Founder and CEO of IBI, Qian Xiaojun: Reshaping the Global Productivity Growth Engine through Collaborative Innovation in Industrial Internet

Source: Shanghai Securities News · China Securities Network

Shanghai Securities News, China Securities Network (Reporter Chen Fang) - IBI Founder and CEO Qian Xiaojun stated at the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum ("Summer Davos Forum") on the 24th that the industrial internet serves as the "digital engine" for new productive forces in the real economy, reshaping the resilience of the global value chain. Through connectivity to break barriers, data empowerment, and symbiotic collaboration, the industrial internet is driving a leap in global productivity.

The Global Productivity Growth Faces Structural Dilemma

Qian Xiaojun analyzes that the structural dilemma of global productivity growth lies in the disjunction between traditional paradigms and the digital era. Geopolitical conflicts and trade protectionism accelerate the fragmentation of industrial chains, while the gradient gap in digital penetration leads to transformation dilemmas for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the disjunction in technological transformation and trust deficits hinder the release of innovation value.

According to the World Trade Organization's "2024 Global Trade Report," the growth rate of trade in intermediate goods has dropped to 1.2%, a ten-year low. The localization rate of supply chains in globalized industries like automotive and electronics has increased by 18% in three years, driving up procurement costs for companies and disrupting the efficiency system of global division of labor.

"In the industrial sector, issues such as information asymmetry, inefficient supply chains, and rough production severely restrict the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, exacerbate imbalances in inter-enterprise development, and weaken the overall resilience of the global industrial chain. McKinsey research shows that only 15% of small and medium-sized enterprises globally have achieved deep digitalization, compared to over 60% for large enterprises," Qian Xiaojun stated.

In his view, although technologies such as AI and quantum computing are advancing rapidly, their conversion rates are insufficient, remaining mostly in laboratories or in closed scenarios of leading companies. In cross-border business, differences in data regulation among countries trigger a crisis of trust, urgently needing the construction of a global collaboration system based on technological trust.

"Facing these challenges, the industrial internet is profoundly reshaping the global industrial landscape as a key force driving digital transformation and upgrading across industries," Qian Xiaojun said.

The Industrial Internet Industry Restructures the New Paradigm of Global Productivity

Qian Xiaojun believes that the industrial internet industry is restructuring the new paradigm of global productivity through innovative practices in areas such as data element configuration, industrial digitalization empowerment systems, and global collaborative innovation.

In terms of data element configuration, he believes the industrial internet industry focuses on building a vast and high-value data asset pool. After years of accumulation, it aggregates massive supply and demand data through digital trading platforms, enabling real-time analysis of multidimensional data on production, sales, and supply chains. Companies can promptly and accurately grasp market dynamics, transforming fragmented "commerce flows, logistics, and capital flows" into a real-time interconnected digital network.

"As a cutting-edge technology, quantum computing has already shown actual results in the industrial internet field. In the future, quantum computing is expected to bring new breakthroughs to industrial internet in areas such as complex computations and data security, driving fundamental changes in the industry," Qian Xiaojun said.

The industrial digitalization empowerment system is a critical means for the industrial internet to enhance productivity. Qian Xiaojun analyzes that to address the bottleneck of insufficient transformation capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises in digitalizing manufacturing, the industry has explored many effective paths. For example, through modular transformation, enterprises can flexibly choose digital solutions based on their own needs; using industrial large models for deep training of production data, achieving a shift from "experience-based decision making" to "intelligent optimization"; adopting cloud deployment modes and other lightweight investment methods to significantly reduce the costs of digital transformation for enterprises.

Qian Xiaojun uses the digital cloud factory as an example. He introduces that the digital cloud factory leverages AI, IoT, and digital twin technology to realize full-process digital management from production management to quality inspection, improving enterprise production efficiency and product quality. The digital supply chain system integrates smart logistics and digital warehousing, and innovates multimodal transport algorithms to improve the coordination efficiency and response speed of the supply chain. The industrial internet loop, with the digital cloud factory as a node and the digital supply chain as a link, achieves "four flows in one" driven by real-time transaction data, connecting upstream and downstream industries to form an efficiently operating industrial ecosystem.

In his view, as the industrial internet continues to develop, a global industrial internet innovation ecosystem is gradually taking shape. In cross-border business, the industrial internet reconstructs the supply chain system through digitalization, achieving data sharing across nine key nodes: customs, taxation, exchange, administration, commerce, ports, shipping, warehousing, and finance. In the B2B cross-border e-commerce "production-procurement-sales-overseas circulation" chain, the procurement and sales end relies on blockchain technology to realize cross-domain mutual recognition of customs declarations and quality inspection reports; the logistics end uses the "digital supply chain" platform to open up cross-border shipping lines, reducing logistics costs by 35%; the production end, "digital cloud factory," meets the core value needs of digital transformation, cost reduction, and efficiency enhancement of foreign factories.

"This whole-chain collaborative innovation not only reshapes global industrial collaboration but also builds a new type of industrial ecosystem across regions and systems with digital trust as a link, becoming a 'digital engine' that drives leaps in global productivity, enabling mutual empowerment of technological and institutional innovations in the reconstruction of the global value chain," Qian Xiaojun said.

Building an "Industrial Digital Ecosystem Community"

In Qian Xiaojun's view, the key breakthrough of collaborative innovation lies in building an "industrial digital ecosystem community." Solving the issue of global productivity development requires coordinated cooperation among governments, enterprises, and research institutions to construct a new type of collaborative ecosystem.

He believes it is necessary to strengthen government-enterprise collaboration and solidify the foundation of digital economy development. Establishing a long-term cooperation mechanism and jointly building a digital demonstration park can break resource barriers and achieve efficient allocation of factors such as land, capital, and data. Promoting the landing application of the industrial internet in key areas and initiating a collaborative paradigm of "policy empowerment + enterprise innovation."

Deepening the integration of industry, academia, and research is conducive to bridging the "last mile" of technological transformation. He believes that such collaboration is an important way to accelerate the industrial transformation of technological achievements. Encouraging enterprises and research institutions to jointly build laboratories, focusing on tackling AI, quantum computing, and other technologies, establishing a market-oriented conversion mechanism to accelerate the landing of technology.

In promoting international digital cooperation, he suggests constructing a unified trust standard for the industrial chain, calling for coordinated digital trade rules, relying on blockchain and quantum encryption technologies to build cross-border platforms, enhancing transaction transparency, serving the Belt and Road Initiative, exporting digital standards, and enhancing international discourse power.

Qian Xiaojun emphasizes that the industrial internet, by breaking barriers with connectivity, empowering with data, and relying on symbiotic collaboration, is driving global productivity to achieve leaps in a relay race. In the future, it will accelerate the integration of technology and industry, break down industrial chain barriers, and reconstruct cross-border trust systems.