Firms ride high tide of internet

Editor's Note: The 5th World Internet Conference, organized by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province, will be held in Wuzhen between Nov 7 and 9 this year. The annual event will discuss ways to improve mutual trust and steps for collective governance along with measures to boost innovation. China Daily will release daily special reports for the WIC, starting from today.

With their success in popularizing mobile internet applications in China's massive consumer market, local companies are striving to establish a beachhead in the industrial internet, a new front widely recognized as key to integrating the digital and real economies.

For example, Haier Group, China's largest home appliance maker has built an industrial internet platform, a network of industrial apps that collect and analyze data from consumers, suppliers and factories boasting machines with internet-connected sensors. The system, COSMOPlat, is designed to allow companies to customize products at speed and scale while boosting productivity and cutting costs.