Outlook | How to accelerate the release of technology | Internet | economy

The advantages of China's digital economy platform, such as massive data accumulation, intelligent analysis and judgment, empowering enterprise development, and creating more demand, need to be fully unleashed

The four platforms of industrial Internet, consumer Internet, artificial intelligence and cross-border e-commerce should be coordinated to promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy and inject new digital momentum into the economic recovery

Industrial Internet is a huge blue ocean. It is estimated that the introduction of digitalization in aviation, power, medical care, railway, and oil and gas only will increase the value of more than 200 billion dollars every year by expanding 10% of the industrial value space through digitalization

In recent years, more than 10 million new college graduates are added every year in China. They are indigenous people of mobile Internet and have the ability to innovate and use intelligent technology

Wen | Hu Meijuan and Jiang Tieying

In 2022, the scale of China's digital economy has reached 50.2 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world in total.

At present, the endogenous driving force of economic growth needs to be improved, and the digital economy plays a crucial role in stabilizing and rebounding the economy. In the era of digital economy, platform based innovation ecosystem is an important carrier of competition among major countries.

Experts believe that the advantages of China's digital economy platform, such as massive data accumulation, intelligent analysis and judgment, empowering enterprise development, and creating more demand, need to be fully unleashed. The four platforms of industrial Internet, consumer Internet, artificial intelligence and cross-border e-commerce should be coordinated to promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy and inject new digital momentum into the economic recovery.

Specifically, it is necessary to build high-quality industrial Internet, consolidate new infrastructure, give play to the leading role of industry backbone enterprises, especially central enterprises and state-owned enterprises as "chain owners", and ensure the steady development of enterprises on the service chain; We should give full play to the data and analysis advantages of large-scale consumer Internet platforms to enable the digital development of small and medium-sized enterprises; To make good use of artificial intelligence technology, create more new jobs, and promote low-cost entrepreneurship among young people; To strengthen cross-border e-commerce, vigorously develop knowledge intensive service trade, and enhance the competitiveness of import and export trade.

Visitors interact with soft humanoid intelligent service robots at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai. Photo by Li Xinyi/This magazine

Strengthen the role of "chain owner" with industrial Internet

Chain owners are the leaders of industrial clusters, able to coordinate various links in the industrial chain, and are the key to supplementing, optimizing, and strengthening the industrial chain.

In recent years, state-owned enterprises have continued to play the role of "chain owners", driving and assisting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in the upstream and downstream of related industrial and supply chains, and continuously building industrial alliances in key areas. For example, Jiangsu XCMG Group has driven more than 1000 small and medium-sized enterprises in Xuzhou and more than 4000 in the global industrial and supply chains, forming a "supply chain integration model" with obvious competitive advantages. It has led the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to successively conquer 23 key transmission system technologies and obtained 243 authorized patents.

Experts believe that at present, it is necessary to further promote central enterprises and state-owned enterprises to take the initiative to assume the responsibility of "chain owner", play the leading role of central enterprises and state-owned enterprises, strengthen the construction of industrial Internet platform, take the digital transformation and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service chain as the starting point, and continue to provide new momentum for high-quality economic development.

The development of enterprises on the full cycle service chain has formed the advantage of leading by a leading goose and flying together with a group of geese. In stages, during the start-up stage, provide technology landing scenarios and strategic consulting and management services based on industry background for on chain enterprises, helping them grow rapidly; In the growth stage, provide customized services tailored to the characteristics of enterprise production, manufacturing, and product research and development, paving the way for enterprises to connect with the supply chain of central and state-owned enterprises, and helping to explore product market channels; In the mature stage, guide enterprises to become partners in their respective industrial and supply chains, integrating upstream and downstream suppliers and other ecological resources; In the expansion stage, focus on a wider range of industry infrastructure and solutions to help on chain enterprises connect the entire value chain of product research and development, supply chain, marketing, sales, services, etc., and achieve digital driven innovation and development.

Chen Yubo, chair professor of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University and director of the Internet Development and Governance Research Center, suggested that at present, global industrial competition is more reflected in the competition of the whole industrial chain ecosystem, and the assessment system for "chain owners" central enterprises and state-owned enterprises needs to be comprehensively reformed. While emphasizing the performance evaluation of "chain owner" enterprises themselves, the proportion of evaluation should be increased in serving the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, driving technological innovation in the industrial chain, and expanding the global competitiveness of the entire industrial chain ecosystem.

Give play to the functions of industrial Internet such as factor allocation, supply and demand hub, chain governance, etc., and promote the coordinated development of industrial chains. As the key infrastructure for the deep integration of the new generation information technology and manufacturing industry, the industrial Internet is the hub for the connection of all elements of industry, the whole industry chain, and the whole value chain. It is an important force for the country to implement a strong manufacturing country, and it is an urgent need to build a competitive advantage for big countries.

In recent years, the industrial Internet has developed rapidly. A large number of pillar industries of the national economy have carried out the innovative practice of "5G+industrial Internet". At present, there are more than 4000 projects under construction nationwide. As one of the first batch of national level cross industry and cross domain industrial Internet platform enterprises selected by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Shugen Internet Co., Ltd. has an independent and controllable industrial Internet operating system. At present, it has provided industrial Internet services to nearly 1000 industrial enterprises in dozens of industrial subdivisions, including equipment manufacturing, steel metallurgy, automobile and spare parts. The "excavator index" created by Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. based on this platform has become a wind vane reflecting economic changes such as infrastructure construction and observation of fixed assets investment. This platform also drives the continuous digital transformation of on chain enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, empowering a large number of specialized and innovative enterprises such as Xingbang Intelligence and Eddie Precision.

Huang Qifan, the executive vice chairman of the Academic Committee of the National Innovation and Development Strategy Research Association of China and the former mayor of Chongqing, believes that the industrial Internet is a huge blue ocean. It is estimated that the introduction of digitalization in the five fields of aviation, power, medical care, railway, and oil and gas alone can increase the value of more than 200 billion dollars every year by expanding 10% of the industrial value space through digitalization.

Huang Qifan suggested that we should give full play to the role of industrial Internet in the allocation of factors and promote the universal connection, flexible supply and optimal allocation of various production factors such as land, labor, capital, technology and data; Give full play to the role of the industrial Internet as the supply and demand hub, improve the supply and demand matching, realize the real-time connectivity of people, machines and materials in the production process and the intelligent matching of supply and demand, and help enterprises to timely capture and respond to personalized, structured and trending needs; Give full play to the role of industrial Internet in chain governance, establish a governance structure with data as the core, linking multiple subjects and resources, and promote the integrated development of upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

Providing high-quality supply through consumer Internet

At present, the Internet is reconstructing the consumption pattern.

The 50th Statistical Report on the Development of Internet in China released by China Internet Network Information Center shows that in terms of consumer behavior, search consumption is gradually changing to recommendation consumption. Traditional online consumption behavior is mainly based on information search for products and services. With the development of big data and artificial intelligence technology, personalized recommendation based on algorithms has gradually become mainstream.

Chen Yubo stated that under the new normal of economic development, the stage of imitative wave consumption has basically come to an end, and personalized and diversified consumption is gradually becoming mainstream. The key to enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to capture and quickly meet new consumption needs lies in insighting user and market demands from consumption data, and promoting enterprises to provide high-quality supply centered on users and guided by the market.

In the era of digital economy, Internet platform enterprises have a large number of users and scene data, as well as a large number of digital talents with data analysis skills, which are exactly what SMEs lack. To fully leverage the advantages of platform enterprises in data and digital talent, empower small and medium-sized enterprises with digitalization, assist traditional small and medium-sized enterprises in transformation and upgrading, and promote the value of data elements.

For example, in May 2021, Alibaba launched an inclusive fee reduction campaign, offering its paid service "Business Advisor" to all merchants for free. Chen Yubo's team found that this measure has an average effect of increasing monthly sales for Taobao merchants by over 9300 yuan. According to the calculation of 2.37 million merchants who voluntarily participated in the activity, the inclusive fee reduction has increased the monthly sales of merchants by a total of 22.05 billion yuan. Small and medium-sized merchants with monthly sales of less than 100000 yuan have achieved a higher proportion of growth than large merchants.

Chen Yubo suggests actively promoting the development of platform data intelligence, guiding platforms to help small and medium-sized enterprises better understand market trends and user needs, improve business efficiency, continuously innovate and launch products that meet market needs, and achieve transformation and upgrading. The government can fully utilize the leverage of policies, provide certain tax and fee reduction policies or special funds, encourage platforms to provide data intelligence and digital transformation empowerment services for small and medium-sized enterprises, and help them cultivate digital talents.

Promoting employment and entrepreneurship through intelligent technology

The new round of technological revolution centered on intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud computing, and blockchain is becoming an important engine for China's high-quality economic development and productivity leap.

Since 2023, the launch of a series of AIGC achievements at home and abroad represents the rapid development stage of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence technology represented by ChatGPT, through intelligent algorithms and big data analysis, can collect, analyze, and process massive amounts of data from around the world. The application scenarios of large-scale AI models far exceed the scope of dialogue and chat, and even develop the ability to reason, understand, and abstract think, which is driving profound changes in the employment and entrepreneurship landscape.

In the short term, the industrial application of intelligent technology will have a substitution effect on traditional industries, reducing or replacing some employment positions; But in the long run, the widespread application of intelligent technology and the deep development of intelligent society will promote industrial transformation, increase the demand for high skilled workers, create more job opportunities, and provide more low-cost entrepreneurial opportunities.

Looking towards the future, on the one hand, we should leverage the advantages of the new national system and accelerate the research and application of new generation artificial intelligence technologies such as AIGC in China. In the allocation of technological resources, we will promote a better combination of effective markets and promising governments, fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and accelerate the research and development and implementation of China's new generation of artificial intelligence technology. Through policy and financial support, encourage large technology enterprises to accelerate the construction of AIGC computing power and technology service platforms, and reduce the threshold and cost for small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals to use AIGC technology.

On the other hand, relying on intelligent technology to drive the transformation and upgrading of the industrial chain, cultivating more emerging industries and new carriers of employment. Empowering traditional industries to transform and upgrade through intelligent technology, enhancing the level of industry intelligence, accelerating product iteration and technological innovation, steadily promoting the integration of intelligence and various industries, building an ecosystem of positive interaction between the job market and intelligence, guiding the release of the creative effect of intelligence on employment opportunities, expanding employment demand, and driving more employment.

In addition, enhancing the application skills of intelligent technology among college students and promoting low-cost entrepreneurship. The cultivation of talents in universities should strengthen conceptual innovation, explore new models of "human-machine collaboration", focus on improving the intelligent thinking of college students, strengthen the cultivation of their intelligent literacy, focus on cross-border cultivation of basic and applied disciplines, appropriately increase intelligent skills courses and general education courses, and cultivate high-quality talents that meet the development needs of the intelligent industry. Strengthen entrepreneurship guidance and professional training, and enhance the comprehensive ability of college students to use intelligent technology to carry out low-cost entrepreneurship.

Chen Yubo believes that in recent years, China has added more than 10 million new college graduates every year. They are indigenous people of mobile Internet and have the ability to innovate and use intelligent technology. The government should guide universities to cooperate with large technology enterprises and traditional industries, increase vocational skills training in intelligent technology and its industry applications, build new technology and innovative financial service platforms based on data elements, promote entrepreneurial spirit, guide them to seize the new industrial changes and low-cost dividends brought by intelligent technology, and create more new demands, applications, and scenarios.

In Ancailou Town, Cao County, Shandong Province, there is an Aiyuncang Hanfu base where female anchors live promote children's Hanfu. Photo by Guo Xulei/This magazine

Enhancing import and export competitiveness through cross-border e-commerce

The booming development of the global digital economy has given rise to digital trade, which is characterized by data as the key production factor, digital services as the core, and digital ordering and delivery as the main features, becoming a new trend in the development of international trade. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in 2022, the scale of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in China reached 2.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1% compared to 2021. The scale of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports accounted for 4.9% of the total value of goods trade imports and exports in China.

As an important carrier for smooth domestic and international dual circulation, cross-border e-commerce continues to stimulate the development potential of internal and external circulation, promoting coordination and progress between domestic and international markets, and is an important engine for China to promote high-quality development of an open economy. Huang Qifan predicts that by 2035, 50% of China's import and export trade volume may be achieved through cross-border e-commerce. It is suggested to further increase international cooperation, create a good ecological environment for the development of cross-border e-commerce, and make cross-border e-commerce a breakthrough point for cultivating new competitive advantages in foreign trade and promoting high-quality development of foreign trade.

In this regard, we need to strengthen cooperation in global digital trade governance. Promote countries to reduce cross-border e-commerce barriers, enhance cross-border trade liberalization, and jointly expand the scale of cross-border e-commerce. Actively participate in multilateral negotiations on e-commerce, proactively establish digital trade rules and issues, and promote the establishment of a rule system conducive to the healthy development of cross-border e-commerce within the framework of the World Trade Organization. Relying on the construction of the "the Belt and Road", actively develop the "Silk Road E-commerce", deepen the consultation and cooperation on customs clearance and logistics supervision methods, dispute handling, data protection, etc., and explore the formation of a regional rule system.

Chen Yubo suggested piloting the construction of "International Data Governance and Digital Trade Special Zones" in some areas with conditions, such as the Hetao Shenzhen Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, Hainan Free Trade Port, and Shanghai Free Trade Zone Lingang New Area. Special regulatory mechanisms for "domestic and international" should be implemented in the pilot zones, actively and reasonably integrating regulatory regulations from different countries, establishing a set of internationally recognized data security and digital trade standards, attracting enterprises with cross-border data needs to settle in industrial parks with policy dividends, and establishing an open digital economy innovation highland facing the world.

Improve supporting services and enhance cross-border trade facilitation. Further strengthen the construction of cross-border e-commerce industrial parks, integrate upstream and downstream enterprises of cross-border e-commerce, and build a cross-border e-commerce industrial park that integrates key production factors, customs clearance logistics systems, warehousing, payment and marketing functions, providing support for the rapid growth and strengthening of the cross-border e-commerce industry. Promote the application of new technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data in cross-border e-commerce and logistics. Integrate information resources, build a public information platform, improve industrial agglomeration, enhance the digitalization level of overseas warehouses, and promote the coordinated development of cross-border e-commerce and logistics. Improve the cross-border payment system, strengthen the construction of cross-border payment infrastructure, and explore RMB pricing and settlement. Pilot digital RMB to support the standardized development of third-party cross-border payment business, and promote the convenience and efficiency of cross-border e-commerce payment settlement.

Accelerate the development of cross-border e-commerce in knowledge intensive service trade. Knowledge intensive digital service trade has become an important growth point in China's foreign trade. In 2022, China's service exports reached 285.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.1%, of which the import and export of knowledge intensive services reached 2506.85 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%; The export of knowledge intensive services reached 1416.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.2%.

Several experts have suggested that new forms of cross-border e-commerce driven by digital technology have become new highlights in the development of service trade. We should seize the huge opportunity of digital technology for the development of service trade, target the forefront of service trade development, vigorously develop knowledge intensive cross-border e-commerce for service trade, and cultivate new fulcrums and advantages of service trade in the digital era.

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