Industrial Internet is entering the fast lane and empowering thousands of industries

It’s the end of another year. Looking back at the development of the Industrial Internet in 2021, we can see that it has achieved fruitful results.

2021 is the starting year of the "Industrial Internet Innovation and Development Action Plan (2021-2023)". This year, the development of the industrial Internet has entered the fast lane, and has achieved phased results in networks, platforms, security, and applications.

At the same time, 2021 is also the starting year of the "14th Five-Year Plan". The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for the development of "5G+Industrial Internet". China's Industrial Internet will also move from the exploratory starting stage to a new stage of deep industrial cultivation and empowerment development, which will bring a qualitative leap to the manufacturing industry.

The development of the industrial Internet will enter the fast lane in 2021

At the beginning of 2021, the "Industrial Internet Innovation and Development Action Plan (2021-2023)" was released, which mentioned that 2021-2023 is a period of rapid growth for my country's industrial Internet. By 2023, the construction of new infrastructure for the industrial Internet will advance both in quantity and quality, new models and new formats will be widely promoted, and the comprehensive strength of the industry will be significantly improved.

After one year of development, China's innovative development of the industrial Internet has achieved phased results: first, network construction continues to accelerate, with more than 1,800 5G+ industrial Internet projects under construction; second, the platform system is accelerating its improvement, with more than 100 platforms with certain regional and industry influence across the country, and the total number of connected devices exceeding 76 million sets; third, security assurance capabilities continue to improve, and the National Internet Security Situation Awareness Platform has fully achieved docking with 31 provincial systems; fourth, integrated innovative applications continue to deepen, and the industrial Internet has extended to 40 major categories of the national economy, accelerating the connection of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and supply chain.

According to the latest White Paper on the Economic Development of China's Industrial Internet Industry (2021) released by the China Industrial Internet Research Institute, in 2020, the added value of my country's industrial Internet industry reached 3.57 trillion yuan, accounting for 3.51% of GDP. It is expected that in 2021, the added value of the industrial Internet industry will exceed 4 trillion yuan, becoming an important force in promoting the high-quality development of my country's economy.

As of October 2021, my country has more than 100 influential industrial Internet platforms, connected industrial equipment exceeding 76 million units, and industrial apps exceeding 590,000. In addition, the security industry is worth about 29.29 billion yuan, up 15.6% year-on-year; the automation industry is worth 269.2 billion yuan, up 4.2% year-on-year, of which the industrial control and execution sector has grown steadily, with an industry size of 230.7 billion yuan, accounting for more than 80% of the industrial Internet automation industry. It can be said that the development of my country's industrial Internet has made a good start and has entered the fast lane of development.

The development of the industrial Internet has entered the fast lane, thanks to the rapid development of 5G technology in my country. According to the latest news from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, my country has currently built more than 1.15 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 70% of the world.

5G+Industrial Internet is empowering thousands of industries

"Industrial Internet" has been included in the government work report for four consecutive years, and the country's "14th Five-Year Plan" has also made clear arrangements for the development of the industrial Internet. The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for the development of "5G+Industrial Internet". China's industrial Internet will move from the exploratory start-up stage to a new stage of deep industry cultivation and empowerment development, which will bring a qualitative leap to the manufacturing industry.

The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Information and Communication Industry" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology lists the Industrial Internet and "5G+Industrial Internet" as important integrated infrastructures, and mentions the keyword "Industrial Internet" 61 times. The plan proposes that by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", a high-quality Industrial Internet network covering all regions and industries will be basically built, and a number of "5G+Industrial Internet" benchmarks will be created.

Currently, 5G+Industrial Internet is empowering thousands of industries. The latest statistics show that there are more than 10,000 5G application innovation cases, covering 22 important industries of the national economy. The application scenarios of vertical industries such as industrial manufacturing, mining, and ports are accelerating their scale implementation, and have expanded from the initial production auxiliary business to core businesses such as equipment control and quality control.

Previously, the second batch of 10 typical application scenarios of "5G+Industrial Internet" have also been released, including production unit simulation, precise dynamic operation, production energy efficiency control, process compliance verification, production process traceability, equipment predictive maintenance, factory area intelligent tallying, global logistics monitoring, virtual on-site services, enterprise collaboration, etc. The five key industry practices include: petrochemicals, building materials, ports, textiles and home appliances.

Xiao Yaqing, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the integrated development of 5G and the industrial Internet will focus on four aspects: First, accelerate the construction of new infrastructure and open up the "main artery" of information. Support enterprises to use new network technologies such as 5G and advanced applicable technologies to transform and build enterprise intranets, support enterprise equipment to the cloud, and promote the industrial Internet platform into enterprises, industrial parks, and industrial clusters. Second, expand the application scenarios of integration and promote the digital and intelligent transformation of the manufacturing industry. Through demonstration, benchmarking, and industrial park construction, select a group of professional solution providers, build a group of 5G fully connected factories, optimize a group of industrial Internet platforms, and create a group of compound expert talent teams to drive the quality, efficiency, and upgrade of thousands of industries. Third, strengthen key technology research and development to consolidate the foundation for development. Vigorously promote the "unveiling the list and taking charge" mechanism, give full play to the role of enterprises as innovation subjects, and realize the rapid research and development and industrialization of industrial modules, sensors, key software, and other fields. Accelerate the development of basic common standards such as industrial data interaction, explore the construction of data trading platforms, and improve the level of data management, development, and utilization. Fourth, deepen openness and sharing, and build a new industrial ecology of mutual benefit and win-win.

Of course, the development of 5G+Industrial Internet is still in its infancy. Although many successful cases and practices have emerged, its transformative effects, cost reduction and efficiency improvement have not yet been fully manifested. It is expected that next year may be the growth period of "5G+Industrial Internet", and it will enter a large-scale growth period by 2024.