China is expected to build an industrialinternet system so the country can gain a beachhead in the next generation ofindustrial development globally, according to leading company executives andindustry experts who spoke during the ongoing two sessions.

"The country should first establish anational-level open source alliance on the industrial internet platform toencourage developers to participate in developing open source codes andsystems," said Zhou Yunjie, president of home appliance giant Haier Group.

Zhou pointed out it is urgent for China tobeef up industrial internet efforts, as the sector is entering an explosiveperiod and there has not yet been a dominant platform worldwide.

"China's industrial internet startedearly and has a high starting point, but still has a long way to go beforelarge-scale application. The window period is only two or three years forChina," said Zhou, who is also a deputy to the 13th National People'sCongress.

The industrial internet, also known as the"industrial internet of things", refers to the broader adoption ofadvanced technologies such as next-generation wireless networks, big data,artificial intelligence and the internet of things. The "windowperiod" is a short period of time within which some action can be takenbefore achieving a desired outcome.

In his proposal, Zhou called for jointefforts to promote the building of basic common standards in platforms,networks and security, and realize data interconnection and intercommunicationbetween platforms and industrial apps.

"Multinational companies from Chinaare also encouraged to replicate their successes in the industrial internetplatform overseas, and offer both hardware and software services abroad throughthe industrial internet platforms," he added.

Haier Group's COSMOPlat industrial internetplatform is a large-scale customization platform that allows users to engage inmany stages of the industrial process, from design to sales.

With 340 million users and 3.9 millionecosystem partners, COSMOPlat has emerged as one of the top industrial internetplatforms in the world.

According to the Ministry of Industry andInformation Technology, China has already nurtured over 70 industrial internetplatforms that have regional influence, with related applications covering over30 key industries across the country. More than 350,000 industrial enterprisesare connected to cloud platforms.

Xu Xiaolan, president of the China Academyof Industrial Internet, said the country should strengthen policy guidance andaccelerate key industries to develop industrial internet.

"The innovative model of theindustrial internet is also expected to be further promoted to more newbusiness scenarios of the real economy," said Xu, who is also a member ofthe 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political ConsultativeConference.

For five years in a row, Zhou Yunjie hassought to promote industrial internet at the two sessions, the annual sittingsof China's top legislature and top political advisory body.

Zhou is not only the president of homeappliance giant Haier Group, but also a deputy to the National People'sCongress. "Building an industrial internet with Chinese characteristics topromote high-quality growth of the real economy will have an all-around revolutionaryinfluence on the future of the country's industrial development."

As many developed economies race to developtheir industrial internet in the latest round of the fourth industrialrevolution, China has paid increasing attention. The field has witnessed robustgrowth with enhanced infrastructure and innovative business models taking shapeover the past three years.

The Chinese industrial internet is expectedto experience faster growth in the near future, thanks to a three-yeardevelopment plan recently revealed by the Ministry of Industry and InformationTechnology.

In his proposal during the two sessionsthis year, Zhou called for open-source industrial alliances on the basis ofenhanced internet and data security, to encourage fundamental innovation andimprove the capacity of platforms.

He also suggested that Chinese companiestest their industrial internet models at their own overseas operations beforepromoting them on a large scale to overseas companies.

"Industrial internet means a new roundof development opportunities for China," Zhou said. "With the help ofindustrial internet, many hidden champions will emerge across numerous segmentsin China."

He said he expects that China will sharpenits global competitive edge in diversified competition during the next three tofive years, and contribute a "Chinese model" that features mutualbenefits for the world's industrial transformation.

Globally, it is widely acknowledged thatPredix, developed by General Electric in the United States, and MindSphere,developed by Siemens in Germany, represent the top-level industrial internetsystems.

The former uses new-generation informationtechnologies to empower manufacturing in a top-down approach, while the lattergives full play to Germany's advanced high-end manufacturing and focuses on abottom-up optimization of the production process.

"Industrial internet is the secondhalf of internet competition," Zhou said.

He said he believes that China, as both aglobal-scale manufacturer and an internet powerhouse, must develop its ownindustrial internet system featuring interaction and integration with theconsumer internet－one that is driven by its users.

China is the only country in the world thatticks all 41 industrial categories under the United Nations' industrialclassification standard, with abundant application scenarios. Those advantagesgrant China unique benefits in developing industrial internet systems, Zhousaid.

However, new challenges have emerged,including the uneven development levels of Chinese companies and the conflictbetween differentiated needs and limited supply capacity of current industrialinternet systems.

To tackle these challenges, it is necessaryto meet the various needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, which accountfor 90 percent of China's total number of companies and represent more than 60percent of GDP, 70 percent of innovative technologies and 80 percent of urbanemployment.

"Empowering the SMEs so that they stayactive and dynamic is the key to building the industrial internet system withChinese characteristics," Zhou said.

Haier started experimenting with itsindustrial internet system in 2012. In 2017, it unveiled the Cosmo-Plat system,a user-centered industrial internet platform that allows users to participate,interact and customize solutions throughout the entire process.

The platform is the first of its kind in theworld. CosmoPlat has topped the list of leading domestic cross-industry andcross-domain industrial internet platforms by the Ministry of Industry andInformation Technology for two consecutive years. As an ecosystem "jointlybuilt by large companies and shared by small companies", CosmoPlat offersone-stop differentiated and targeted solutions for a variety of companies.

The industrial internet, which usestechnologies to improve industrial efficiency, has played a crucial role in thefight against the coronavirus pandemic. For years, Qingdao has made hugeefforts to develop the industrial internet, for which it aims to become aglobal hub.

Wang Qingxian, Party secretary of Qingdao,said that information technology manufacturing has put Shenzhen, Guangdongprovince, "on the global front line", and the consumer internet hasgiven Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, "a great opportunity fordevelopment".

The industrial internet, he said, will beassociated with Qingdao. Wang added that the industrial internet is not only aninterconnected network, but also "an ecological system that isalive". It connects every industrial process, from consumption toproduction, and enables intelligent interaction across industry.

"This is especially the case whenCOVID-19 has caused a loosening of relations globally among industry chains,upstream and downstream chains, market supply and demand. Its impact willinevitably lead to the reconstruction of global supply chains, value chains,industrial chains and even market patterns," he said.

"The world badly needs a platform thatcan connect supply and demand, integrate upstream and downstream industrialchains, and optimize resource allocation to empower industries and enterprises.The industrial internet is such a platform."

Zhou Yunjie, president of Haier Group, saidthe industrial internet mainly uses the advantage of leading internettechnologies to reshape all elements of the industrial sector, and can improve"the 'whole process' and 'all elements'".

"The term 'whole process' means thatclients or users can be involved in every step, including product design,research and development, production, manufacturing, sales and marketing,"he said. "'All elements' refers to connecting humans, equipment, data andtechnology."

For example, COSMOPlat, Haier's industrialinternet platform, is a large-scale customization platform that allows users toengage in the industrial process across 15 vertical industries, includingmanufacturing, agriculture, clothing, culture and tourism. Vertical industryrefers to a group of companies focusing on a shared niche or specialized marketspanning a number of industries.

In the textile industry, COSMOPlat'ssubsidiary platform Haizhiyun recently helped a clothing company in Weihai,Shandong province, to undergo a digitalized transformation. As a result, thecompany can now carry out warehouse management, intelligent retrieval andsorting, and automatic inventory on the internet.

Ni Guangnan, an academician with theChinese Academy of Engineering, said, "The industrial internet uses theinternet and technologies to optimize the traditional industrial process,greatly improving production efficiency.

"In the long term, it will boostcompetitiveness of China's manufacturing on the global stage." In Xi'an,Shaanxi province, COSMOPlat enabled a clothing manufacturer to embedintelligent manufacturing technologies in all its machinery, which helped itproduce 60,000 sets of customized products a year.

Through using industrial internettechnologies, the manufacturer has improved its production efficiency by about28 percent, and by shortening the delivery period from 45 working days toseven, it has reduced its annual average costs of 1.8 million yuan ($259,000).

Zhou said, "The industrial internethas immeasurable value in weaving individual resources from all over the worldinto one network. In this way, a large, global ecosystem is formed."COSMOPlat is also playing a vital role in providing medical supplies madearound the world to locations where they are badly needed.

To date, the platform, which is based inQingdao, has attracted 340 million users, 3.9 million ecosystem partners andhas become one of the top industrial internet platforms globally, after thoseoperated by General Electric Co and Siemens.

This year, China has called for acceleratedefforts to develop new infrastructure, including 5G, artificial intelligenceand the industrial internet, to offset the negative economic impact of thepandemic and drive sustainable long-term growth.

Alex Sinclair, chief technology officer forthe Global System for Mobile Communications Association, an industry alliance,said: "China is betting big on the industrial internet of things toincrease productivity and drive efficiency by streamlining and automating manufacturingprocesses via internet connectivity. Backed by positive government support,China is set to become the world's leader (in this field)."

According to the association, by 2025,there will be 13.8 billion industrial internet of things connections worldwide,with China accounting for some 4.1 billion of them, or one-third of the globalmarket.

Latest data from the Ministry of Industryand Information Technology show that more than 70 influential industrialinternet platforms have been built nationwide. Some 40 million sets ofequipment are connected to the industrial internet and the number of relatedapps exceeds 250,000.

In recent years, the local government hasmade significant investments in high-tech industries, including informationtechnology, biotechnology, new materials and high-end equipment manufacturing.This has led to the city attracting technology startups and well-knownhigh-tech companies such as Huawei Technologies Co, Tencent Holdings andartificial intelligence companies iFlytek and Megvii.

Last year, investment in Qingdao rose by21.6 percent year-on-year, ranking first among the country's 35 major cities.Investment in strategic emerging industries and high-tech manufacturing rose by24 percent and nearly 27 percent respectively.