A huge thank you to the attendees who joined Infrastructure Masons at our first event in China last week! As we shared at the event,  Infrastructure Masons is a non-profit, professional association of individual technology and business leaders around the globe. iMasons is Uniting the Builders of the Digital Age. Our community helps members connect, grow and give back. We are established in the US and Europe, with 2,000+ active participants in over 60 countries who represent over US$150Bn in infrastructure projects in 139 countries.

Based on current initiatives and announcements, over the next 5-10 years there will potentially be more data centers built in China than in the rest of the world combined. With that level of demand and investment, there will be many opportunities and challenges facing the industry and international businesses that want to be part of the journey.

There were two topics that stood out in our conversations. First, the talent shortage. This includes the need for new and expanded education efforts to increase the pipeline of talent. Following the event with business leaders, iMasons leaders held a great session at Tianjin Vocational Institute with an impressive audience of 500 students. As a result, iMasons is considering expanding the iMasons scholarship program to include the Telecoms and Big Data initiative they have established there.

Secondly, sharing best practices. This is bi-directional and will help members enhance infrastructure designs and deployments all over the globe. Our community builds and operates the infrastructure for the internet of everything. The world depends on our work and we all take pride in our craft.

We understand the importance of ensuring China government participation for future discussions and follow on meetings. iMasons looks forward to continuing input and support from Chinese companies and individuals who are interested in furthering iMasons’ activities in China.