Many cities across the country suffer from serious traffic problems, so many are excited about the new system.

Another application focusing on health management also attracted a large group of visitors.

“With higher technologies and better applications, some brilliant ideas can be realized and widely applied, such as distant diagnosis and treatment,” said Xu Qiusheng, a 42-year-old Ningbo resident, trying a distant heartbeat reader at a medical appliance exhibitor.

Distant diagnosis and treatment, a system that monitors one’s health conditions and notifies a doctor of critical changes, will particularly benefit the elderly who live alone, and China is observing a rapidly growing number of such group, said Xu.

He added that he would buy the product for his parents to monitor their health while he is away.

He said he hopes they can develop a function that sends a text message to family members’ mobile phones so they will have up-to-date information about the health conditions of elderly parents.

“I think the users’ guide will also be important,” he said. “If functions are too complex it might make a system complicated and intimidating, so I hope that it’s going to be really easy for users.”

Some technologies and applications benefit rural residents and urban residents alike, as displayed at several agriculture-focused exhibitors.

Some farmers gathered at the displays of cnluye.com, a website and platform linking agriculture-related professionals, enterprises and individuals.

“When people have questions about farming, fishing or other problems involved in agriculture activities, they may post their inquiries on the website, which will be directed to experts who will reply,” said Liu Qike, a farmer who is also a frequent visitor to the website.

“I use the question and answer service very often, and the experts have helped save the rabbits and foxes I raise,” he said.

Tourism information about farm resorts and picking at orchards are also posted on the website.

“In the future we’ll also do price comparisons in domestic market and markets abroad, which will allow our farmers to know how and when to market their products,” said a staff member of the website surnamed Chen.

More than 40 billion yuan will be invested into 87 projects of 31 smart city programs in Ningbo in the next five years, according to the Ningbo city government.

“A smart city is built, rather than bought, and it is a long-term project to build a smart city, which should be pragmatic and application-oriented rather than a show-off of technologies,” said Gao Xinmin, executive vice-president of the Internet Society of China.

It is essential to cultivate and encourage local industries to be inventive in the cause, he added.