Development Background and Development Model of Industrial Internet Platform

1. Manufacturing Evolution and Digital Economy Reach a Historic Crossroads

Since the financial crisis, a new wave of global industrial transformation has taken shape, with manufacturing once again becoming the central focus of economic growth. Major developed economies have implemented significant strategies to drive the modernization of their manufacturing sectors. Germany, for instance, is leveraging its strong automation foundation to advance Industry 4.0. The U.S. is promoting the industrial Internet while pursuing advanced manufacturing initiatives. Countries like France, Japan, South Korea, and Sweden have also launched plans to revitalize their manufacturing industries. The common goal across these strategies is to upgrade traditional manufacturing, rebuild competitive advantages, and reshape production methods and development models to strengthen national economies. Meanwhile, the digital economy has swept across the globe, accelerating changes in traditional industries.

Particularly, the rapid advancement of information and communication technologies—especially the Internet—has transformed people’s daily lives, created a new industrial system, and continuously integrated into the real economy through technological and business model innovation. This has opened up massive opportunities for the transformation of traditional industries. As manufacturing and the digital economy converge, the integration and innovation of technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and big data have intensified, leading to the emergence of the industrial Internet platform.

2. Manufacturing Intelligence Drives New Demands for Platform Tools

Today, the manufacturing industry is moving from digitization toward networking and intelligence. The core of this transformation lies in the comprehensive perception of vast amounts of industrial data, enabling intelligent decision-making and control through end-to-end data integration and modeling analysis. This has given rise to new manufacturing models such as smart production, networked collaboration, personalized customization, and extended services. In this context, traditional digital tools are no longer sufficient. First, the explosive growth of industrial data demands more advanced data management solutions. As industrial systems expand from physical spaces into the digital realm, the scope of data collection continues to grow, and the volume and variety of data increase exponentially. Therefore, new tools are needed to ensure efficient, reliable, and cost-effective storage and management of large-scale data.

Second, enterprise-level intelligent decision-making requires innovative platforms for application development. The richness of data provides the foundation for more precise and detailed management within manufacturing companies. However, industrial environments are highly complex, and the knowledge required varies significantly across sectors. Traditional models driven by a few large enterprises struggle to meet the diverse needs of different businesses. Open platforms that allow access to industrial data, knowledge, and functions can lower the barriers to innovation, enabling the rapid growth of intelligent applications. Third, new business interaction tools are essential for evolving manufacturing models. To respond quickly to market fluctuations, parallel organizations and resources in manufacturing, production, and other fields are increasingly collaborating. Companies’ design, production, and management systems must better support interactions with external partners. This necessitates new interactive tools that enable efficient integration between different entities and systems. Managing massive data, driving application innovation, and facilitating deep collaboration are the main drivers behind the rapid development of the industrial Internet platform.

3. Information Technology Accelerates Penetration and Transforms Manufacturing Models

Emerging information technologies are reshaping the digital foundation of manufacturing. Cloud computing offers more flexible, cost-effective, and reliable data storage and software environments for manufacturers. The Internet of Things enables companies to efficiently collect vast amounts of data from equipment, production lines, and facilities. Artificial intelligence enhances data insights and supports intelligent management and control, forming the new basis for digital transformation. The open internet concept is redefining traditional manufacturing models. By organizing operations through networked platforms, manufacturers can rapidly integrate and utilize resources, respond to market demands at low cost, and promote new formats like personalized customization and networked collaboration. The platform economy continues to evolve business models, and the integration of IT and manufacturing has accelerated the penetration of new economic models such as the information economy, knowledge economy, and sharing economy into the industrial sector. Internet technologies, ideas, and business models have become key enablers in building the industrial Internet platform.