At the State Council executive meeting on Oct 30, Premier Li Keqiang said China should develop an industrial internet and promote integration between the internet and advanced manufacturing to revitalize the real economy.

“The strategy of ‘Internet Plus’ has taken effect beyond expectations in terms of creating jobs and facilitating people’s lives,” he said. “In the next move, advanced manufacturing also should be connected with the internet, so as to tap into the tremendous potential in the industrial revolution.”

Before the meeting, the Premier and some other State Council leaders visited an industrial internet exhibition in the corridor outside the meeting room.

Displays of the exhibition are the latest products and explorations of the industrial internet in China, including a large screen showing the operations of the equipment within an industrial internet, a refrigerator and smart watch model produced at the industrial internet platform, and equipment of a smart transmission system.

Premier Li was attracted by an industrial internet platform created by Sany Heavy Industry Co., which not only monitors and allocates construction equipment in real-time, but also provides customized embroidery patterns to clients and send orders to industrial embroidery machines accordingly.

“Large industrial internet platforms could become a benchmark of the entire industrial revolution. Some transnational companies have already been working hard in this field,” he said.

A decision was made at the meeting to encourage some capable companies to develop large industrial cloud platforms, so that manufacturing equipment and information systems in the company and the whole industrial chain can be networked.

Premier Li added that the industrial internet platform also can support entrepreneurship and innovation. “Integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries is accelerating, which is just the development trend of the world economy. We should promote integrated development of small-and-medium enterprises via the industrial internet,” he said.

To create a favorable environment for an industrial internet, the Premier said that administrative reform should be furthered.

In July, he inspected China’s major mobile network operators — China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom — and praised efforts by China Unicom in 2016 that had reduced by 35 percent internet access fees for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Premier said that China should continue to increase broadband speed and lower rates for internet services, while calling on governments at all levels to give more support.

“More investment should be put into this field, so that the economy, especially the manufacturing industry, can be transformed and updated,” he said.

At the meeting, he asked related departments to make proper arrangements. “This is a big opportunity. By grasping it, we can drive our manufacturing industry and the whole economy to a higher level!” he said.