Founder and CEO of IBI, Qian Xiaojun: Reshaping the New Engine of Global Productivity Growth Through Industrial Internet Collaborative Innovation Source: Shanghai Securities News · China Securities Network

Shanghai Securities News China Securities Network News (Reporter Chen Fang)

Qian Xiaojun, Founder and CEO of IBI, stated at the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions ("Summer Davos Forum") of the World Economic Forum on the 24th that the industrial internet is the "digital engine" of new quality productive forces in the real economy and is reshaping the resilience of the global value chain. By breaking barriers through connectivity, empowering with data, and co-existing through collaboration, the industrial internet is driving a leap in global productivity.

Global Productivity Growth Faces a Structural Dilemma

Qian Xiaojun analyzed that the structural dilemma of global productivity growth is a discontinuity between traditional paradigms and the digital era. Geopolitical conflicts and trade protectionism are accelerating the fragmentation of industrial chains, while the widening digital divide is causing transformation difficulties for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the gap in technology transfer and a trust deficit are restricting the release of innovative value.

The World Trade Organization's 2024 Global Trade Report shows that the growth rate of intermediate goods trade has dropped to a ten-year low of 1.2%. The localization rate of supply chains in global industries such as automotive and electronics has increased by 18% in three years, which drives up corporate procurement costs and disrupts the global division of labor efficiency system.

"In the industrial sector, issues such as information asymmetry, inefficient supply chains, and extensive production methods severely restrict the competitiveness of SMEs, exacerbate the development imbalance among enterprises, and weaken the overall resilience of the global industrial chain. McKinsey research shows that only 15% of SMEs globally have achieved deep digitalization, while for large enterprises, this proportion exceeds 60%," Qian Xiaojun said.

In his view, while technologies like AI and quantum computing are developing rapidly, the conversion rate of their achievements is insufficient. They often remain in laboratories or closed scenarios of leading companies. In cross-border business, differences in data regulation among countries cause a crisis of trust, and there is an urgent need to build a global cooperation system based on technological trust.

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

The Industrial Internet Is Reshaping a New Paradigm of Global Productivity

Qian Xiaojun believes that the industrial internet industry is reshaping a new paradigm of global productivity through a series of innovative practices, focusing on the configuration of data elements, the industrial digitalization empowerment system, and global collaborative innovation.

In terms of data element configuration, he believes that the industrial internet industry is dedicated to building a massive and high-value data asset pool. Through years of accumulation, digital trading platforms aggregate a large amount of supply and demand data. By real-time analysis of multi-dimensional data from production, sales, and supply chains, enterprises can grasp market dynamics in a timely and accurate manner, transforming fragmented "commercial, logistics, and capital flows" into a real-time, interconnected digital network.

"Quantum computing, as a frontier technology, has already shown practical results in the industrial internet field. In the future, quantum computing is expected to bring new breakthroughs to the industrial internet in areas like complex calculations and data security, driving a fundamental transformation of the industry," Qian Xiaojun said.

The industrial digitalization empowerment system is a key lever for the industrial internet to boost productivity. Qian Xiaojun analyzed that in response to the bottleneck of insufficient transformation capabilities for SMEs in manufacturing, the industry has explored numerous effective paths. For example, through modular transformation, enterprises can flexibly select digital solutions based on their needs. By using industrial large models to deeply train production data, the shift from "experience-based decision-making" to "intelligent optimization" can be realized. Adopting lightweight investment methods, such as cloud deployment, significantly reduces the cost of digital transformation for enterprises.

Qian Xiaojun cited the example of the digital cloud factory. He explained that digital cloud factories, with the help of AI, the Internet of Things, and digital twin technology, achieve 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 enhance the collaborative efficiency and response speed of the supply chain. The industrial internet closed loop, with digital cloud factories as nodes and the digital supply chain as a link, drives the "four flows in one" (commerce, logistics, capital, and information) through real-time transaction data, connecting upstream and downstream industries to form an efficient industrial ecosystem.

In his view, with the continuous development of the industrial internet, a global industrial internet innovation ecosystem is gradually taking shape. In cross-border business, the industrial internet reconstructs the supply chain system through digitalization, enabling data sharing across nine key nodes: customs, taxes, foreign exchange, government, commerce, ports, shipping, warehousing, and finance. In the B2B cross-border e-commerce chain of "production-procurement-overseas circulation," the procurement and sales end uses blockchain technology to achieve cross-domain mutual recognition of customs declarations and quality inspection reports. The logistics end connects cross-border shipping lanes through a "digital supply chain" platform, reducing logistics costs by 35%. The production end’s "digital cloud factory" meets the core value demands of foreign factories for digital transformation, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement.

"This full-chain collaborative innovation not only reshapes global industry collaboration but also builds a new type of cross-regional and cross-system industrial ecosystem with digital trust as a link. It becomes a 'digital engine' driving the leap in global productivity, enabling two-way empowerment of technological innovation and institutional innovation in the reconstruction of the global value chain," Qian Xiaojun said.

Building a "Digital Industrial Ecosystem Community"

In Qian Xiaojun's view, the key breakthrough point for collaborative innovation is to build a "digital industrial ecosystem community." Solving the problem of global productivity growth requires collaborative cooperation among governments, enterprises, and research institutions to build a new type of collaborative ecosystem.

He believes that it is necessary to strengthen government-enterprise collaboration to consolidate the foundation for digital economic development. This includes establishing long-term cooperation mechanisms, jointly building digital demonstration parks, breaking down resource barriers, and achieving efficient allocation of elements such as land, capital, and data. It also involves promoting the application of the industrial internet in key areas, pioneering a collaborative paradigm of "policy empowerment + enterprise innovation."

Deepening the integration of industry, academia, and research helps to bridge the "last mile" of technology commercialization. He believes that this collaboration is an important way to accelerate the industrial conversion of technological achievements. It encourages enterprises and research institutions to jointly build laboratories, focus on technological breakthroughs in areas such as AI and quantum computing, and establish a market-oriented conversion mechanism to accelerate technology implementation.

Regarding the promotion of international digital cooperation, he stated that it is necessary to build a unified trust standard for the industrial chain, call for the coordination of digital trade rules, and build cross-border platforms based on blockchain and quantum encryption technologies to enhance transaction transparency. This would serve the "Belt and Road" initiative, export digital standards, and strengthen international discourse power.

Qian Xiaojun emphasized that the industrial internet, by breaking barriers through connectivity, empowering with data, and co-existing through collaboration, is driving a leap in global productivity. In the future, it will accelerate the integration of technology and industry, dismantle industrial chain barriers, and reconstruct the cross-border trust system.