The city of Taiyuan, Capital of Shanxi province, is one of 20 cities chosen to act as pilots for a "digital city" program, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced on Oct 8, with another Shanxi city, Yangquan, also making the list.

In joining this first group of digital city pioneers, Taiyuan got Ministry backing after a lengthy preparation process that involved improving its information infrastructure and pushing an economic restructuring.

In commenting on the importance of this move, one municipal official noted, "This pilot digital city is just the beginning."

The Ministry of Science and Technology and National Standards Committee have been trying to set up a connection among the digital city pioneers, various national science programs, and cloud computing and the mobile Internet.

With that in mind, the Taiyuan government will try to draw up a detailed plan as soon as possible to get policy support.

The Ministry is reported to be promoting the system, with plans to use the experience of these pilot smart cities to expand it to other cities, meaning that Taiyuan is likely to become a national standard.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw