China will speed up the development of Internet Plus advanced manufacturing to boost innovation and entrepreneurship, and integration between enterprises of various sizes to enable further upgrading of the economy.

The decision was made at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Oct 30.

Integration between the internet and real economy will be further advanced, and development of the industrial internet will be accelerated through implementation of the Made in China 2025 strategy, in order to transform the nation into a global leader in the industrial internet, according to the decision made at the meeting.

“Pushing forward the Internet Plus advanced manufacturing is an important measure to enable the transformation and upgrading of the real economy. China owes the fast development of its new growth engines to its abundant human resources and talent, vast market and the prudent yet accommodating government oversight,” Premier Li said.

The meeting decided that the construction and upgrading of network infrastructure in industrial enterprises will be vigorously pursued to enable greater inter-connectivity within enterprises and between production equipment and information systems in different areas, both upstream and downstream. The integration and sharing of manufacturing resources and data will be promoted, while a coordinated manufacturing system linking all industries and businesses will be developed.

The development and promotion of industrial cloud platforms will be boosted. Leading enterprises will be encouraged to develop enterprise-level cloud platforms. SMEs will receive support in uploading their business systems to cloud platforms. A public platform that supports mass entrepreneurship and innovation will be established.

Technical support will be enhanced to develop a standard system of the industrial internet. R&D and promotion of intelligent, connected equipment will be promoted in such key areas as industrial robots and large power equipment. Emerging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence will be more extensively applied.

“We should create a vibrant and enabling environment for Internet Plus advanced manufacturing by further streamlining administration, enhancing compliance oversight and improving government services. This will enable the industrial internet to develop in a more open and integrated manner, and put China at the forefront of a new round of industrial revolution,” Premier Li said.

The meeting on Oct 30 also decided to step up policy support for the industrial sector. The government will expand equal access for various market entities. Finance will allocate special funds to support the industrial internet drive. Companies will be encouraged to scale up financial input through bonds and stock rights.

Cyber security will be enhanced as companies will be encouraged to build their own security. The management and technical systems for network and platform security will be built in key manufacturing sectors, including automobiles, electronics, energy, aviation and aerospace.

“We should give full play to the role of the market and businesses and provide policy support as necessary. The government will help capable enterprises establish major industrial internet platforms for the development of industrial intranet and internet. The government must step up the development of infrastructure to make internet services faster and cheaper for SMEs,” Premier Li said.

“Regulations regarding identification systems should be formulated to ensure security.”