Editor's Note: The 5th World Internet Conference, organized by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province, will be held in Wuzhen between Nov. 7 and 9 this year. The annual event will discuss ways to improve mutual trust and steps for collective governance along with measures to boost innovation.
With their success in popularizing mobile internet applications in China's massive consumer market, local companies are striving to establish a beachhead in the industrial internet, a new front widely recognized as key to integrating the digital and real economies.
For example, Haier Group, China's largest home appliance maker has built an industrial internet platform, a network of industrial apps that collect and analyze data from consumers, suppliers and factories boasting machines with internet-connected sensors. The system, COSMOPlat, is designed to allow companies to customize products at speed and scale while boosting productivity and cutting costs.
Chen Lucheng, vice-president of Haier, said in addition to making Haier's own factories more flexible, the industrial internet system is empowering companies by bringing them closer to consumers and suppliers
The platform involved 320 million users and 3.9 million enterprises last year, covering electronics, textiles, equipment, construction, transportation and chemical engineering. Based on the open platform, Haier has also launched a string of internet-connected smart factories around the country, hoping to boost efficiency.
Zhang Ruimin, chairman and CEO of Haier, said the most important characteristic of the internet era is the zero-distance relationship with consumers, highlighting the importance of integrating users and enterprises in the new manufacturing age.
Haier's move is part of broader efforts by Chinese companies to drive digital transformation on the nation's sprawling assembly lines. The push is fueled by strong government policy support as well as manufacturers' desire to upgrade their plants.
Former Vice-Premier Ma Kai said in a speech earlier this year that the industrial internet has become a new battlefield for global manufacturing and technology companies. The sector remains in its infancy, but it is gaining importance as it provides an opportunity to further enhance China's manufacturing prowess.
The State Council unveiled a guideline in November that aims to build three to five industrial internet platforms, which will reach international standards by 2025, and lead the world in key areas by 2035.
Specifically, China will build around 10 cross-industry platforms by 2020 to accelerate digital transformation at enterprises. China also aims to encourage over 300,000 industrial enterprises to move their business to cloud platforms and cultivate more than 300,000 industrial apps by the end of 2020.
Qianzhan Industry Research Institute forecast that the market size of China's industrial internet sector will reach 10.8 trillion yuan ($1.64 trillion) in 2025, without disclosing the figure for this year.
"Accelerated steps on the industrial internet are of significance to China's advanced manufacturing amid fierce competition from abroad. It will help promote the deeper integration of the nation's real economy with the internet, big data and artificial intelligence," said Yang Chunli, a researcher at the China Center for Information Industry Development, a Beijing-based think tank.
"To compete globally in the internet and manufacturing, China must foster national platforms, which will act as the main pillars of future industrial transformation. Key industries such as automobiles, digital, energy and aerospace are some of the potential areas in which to establish such national platforms," Yang added.
