How industrial internet is helping digital China grow

The value of China’s digital economy reached 35.8 trillion yuan ($5.54 trillion) in 2019. According to a white paper released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology in July, the digital economy is supporting the country’s high-quality development.

Industrial internet plays an important role by integrating the internet with the real economy and fostering new growth drivers. Industrial internet is a combination of key infrastructure, a new industrial ecology and a new application model, marking the internet’s extension from the consumption to the production sector.

As China’s industrial internet has created a “platform +” ecosystem, China’s cross-industry and crossfield industrial internet platforms have won recognition from various sectors. Industrial internet platform solutions have been applied to more than 30 important industries, such as petrochemicals, steel and high-end equipment, becoming a new engine for high-quality economic development. It is estimated that the economic added value of China’s industrial internet industry may reach 3.1 trillion yuan in 2020.

Industrial internet faces fast technology iteration and upgrading, which needs continuous investment. By providing services such as digital transformation, intelligent upgrading and integrated innovation for the economy and society, it has also created rich industrial application scenarios for developing the digital economy.

It also plays an important role in the production, dispatch, capacity expansion and resumption of production of emergency supplies for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus epidemic.

Industrial internet solutions reduce the transformation cost of industrial enterprises’ production adjustment, help the manufacturing industry improve the elasticity of supply chains, increase the flexibility of production and manufacturing, and improve the speed of rapid response. Such capabilities make it conducive to making China a manufacturing power, stabilizing the supply chains and improving total factor productivity, apart from optimizing national governance by using digital technology.

As the internet is deeply integrated into government services, economic development, people’s livelihood, and grass-roots governance, an integrated ecosystem represented by the industrial internet is taking shape at a faster pace. That means the digital economy has broader prospects for development, and information technology can be better used to promote development and benefit the people.