry, and the local government provides technology companies with strong technical and policy support.

Several Wuxi companies, including Little Swan, iSoftStone and Honeywell, launched NB-IoT solutions for the smart city, smart appliances, and smart environmental protection industries during the forum.