China Public Safety Conference 2024 kicked off on Nov. 16 in Hefei city, Anhui province. Gathering experts and professionals from all over the country, the conference presented new technologies and new development of China's public safety industry, and showcased Hefei's driving forces in the sector.

In 2015, Hefei launched the construction of the urban lifeline safety project in partnership with Hefei Institute for Public Safety Research of Tsinghua University. More than 80,000 sets of sensor equipment have since been installed on Hefei's roads, bridges, and underground pipe networks to monitor the city around the clock. At present, similar sensor networks are in place in more than 60 cities across the country.

The popularization of this "Hefei model" has demonstrated the vigorous development of the city's public safety industry. So far, Hefei has attracted more than 10 key enterprises specializing in urban safety, such as Urban Lifeline Industry Group, Zezhong City Safety, TanZer Intelligent Link, and KDLian Safety Technology, and over 300 enterprises in the industrial chain. A coordinated development pattern was established in the city led by Urban Lifeline Industry Group, supported by Hefei Institute for Public Safety Research of Tsinghua University, and consisted of many industrial chain companies.

So far, 60 high-end professionals including academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering have been recruited to the city. It has strengthened talent cultivation by relying on the national demonstration base for integration of science and education, and national post-doctoral research stations, nurturing more than 300 graduate students in the field of urban safety.

In order to better serve enterprises and high-caliber professionals, the city has set up the City Safety Fund with a total scale of 1 billion yuan (US$138.1 million), encouraging private capital to participate in the development of urban safety industry.

The High-tech Security Valley project. [Photo/WeChat account: hefeigaoxinfabu]

At present, an urban lifeline industrial park dubbed the "High-tech Security Valley" is under construction at the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone. It plans to establish a technological alliance for urban safety and emergency industries covering the whole industrial chain, and promote the overall development of the public safety industry.