Countries around the world have been forming their own initiatives to help develop the infrastructure surrounding the increased connectivity that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) represents. Industry 4.0 in Germany, Industry of the Future in France and China’s Made in China 2025 are a few key examples. Nationalism aside, organizations throughout the world are becoming increasingly aware of the need for interoperability between the various plans.
In its latest push to achieve this objective, the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) is working together with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). The two groups have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to help ensure interoperability with the Industrial Internet in China.
“We look forward to working with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology to help further the development of the industrial Internet throughout China,” said Wael William Diab, chair of the IIC Liaison Working Group and senior director for Huawei. “We’re especially excited about joint activity on testbeds and research and development projects that will help advance the adoption of the Industrial Internet.”
Besides the collaboration on testbeds and R&D projects, IIC and CAICT will also work together to identify and share best practices, harmonize architectures and other elements, and collaborate on standardization.
CAICT is a specialized think tank for the Chinese government; a research academy under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. “The collaboration with the IIC will help establish tight relationships between the IIC and Chinese entities and organizations, such as the AII Alliance, and will develop, facilitate and enhance the Industrial Internet,” said Xiaohui Yu, CTO of CAICT.
The latest MoU with CAICT is one of several agreements that IIC’s newly formed Liaison Working Group has been making with groups around the world. IIC, which is not a standards body in itself, has agreements with close to 25 other groups—standards and open-source organizations, consortia, alliances, certification and testing bodies, and government entities/agencies—to help eliminate duplication of efforts in standards and development.
