Belt & Road Alliance for Sensing and IoT Collaboration (BRASIC) held its 2021 first domestic conference in Beijing on Mach 30. 

BRASIC is an international organization initiated by China Instrument and Control Society (CIS) with the support of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). It aims to build an effective technology exchange platform between "Belt and Road" countries under the new situation, develop an innovation cooperation network among "Belt and Road" countries, establish a stable transnational technology exchange and cooperation the mechanism, push forward intelligent connectivity between "Belt and Road" countries, and promote the sustainable development of the sensing and IoT industry.

The purpose of this conference is to bring together the opinions and suggestions of domestic experts and organizations on how to make the development of BRASIC sustainable and healthy as an international platform.
Among the guests were You Zheng, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Vice President of Tsinghua University and President of CIS; Wang Chao from the Department of Regional Economy, National Development and Reform Commission; Wu Sihong, Deputy Director of the International Department, National Center for Science & Technology Evaluation, Ministry of Science and Technology; and Zhou Yan from the General Machinery Division, Department of Equipment Industry, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

You Zheng addressed the seminar, introducing the industrial background of the initiation of BRASIC. As required by industrial development and technical revolution, CIS has focused on sensing technology, equipment compatibility, information processing, and security operation and maintenance for years, made fruitful efforts in a wide range of fields, and strongly supported IoT construction. It initiated BRASIC in the hope of working with all its partners to build the "Belt and Road" into a road of coping with challenges, maintaining the people's well-being, promoting economic renaissance, and releasing potential.

Wang Chao from the Department of Regional Economy, National Development and Reform Commission and Prof. Wang Zhiliang from University of Science and Technology Beijing was invited to make presentations at the seminar.

The greatest outcome of the "Belt and Road" initiative is transportation connectivity, such as the China-Europe freight train service. The prosperity of China's digital economy has created an era led by Huawei, Baidu and Alibaba, but a real opportunity is yet to come for IoT. We will focus on the in-depth development of IoT under the "Belt and Road" initiative during the "fourteenth five-year" period. IoT integrates with big data, AI, 5G, industrial Internet, blockchain, and other technologies to provide new technology support and generate more economic benefits.

Shan Huimin, Director of the International and Public Communication Department of  CIS introduced the current work of BRASIC. She stressed that establishing BRASIC is different from ordinary international exchanges. To develop it into an international science & technology organization and gain international recognition, we must conform to international rules and practices, and uphold the internationally recognized principles of fairness, impartiality, and openness. With the mission of serving the industry, it will be constructed as a standard international organization, she said. A good platform needs a sound the mechanism, it will endeavor to create an integral eco-chain cooperation mechanism and serve its members worldwide by establishing regional expert think tanks, hosting academic events, organizing the formulation of market development reports for "Belt and Road" countries, offering educational training, and incubating cooperative projects.

Research fellow Xia Shanhong from the Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Director Xiao Shanpeng from China Mobile Research Institute; Shi Zhenshan, Deputy Director of the Instrumentation Technology and Economy Institute; Chen Qingsong, Deputy Chief Engineer of the 704th Research Institute, CASC; and the representative from Phoenix Contact voiced their support for the initiation of BRASIC and offered advice on its development in discussions. Wu Sihong, Deputy Director of the International Department, National Center for Science & Technology Evaluation, Ministry of Science and Technology, made a summary.

The representatives from Tsinghua University, Beihang University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Beijing Information Science & Technology University and Beijing Institute of Technology expressed their support to the establishment of BRASIC from the perspective of universities. The representatives from IoT enterprises expected to participate in more international exchanges via BRASIC, hoping it would lead enterprises into "Belt and Road" countries and facilitate more project cooperation.