With policy support, various regions will sound the "rally call" for industrial powerhouses in 2021

Author | Guo Renxian

When cities stand at the starting point of a new round of industrial competition, how will this competition unfold?

After the national-level "14th Five-Year Plan" was released last year, local versions of the "14th Five-Year Plan" have also been released one after another recently, placing industrial manufacturing in an important position in urban economic and social development.

• Guangzhou proposed to accelerate the construction of a strong city of advanced manufacturing and implement the "Eight Quality Improvement Projects" of Guangzhou Manufacturing;

• Tianjin insists on building a city based on manufacturing and strives to build a "1+3+4" modern industrial system;

• Suzhou has promoted the "Made in Suzhou" brand and cultivated an advanced manufacturing cluster with international competitiveness;
  

• Ningbo will build a leading city for high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and become the first city to win the championship in a single manufacturing category in the country;

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All major cities have formulated new long-term goals for the future based on local industrial characteristics and sounded the “rallying call” to become industrially strong cities.

Although our country has been working hard to transform into an industrial power, it is obvious that with the arrival of 2021, the country is implementing this development goal more deeply.

Today, from an industrially strong country to an industrially strong city, how will industrial manufacturing in various regions start again?

In October last year, the "Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Term Goals for 2035" proposed that we should "maintain the basic stability of the proportion of manufacturing and consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy."

Against this backdrop, industrial manufacturing has become the most popular option for cities to start industrial competition. Some industrial cities with good foundations and positive momentum have re-anchored their development goals. Tianjin, Ningbo, Suzhou, Wuxi and Guangzhou have all increased their layout at the policy level.

As a traditional industrial city in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic circle, Tianjin pointed out in its proposals for the 14th Five-Year Plan and the 2035 Vision Goals: "Adhere to the manufacturing industry as the foundation of the city and promote high-quality development of the manufacturing industry."

Secondly, Ningbo, which is famous for its manufacturing industry, will build a leading city for high-quality development of the manufacturing industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and realize the deep integration of new industrialization and informatization, advanced manufacturing and modern service industries. In addition, they said that they would form a group of internationally renowned companies, brands and standards, and become the first city of national manufacturing single champions, a city of advanced manufacturing clusters and a new highland of international intelligent manufacturing.

With its geographical advantage close to Shanghai, Suzhou has also been vigorously developing industry, creating several industrial parks such as Suzhou Industrial Park and Kunshan Economic Development Zone. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the dominant position of manufacturing in Suzhou's industrial structure will remain unshakable. On this basis, traditional industries will be upgraded through intelligence and digitalization. They said:

Manufacturing cannot be equated with "low-end". Manufacturing is the "foundation" of Suzhou. New science and technology and emerging industries will empower the manufacturing industry and push Suzhou's manufacturing industry chain into the middle and high end of the global value chain.

Wuxi mentioned in its 2035 vision that it will become an advanced manufacturing base with international influence and a highland for industrial technological innovation. Shandong Province has clearly proposed to promote the construction of industry-level platforms for the industrial Internet and empower traditional manufacturing through new-generation information technology.

In Guangzhou, an economically developed industrial city, advanced manufacturing is also regarded as an important means to strengthen the city in its proposals for the 14th Five-Year Plan and the long-term goals for 2035.

They proposed that by 2035, when Guangzhou is the first to basically achieve the long-term goal of socialist modernization, its modern industrial system will be more competitive, major breakthroughs will be achieved in key core technologies, and it will be fully built into an internationally competitive city for scientific and technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, modern services, and talent, and it will achieve new industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, and a number of headquarters and leading enterprises will emerge that drive innovation and development and support the global industrial chain and supply chain.

We know that every city and every geographical region has its own industrial characteristics. So how do these cities specifically embark on their own path to becoming industrially strong cities?

Although many of these cities focus their development on the industrial manufacturing sector, the content of the competition is vastly different from the past. The advanced, high-end and intelligent "new industrial" model is the key to a city's success.

Among the "eight quality improvement projects" of Guangzhou manufacturing, it is mentioned that the automobile, electronics, petrochemical and other industries will be upgraded, the strategic emerging pillar industries such as new generation information technology, biomedicine and health, smart and new energy vehicles will be strengthened, the urban consumer industry will be developed, and the city of smart cars and software will be built...

In terms of playing the role of leading enterprises, they focus on building industrial clusters such as automobiles, and also plan to develop industries such as natural gas hydrates, blockchain, quantum technology, terahertz, and nanotechnology.

Tianjin emphasized that it will give full play to the supporting and guiding role of the Haihe Industrial Fund and the Binhai Industrial Fund, take the information and innovation industry as the main direction, enhance the leading role of the intelligent technology industry, focus on strengthening strategic emerging industries such as biomedicine, new energy, and new materials, consolidate and enhance advantageous industries such as high-end equipment, automobiles, petrochemicals, aerospace, and accelerate the construction of the "1+3+4" modern industrial system.

Suzhou has launched the "Made-in-Suzhou" brand certification and will achieve full coverage of intelligent transformation and digital transformation of all industrial enterprises above the designated size in the city within three years. It will achieve new breakthroughs in the number of provincial-level smart factories and smart workshops and create the "Look at Suzhou for Industrial Internet" brand.

Ningbo, which has chosen the goal of becoming the "first city in the country to become a single champion in manufacturing", has chosen the path of empowering the development of manufacturing with scientific and technological innovation. They proposed to accelerate the modernization of the industrial chain and supply chain, strengthen strategic emerging industries and future industries, focus on building world-class advanced manufacturing clusters such as green petrochemicals, automobiles and parts, and keep the proportion of manufacturing basically stable; implement industrial base reconstruction and industrial chain upgrading projects, and focus on key basic materials, core basic components, advanced basic processes, industrial technology foundations, and industrial basic software.

Another example is Chengdu, whose primary industrial goal is to create competitive industrial clusters and build a "new industrial system." According to official information, they will actively develop and enhance the scale and radiation-driven capabilities of national and regional industrial clusters such as pharmaceutical health, new materials, and green food. In addition, they will also cultivate and develop strategic emerging industries and future industries such as biomedicine, artificial intelligence, new energy, and green environmental protection.

In addition, we also know that the industrial manufacturing industry in 2020 has been baptized by the epidemic, and has also ushered in a once-in-a-decade opportunity, the "new infrastructure". Among them, the highly matched industrial Internet is the core sector.

So, what changes will the collision between industrial manufacturing and industrial Internet technology bring to economic and social development?

We know that relevant companies have played an important role in epidemic prevention and control and resumption of work and production by leveraging the advantages of the industrial Internet in network collaboration, remote services, and supply and demand matching, and have allowed more people to see the true value of the industrial Internet.

With the boost of the "new infrastructure" wave, driven by the dual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Sino-US trade frictions, the "model of domestic circulation as the theme and mutual promotion of domestic and international circulations" will further become an important trend in the digital transformation of China's industrial chain.

The construction of a large domestic economic cycle is inseparable from the industrial Internet and industrial interconnection. With the aging of the population and the gradual disappearance of the demographic dividend, the domestic economy is facing a transformation to improve quality and efficiency, and it is even more necessary to cultivate new momentum to promote development.

As a breakthrough point for the new industrial revolution in China, the Industrial Internet has not only attracted strong layouts from international giants such as GE, Siemens, SAP, and PTC, but has also fostered local forces such as TreeRoot, Haier Coaos, Zhejiang Landro, Alibaba Cloud, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Huawei Cloud, and many more entities in subdivided fields to participate in this unprecedented industrial revolution.

On the government side, the Industrial Internet can support the analysis and scheduling of the overall economic operation and enhance the government's governance capabilities at the industrial end; on the enterprise side, it can provide intelligent applications and comprehensive digital solutions for enterprises.

Whether it is a regional industry or an industry with leading enterprises as its core, the industrial Internet platform can be used to organically integrate resource advantages, strengthen industrial collaboration, optimize and improve the industrial chain, accelerate the formation of effective innovation clusters, realize the collaborative and large-scale development of industrial clusters, and continuously enhance the industry's competitive advantage.

In 2020, the industrial Internet took advantage of the "new infrastructure" to reach the commanding heights of promoting national economic and social development. In 2021, under the "bombardment" of more local policies, industrial Internet companies are bound to penetrate into more industrial sub-sectors from shallow to deep.

As various regions sound the “rallying call” to build strong industrial cities, the industrial Internet will also play different roles depending on the industrial characteristics of different regions.

This article is originally written by Leifeng.com, and the author is Guo Renxian. Please reply "reprint" to apply for authorization. Reprinting without authorization is prohibited .