China to deeply integrate manufacturing, internet

Miao Wei gives a speech at the China Internet Conference on July 11, 2017, in Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will promote the deep integration of manufacturing and the internet by leveraging innovation as the driving force and smart manufacturing as the main trajectory, said Minister Miao Wei at the China Internet Conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Miao added that the ministry will also enhance information infrastructure integration and build up capability in protecting cyber security to help the integration advance in a stable and sustainable way.

"The ministry will create suitable environment for new productive forms and new industrial activities to develop in a healthy way," said the minister.

Zhang Weiying, an economics professor with Peking University, said that it's a process of exploration for the integration of traditional industries and the internet. He added that innovation is based on solving real life problems, citing shared bikes as an example of revitalizing a traditional industry and solving the "last kilometer" issue in personal transportation.

He said he believed that the penetration of the internet in traditional industries is a self-motivated process by entrepreneurs and is not something that can be designed at first.

Wu Hequan, president of the China Internet Society, said that China's productivity rate is still one-twelfth of the United States' and said he believed that the internet, which can reallocate resources and reduce costs can be one of the approaches to transforming the country's industries.

The China Internet Conference will be held from Tuesday to Thursday.