The city kicks off Shanghai Format to boost industrial digital development

A "Shanghai Format" of industrial Internet was released in the city on Monday, which helps Shanghai build a complete industrial digitalization ecosystem with global influence.

The format is called Gongfu Shanghai, literally meaning empowering industrial development (with digital tools). It emphasized industrial software, data and artificial tool development.

The local format covers "chains" and platforms to boost industrial digitization, which connects upstream and downstream firms on data, knowledge graphs and AI algorithms. Meanwhile, it encourages industrial cloud network construction, supported by carriers like China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. It also pushes innovation and digitalization in traditional industries like electricity, textile, shipbuilding, semiconductor and automotive component manufacture, which can bring huge potential value for digitalization, according to a Gongfu conference held in Shanghai.

Ti Gong

Authorized by the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization, the local industry regulator, Shanghai will complete full coverage of "digital diagnosis" for manufacturing enterprises citywide by 2025 to offer firms customized solutions.

Though China is already the world's biggest manufacturing base, about 88 percent of industrial software is developed by overseas firms. In the new era dominated by software and artificial intelligence, the majority of industrial profit will be gained by software and data firms, officials told the conference.

Profits of China's major industrial firms fell 22.9 percent year on year in the first two months of the year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

Therefore, it's a necessity for Shanghai and China to improve industrial software and data tools development to issue digital transformation and boost the economy rebound, experts said.