Recently, the 2023 Digital Intelligence Industry Leaders Summit came to a successful conclusion in Beijing. As a research institution focused on enterprise intelligent transformation and upgrading and industrial innovation under the Wisdom Power (Shenzhen) Technology Co., LTD., Wisdom Power Research Institute officially released the “2023 China Industrial Internet Industry Insight and Ecological Map Report” at this conference.

Ecological Map of China’s Industrial Internet in 2023

Insight 1: The competition of industrial Internet platforms is intensifying. Deepening the precipitation of industrial mechanism knowledge, data algorithms and empirical rules has become the key to build differentiation

In the industrial Internet industrial architecture, the industrial Internet platform is the hub for the comprehensive connection, collection and configuration of all industrial elements, the whole industrial chain and the whole value chain. In recent years, China’s industrial Internet platform industry has developed vigorously. From the perspective of market size, according to IDC, driven by the continuous deepening of enterprise digital transformation, by 2025, China’s industrial Internet platform and application solution market will reach 5.61 billion US dollars (about 36.16 billion yuan), with a CAGR of 29.6% from 2021 to 2025. From the perspective of development level, the “2022 Industrial Internet Platform Development Index Report” released by the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center shows that the comprehensive development index of the industrial Internet platform in 2022 reached 251, an increase of 17.23% from 2021, and an increase of more than 15% for four consecutive years. Among them, the resource convergence index is 316, knowledge precipitation index is 263, application vitality index is 222 and enterprise empowerment index is 213.

Figure 1 Development Index of industrial Internet platforms in 2018-2022

Although the industry continues to develop, the resource aggregation index (316) and knowledge precipitation index (263) on the supply side are ahead of the application vitality index (222) and enterprise empowerment index (213) on the demand side. At the same time, the current industrial Internet platform market concentration is not high, the number of platforms with a certain industry and regional influence in China exceeds 240, and the number of cross-industry and cross-field industrial Internet platforms reaches 28. As there are many industrial subdivisions and scenes, there is no platform super giant in the field of industrial Internet platform as there is in the field of consumer Internet. In the future, as the market base continues to increase, the demand of different downstream industries is differentiated, and the platform and application product system are increasingly unified, the competition between industrial Internet platform enterprises will be further intensified, and the differentiated value of enterprises will be further highlighted.

Based on the market research conducted by the Intelligence Research Institute, the differentiated competitive advantages of industrial Internet platform enterprises will be reflected in four aspects:

First, continue to improve the core capabilities of the platform. Industrial Internet platform enterprises need to focus on equipment access and edge processing, mechanism model precipitation and transformation, data modeling analysis, low code development and other core capabilities, and constantly strengthen the development and implementation of solutions. Among them, deepening the knowledge of industrial mechanism, data algorithm and the precipitation of empirical laws become the key. The “2022 Industrial Internet Platform Development Index Report” pointed out that the industrial model of the enterprise in the past mainly focuses on the whole equipment, and now it is further concerned about the specific links, components and their operation laws, making the construction of the industrial model a deeper layer and more granular. For example, Kaos COSMOPlat established a simulation model of refrigerator research and development design in 2021, and further established a simulation verification model for the process of specific production links such as degrease, flap and suction cup in 2022. For example, the existing excavator quality assessment and grading model of Root Cloud realizes the quality assessment of the whole vehicle, and the engine assembly quality detection model will be added in 2022, as well as the health assessment model of high pressure switch and fan gearbox pressure difference switch.

The second is to form the methodology of large-scale replication. In the industrial field, “replicability” means whether complex, multi-functional, strong implementation, high threshold solutions can be decoupled into fragmented, easy to copy, easy to absorb technology architecture system, which is also a key step from “industrial Internet project” to “industrial Internet platform”. Large-scale replication can rapidly promote the technology, solutions and services of the platform, reduce the cost of platform construction and operation, improve the sustainability and profitability of the platform, accelerate the popularization and promotion of the industrial Internet, promote digital transformation and industrial upgrading, and create greater value and benefits for enterprises. The key lies in whether the platform enterprises can precipitate common capabilities. Form the corresponding “methodology”. For example, Kaos COSMOPlat has built seven lighthouses across its borders by January 2023. With BaaS engine as the core, Kaos COSMOPlat, through core modules such as digital twin, digital space, industrial mechanism model and knowledge graph, grows industrial applications upward and accesses industrial equipment downward to create an industry-leading common basic technology platform, and deposits six major enabling capabilities such as data power, simulation power and customization power. Empower companies of all industries and sizes to transform into “beacons”.

Third, we will take the initiative to foster a trans-boundary integrated ecosystem. Today, industrial Internet platform enterprises are accelerating the transformation from the provision of a single scenario solution to the aggregation of ecological resources, and ecological cultivation is expected to become the focus of competition among industrial Internet platform enterprises in 2023. On the one hand, platform enterprises will carry out capability complementaries and resource integration with industry-leading technology and solution manufacturers to jointly create technical products and solutions, so as to solve the dilemma that a single platform enterprise cannot meet the needs of a full range of manufacturing scenarios. On the other hand, platform enterprises will rely on the platform to integrate R&D resources, supplier resources and user resources, build a platform based win-win ecosystem, and provide intelligent manufacturing, collaborative manufacturing, equipment asset operation and maintenance, supply chain finance and other comprehensive services for upstream and downstream enterprises and users of the industrial chain.

Fourth, we will actively arrange national strategic areas. In the future, industrial Internet platform enterprises will further deepen the integration application capabilities of “platform + double carbon” and “platform + double chain”, and accelerate the iteration of platform technology product capabilities around national key areas. In the field of dual carbon, platform enterprises actively build a green carbon reduction digital platform to support the formulation of carbon reduction strategies through accurate monitoring of carbon emissions. For example, Haier launched “carbon footprint, carbon emission reduction, carbon replacement” to help industrial park energy conservation and carbon reduction, and aerospace cloud network to create a series of products “carbon accounting, carbon footprint, carbon portrait”, which has achieved good application effect in the die casting industry. In the field of double chain, platform enterprises actively play the role of platform data integration and promote the convergence and analysis of the whole industry chain information. For example, Inspur creates an industrial chain collaboration model for electronics manufacturing, and promotes the entire process collaboration of server industry chain market prediction, product research and development, order scheduling, production control, and procurement delivery to ensure the international competitiveness of products.