Your boy has finally made it to China! Huawei extended an invitation to me and flew me out to China to attend Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, as well as to explore two of China’s most technologically advanced smart cities: Shenzhen and Shanghai. My mission: To dissect innovations that could redefine our islands’ resilience against climate disasters, financial exclusion, and infrastructure gaps. After 24 hours with the team at Huawei, I glimpsed a future where typhoon responses are predictive, ports operate without humans, and AI agents replace wallets.

Let me unpack this odyssey.

Smart Cities: Where Data Tames Chaos

In Huawei’s Command Center, I witnessed the heartbeat of a smart nation: real-time dashboards tracking police deployments, drainage water levels during monsoons, and ambulance routes across multiple cities. This isn’t just surveillance — it’s orchestration. For Caribbean nations battling hurricanes, such systems could shift disaster response from reactive scrambling to predictive management. Imagine sensors in Castries or Kingston forecasting flood zones hours before rains hit, or AI rerouting emergency crews around collapsed roads. Huawei’s “National One-Stop Public Services Solution” — already deployed in African nations — integrates these capabilities into a unified platform, streamlining everything from disaster alerts to digital IDs 10. The lesson? Data isn’t just power; it’s survival.

Autonomous Everything: Ports, Mines, and Beyond

At Tianjin Port — China’s sixth-largest hub trading with 200 countries — 76 driverless Intelligent Guided Vehicles (IGVs) glide beneath cranes, moving millions of containers yearly. Human intervention? A mere 0.1 per cent, dwarfing the global average of 5-6 per cent. These IGVs, powered by Huawei’s 5G and L4 autonomous driving technology, reduce costs by 30 per cent, slash energy use by 17 per cent, and eliminate high-risk jobs, such as truck operations. Similarly, Huawei’s autonomous coal miners extract resources in pitch-dark depths, while sensors preempt collapses. For ports like Kingston or Freeport, this isn’t just efficiency — it’s economic transformation. As Huawei CTO Yue Kun declared, “Future ports must be smart and green.”

5G Lifelines & Digital Inclusion

When Haiti’s 2021 earthquake crippled networks, rescue teams struggled to coordinate. Huawei’s solution? 5G backpacks — portable networks deployed during blackouts, creating instant communication grids for first responders. Beyond emergencies, China’s tech bridges financial gaps. The underbanked — a reality for 30 per cent of Caribbean citizens — use telephone bills as digital wallets. I watched a vendor use just his phone bill to add money to a digital wallet, then pay via QR code. No bank account needed. Huawei’s AI agent “Emma” takes this further: It ordered a cheesy fish sandwich, handling payment authentication and delivery tracking autonomously — a glimpse of frictionless commerce.

The Human-AI Symbiosis

High above the Dongguan skyline, a technician repaired a wind turbine wearing an AR helmet. As he adjusted circuits, sensors streamed live video to a command center, where AI analyzed torque metrics and flagged misaligned parts in real-time. This isn’t just safety — it’s augmented expertise, reducing errors in critical infrastructure. Similarly, Huawei’s cloud gaming demo — 8K resolution at 60fps with near-zero latency — shows how remote education or telemedicine could thrive in our bandwidth-starved islands.

Why China’s Tech Leap

China’s rise from imitator to innovator stems from targeting high-stakes sectors: Ports, mines, disaster zones. Huawei’s mantra — “Solve where failure isn’t an option” — has birthed solutions with visceral Caribbean relevance:

Renewable Integration: Tianjin Port generates its own wind/solar power, cutting grid dependence.

AI Governance: Shenzhen uses Huawei’s city-brain to streamline permits, reducing bureaucracy.

Connectivity Leap: By 2030, 88 per cent of Chinese mobile connections will be 5G, boosting GDP by $1.1 trillion 3. For us, closing the digital divide isn’t luxury — it’s equity.

Join the Journey: From Shanghai to Barcelona

This is merely Day 1. As I depart for MWC Shanghai on June 18, I’ll deliver raw, real-time access:

Instagram Stories (@KeronRose): Of all the latest tech advancements, and you will get to see me experience everything in real-time.

MWC Exclusives: Inside pitches at 4YFN — the start-up arena where Caribbean entrepreneurs can woo investors.

The Invitation

China’s genius lies not in inventing gadgets, but in reengineering society’s foundations. As Huawei’s Wang Bin noted, their success blends “top-down planning with grassroots pragmatism”. For the Caribbean, this trip is a down payment on our technological sovereignty. Follow me — not to spectate, but to participate. The future is a collaboration.

I have been absolutely blown away with how the Chinese are living in their everyday lives… and if you head over to my social media platforms right now, you will also get a glimpse of me inside the self-driving cars, exploring all the latest developments of China’s booming new EV market, and so much more.