SCIO briefing on development of industry and information technology in H1 2025

Xinhua Finance:

In the first half of the year, several digital transformation initiatives were launched across key consumer goods industries, including light industry, pharmaceuticals, food and textiles. Could you share how these industries have developed during this period? What notable achievements have these industries made in their digital transformation? Thank you.

Xie Cun:

Thank you for your questions. We appreciate your interest in the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries like consumer goods manufacturing. The consumer goods industry is one of China's traditional competitive advantages and serves as a vital sector for people's livelihoods. In the first half of this year, consumer goods enterprises above the designated size accounted for 27.1% of total industrial value added and 25.1% of total export delivery value, playing an important role in meeting consumer demand, driving economic growth and expanding exports.

To accelerate digital transformation in this sector, we have identified and published 213 case studies demonstrating increased product variety, improved quality, and enhanced brand building in the smart home and smart health care fields. We have also supported 463 technology renovation projects in the consumer goods sector through ultra-long-term special-purpose treasury bonds. These efforts have yielded significant results in digitalizing the industry. In terms of high-end development, by mid-year, the adoption rate of digital R&D tools among light industry enterprises above the designated size reached 86.2%. At the same time, digital business management systems achieved an 82.3% adoption rate. Improvements in technology integration and flexible manufacturing have laid a solid foundation for the large-scale production of high-value-added products. For instance, domestically produced smart toilets have undergone significant upgrades in function and quality and now account for over 60% of global sales. These high-quality, competitively priced products have enabled the domestic sanitary ware industry to successfully reverse course from relying on overseas purchases to driving export sales. In terms of intelligent transformation, with the application of new technologies such as AI and big data in the pharmaceutical industry, we have seen the emergence of numerous intelligent pharmaceutical production lines and smart drug manufacturing facilities. Some AI-powered pharmaceutical companies have significantly shortened drug development cycles by shifting from trial-and-error methods to precision-driven R&D. In terms of green development, by mid-year, the numerical control rate of key processes in textile companies above the designated size had reached 65.6%, and the penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools came in at 84.3%. With improvements in green upgrades and digital carbon management, average carbon intensity in the textile and apparel industry has dropped by more than 14% over the past two years, reflecting growing efforts to reduce energy use and emissions.

Recently, the MIIT, together with relevant departments, released digital transformation roadmaps for the textile, light industry, food and pharmaceutical sectors. These plans identified 82 typical scenarios such as digital R&D and design, flexible manufacturing and intelligent supply chain management, and promoted targeted intelligent upgrades. Next, we will strengthen overall planning and focus on practical applications. We will identify and promote a group of replicable, scalable digital transformation solutions to address key challenges in enterprise transformation. With the goal of optimizing the ecosystem, we will cultivate a group of high-level service providers and support enterprises in shifting from purely product-based operations to integrated solutions that combine goods with value-added services, advancing the digital development of industry clusters. Additionally, by taking the lead in setting industry standards, we will accelerate the development of high-quality standards for new technologies, products and consumption models, and establish a comprehensive digital transformation standards system, enabling more Chinese standards to lead global industrial development. Thank you.