Role of industrial internet grows rapidly

Industry report and experts stress teamwork across different sectors

Teamwork across different sectors is needed to accelerate the development of the industrial internet, a frontier widely seen by countries around the world as key to boosting manufacturing prowess, officials and experts said after reviewing an industry report.

Value-added output of the industrial internet is expected to reach 4.45 trillion yuan ($617 billion) this year, accounting for 3.64 percent of the GDP and up from 4.10 trillion yuan in 2021, the latest report from the China Academy of Industrial Internet stated.

The industrial internet refers to a network of combined, advanced machines with internet-connected sensors and big data analytics, which has great significance in boosting the productivity, efficiency and reliability of industrial production.

Zhang Yunming, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the nation's top industry regulator, said the industrial internet is the key infrastructure and new industrial ecosystem for the deep integration of new generation information communication technology and the industrial economy.

"It is the fundamental path to the manufacturing sector's digital transformation and the main driver of its high-quality development," Zhang said at a sub-forum of the fifth Hongqiao International Economic Forum during the ongoing fifth China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

"More efforts are needed to enhance the technical support capacity, and expand the breadth and depth of 5G network layout in the industrial field," Zhang said.

Currently, all major economies are prioritizing the development of manufacturing, and they have rolled out a series of strategic measures to upgrade the manufacturing industry to make it more digital era-oriented, internet-connected and intelligent, experts said.

Lu Chuncong, head of the China Academy of Industrial Internet, said teamwork across different sectors is critical to quicken the development of the industrial internet. Industrial enterprises, telecom enterprises, software enterprises and industrial control enterprises need to cooperate deeply to strengthen the research of core technologies.

"Meanwhile, it will be a long-term process to upgrade thousands of industries through the industrial internet, which is determined by imbalances in the development of China's sprawling industrial economy and conditions thereof," Lu said.

The academy released a report on Sunday which showed industrial internet has been used in 45 major categories of the national economy. This year, industrial internet will help increase the outputs of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy.

In addition, the industrial internet will help promote the upgrade of China's employment structure and stabilize employment, helping create more than 1 million new jobs this year, the report stated.

Frank Meng, chairman of Qualcomm China, said major industrial countries in the world, such as China, Germany, the United States and Japan, are vigorously promoting the development of the industrial internet.

"As a general connection platform, 5G has played an important role in promoting the development of the industrial internet," Meng said, adding the US chip company has partnered with the China Academy of Industrial Internet to build a 5G-connected factory in Kunshan, Jiangsu province.