At the heart of China’s economy is manufacturing. Drive its efficiency up and one can expect the country’s overall economy to rise proportionally with it. That’s what the industrial internet means to the Asian nation’s digital transformation.
China has intensified its efforts to boost the development of the industrial internet. As such, the Machine to Machine (M2M) will inject new vitality into the industrial economy, enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing on the global stage and empower high-quality development, industry experts said.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the country’s top industry regulator, said in a work plan recently that it will promote the application of superfast 5G wireless technology in the industrial internet. Plus, even better, the agency will support initial public offerings of eligible industrial internet companies.
The industrial internet, a new type of manufacturing automation that combines advanced machines, internet-connected sensors and Big Data analysis, will boost productivity and reduce costs in industrial production.
The application of digital technologies has been expanded from the consumption to the production field. In particular, new industrial forms such as the industrial internet are taking shape, which has become a new engine driving the growth of the digital economy and has showcased remarkable development potential said a leading manufacturing industry expert.
Accordingly, more efforts should be made to build 10 factories that are fully covered by 5G, and cultivate about 10 industrial internet public service platforms in specific regions. Moreover, they should accomplish the construction of regional sub-centres of national industrial internet big data centres in Chongqing, Shandong, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces, according to the plan.
The country will further propel the application of 5G plus industrial internet in the consumption sector, as well as accelerate innovation of key technologies to advance enterprises’ digital transformation, the plan said.
Data from the MIIT showed that the country has nurtured over 100 industrial internet platforms that have strong regional and industry influence, with 76 million units of industrial equipment connected to the platforms, which have served 1.6 million industrial enterprises covering over 40 key industries.
The positive transformation brought about by M2M will trickle down to every sector of the industry. Booming industrial internet will see surging demand for accuracy in:
- data acquisition
- transmission speed
- storage space
- computing capacities
- intelligent application
As such, it will drive the development of Big Data and cloud computing infrastructure and foster a batch of industrial internet companies with global competitiveness. In addition, the measures such as supporting the listing of eligible industrial internet enterprises will help expand the financing channels for these enterprises and expedite the development of the industrial internet.
The revenue of China’s industrial internet market is projected to reach 914.7 billion yuan (US$ 143.6 billion) in 2022, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.4% in the next three years, according to a government data.
Noting the industrial internet is established based on traditional industries and Information and Communication Technology, Ni Guangnan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said more efforts should be made to promote the integration of technological innovation and industrial applications.
