(Yicai Global) Nov. 16 -- Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co. demonstrated its Intelligent Operation Center (IOC) at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2017 (SCEWC) in Barcelona, dubbing it a 'smart city brain.'

The company's smart city solutions have been successfully applied in more than 120 cities in 40 countries around the world.

"A smart city is like a living organism, it's powered by a fully developed nervous system," Zheng Zhi Bin, general manager of Huawei Global's smart city business unit, told Yicai Global in an interview at the event. "This smart city nervous system comprises a 'brain,' the control center, and peripheral nerves, or networks and sensors, that gather real-time information about the city's status, environment and infrastructure. The traffic system, for example, feeds real-time public traffic data to the control center to enable the administrator to divert traffic and reduce congestion."

The underlying infrastructure of the IOC, or the city brain, comprises distributed cloud data centers and ubiquitous city networks that provide landline and wireless connections and high-speed data, video and audio services throughout the city. The center collects, integrates and shares city information, enabling real-time visibility of the city. Using the latest Big Data, machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies, the IOC delivers valuable insight to facilitate city planning and make it easier for governments to tackle unexpected problems if and when they arise.

Huawei also provides Internet of Things platforms equipped with LiteOS -- a secure, lightweight and intelligent operating system -- and Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) Narrow Band IOT (NB-IOT) designed for new-generation IOT devices and services. The IOT platforms function as a nervous system, collecting and integrating data generated in the city and loading it into the IOC.

"For Huawei, NB-IOT represents a major advancement in the world of the Internet of Things, but existing IOT networks are separate systems, so we're now working on a set of uniform network standards to integrate data in separate networks," Zheng said. The firm is also developing its own NB-IOT chipset, he added.

"A smart city perceives and improves the physical world by coordinating its brain, nervous system and other organs," Yan Lida, president of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said in a speech at the Smart City Summit in Barcelona, held alongside the SCEWC. "People-device and device-device connections have reached an unprecedented level, and the resulting data explosion -- a dramatic increase in the volume of data generated in the physical world -- can be used by people to make informed decisions in the digital world, enabling them to take smart actions in the real world. The boundaries between the digital and physical world have virtually disappeared."

Zheng has been overseeing pilot Intelligent Operation Center projects in 10 Chinese regions, he said, mostly in second- and third-tier cities.  "Sales of integrated technology is at the core of the IOC business model. The product is then operated by cities with support from Huawei. Data integration and extraction and data-based innovation applications are the most important aspect of the IOC business."

Barcelona is one of Huawei's key markets in Europe, he added. China has come to the forefront of smart city development and the firm chose smaller cities to roll out its solutions as the benefits are more visible in these areas. "Big cities have very strong vertical integration capabilities, but smart city [solutions are] horizontal, and therefore can't be easily implemented on a comprehensive scale in developed regions."

Smart traffic and energy conservation were top priorities at the Barcelona expo. According to a report from Siemens AG [ETR:SIE], the emission reduction targets laid out in the Paris Convention can be achieved only if all transportation devices are interconnected.

About two-thirds of the global population will live in cities by 2030, data from the United Nations shows. Urban population will triple in developing countries, resulting in a three-fold increase in the total size of cities in these nations. Fast urbanization will be a battle for cities' infrastructure and public services, prompting local governments to revise their development strategies. The Barcelona expo attracted policymakers from New York, London and many European cities. Discussions at the event focused primarily on eco-friendly city development.

The Smart City Expo World Congress is in its seventh year, and this year attracted a record number of exhibitors, about 700. The largest city in Catalonia, Barcelona has always committed itself to promoting smart city development. "This year's exposition is well attended by a record number of companies. It brings us the most influential and innovative capital in the world, we hope it will become a major global event," the expo's director, Ugo Valenti, told Yicai Global.

Spain trimmed its gross domestic growth forecast for next year from 2.6 percent to 2.3 percent following Catalonia's bid for independence. Valenti is unfazed. "Spain's economy has never been as good as it is today. The expo's popularity is a clear indication of how strong the economy is," he said.

The independence referendum is still ongoing, but the regional government of Catalonia participated in the expo. Yicai Global found many pure research institutes partially funded by the local government within the Catalonian pavilion. However, the government stopped funding these organizations two weeks ago as the political crisis deepened. It is still unclear as to when they will resume funding.

The region will hold another independence vote on Dec. 21.

"Spain chips in 14 percent toward GDP growth in Europe," said Ramon Betolaza, a partner at local private equity fund Black Toro Capital. "It's the second largest car producer in the continent. The national economy is gradually recovering from the European debt crisis. The current situation in Catalonia will not have any long-term impact on the economy, and we'll continue to invest in this region."

Black Toro Capital has invested in many projects in Catalonia. Betolaza is also a board member at Carbures, a leading Spanish industrial manufacturer which has been supplying jet cabins to Airbus SAS. The company also supplies compartments for the high-speed magnetic-levitation transport system Hyperloop.