(Yicai Global) Sept. 11 -- China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology predicts that by 2018, the global market volume of the Internet of Things could surpass USD100 billion.

China's IoT industry has made tremendous progress, the ministry said. The number of internet-connected devices will reach 28 billion worldwide by 2021, with 16 billion relating to the Internet of Things, Luo Wen, vice minister, said at the World Internet of Things Exposition 2017 on Sept. 10.

The global value of IoT was USD70 billion last year, 21st Century Business Herald reported, up 21 percent from a year earlier.

Driven by such factors as China Manufacturing 2025, Internet Plus, mass entrepreneurship and innovation, China's IoT industry development has made significant progress in recent years, centering around four main regions. Some areas, including Wuxi, Hangzhou and Chongqing, have set up supportive policies and become important bases for driving China's Internet of Things development.

The IoT is a new growth driver for the information industry, combining software and hardware to make smart electronics more advanced. As the technology advances in various social and economic fields, mergers continue to occur in industry, value and innovation chains, leading to a rise in new business models and industries, like the Internet of Vehicles and smart cities.

China's Internet of Things sector is still in the early stages, and there are numerous issues to be solved. Its core technological capability is weak; industrial applications are inadequate; there are too few mature business models; there are no standard systems and improvements need to be made in data security.

The country will take various measures, such as accelerating technological innovation, deepening international cooperation and improving service platforms, to boost development in China.