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The first carbon emissions exchange in Shanxi was founded using RocKontrol systems in 2011. "They began to realize that it's more difficult to hide their pollution than to make everything transparent and tradable."

The company ensures it maintains good relations with governments at various levels in China. And even some State leaders, such as former president Hu Jintao, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have all visited the company.

Sales hit 2 billion yuan ($328 million) in 2013. Net profits from the IOT operations reached about 700 million yuan.

After a new industrial park in Taiyuan is finished this year, "profit may rise to 1.5 billion yuan", Li said

While most information on the Internet can be collected free, it costs money to obtain data for the IOT.

That makes the IOT business a value-added application process for data, Li noted.

"It's hard to forecast the overall value of the IOT market in China in the near future. But the government is now playing an important role in deciding if the market can grow in a sound way, because most data comes from fields under tight government control.

"That's different from the US, where most of the valuable data comes from companies," Li said.

During the first national work videoconference for the IOT held last month, Vice-Premier Ma Kai vowed to cultivate new economic growth points, promote industrial restructuring, improve social governance and improve public services through the IOT.

"The main breakthroughs to be involve research and development activity for chips, intelligent sensors and other core technologies," said Ma.

"Industry, agriculture, energy conservation, environmental protection, logistics, resources, social affairs, city management and production security are the main fields that will benefit from the IOT."

Although the industry is still in its infancy, by 2012 most of China's provincial-level governments had designated the IOT for special support.

In 2010, 37 colleges won approval to offer the first group of IOT majors. More than 100 colleges now have IOT-related specialties.

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