Opportunities for China's IoT are right before us, but how can we seize them? The most obvious approach is to learn from developed countries in Europe and America, because in terms of both IoT technology and concepts, these countries have a much stronger foundation than China.
As the saying goes, "Learn the advanced technologies from the West to defeat the West." China has suffered too much from its isolationist policy in the past, so most people are already aware of this. However, the essence of learning lies in fully recognizing one's own strengths and weaknesses, leveraging strengths and avoiding weaknesses, and then grasping the opportunities in your own industrial chain.
Regarding how to learn, some say we need to learn the open-mindedness and ability to understand new things of Americans; others say we need to learn the meticulous craftsmanship of Germans and Japanese; still others say we need to learn the creativity of Israelis. Opinions vary, and each seems to have its merits.
But too much variety can easily lead to chaos. Simply trying to learn all the strengths of every other country will likely result in a "neither fish nor fowl" outcome. Every powerful nation also went through a learning process. The United States was originally a colony, Germany started by imitating others, and Japan was in a similar situation to China 100 years ago. These countries all grew through continuous learning and eventually became world leaders.
They did so because they mastered tailor-made learning methods, seized the opportunities of a particular era, and combined favorable timing, geographical advantages, and human coordination.
Although the IoT market has huge output value, it is still unknown how much value Chinese companies can extract from it.
Not to mention that the consumer market is still immature, profit margins in the terminal market are low, and corporate competitiveness is weak. If we focus only on developing the consumer market, there will be little improvement compared to the current situation of "Made in China." Only by moving upstream can we improve the overall level of Chinese manufacturing. However, many core technologies, such as chips and industrial software, are far behind those of foreign countries, and these are hardly opportunities for Chinese companies.
Therefore, understanding the current industrial situation in China can help companies find breakthroughs to enter the industry. In my opinion, the biggest opportunities for Chinese enterprises can be analyzed from two perspectives: the incremental market and the existing market.
Incremental market represented by cloud computing and big dataIndustries such as chip technology, precision manufacturing, and control systems have high barriers and established structures. So Chinese companies have lost the first-mover advantage; forcing their way in would be futile.
Therefore, unless it involves national strategic needs, careful consideration should be given before entering these fields. After all, for a company, it is not easy to break other countries' industrial barriers and fully own advanced technologies with independent intellectual property rights, especially without national resource support like military or national strategy projects, where commercial viability and returns are not a concern. Companies value profit, so competing head-on with established industrial chain companies is obviously unwise.
For Chinese companies in the IoT field, chip companies and high-end manufacturing companies are the barriers ahead. There are too few opportunities for further breakthroughs. Looking at Chinese companies, although they proposed vigorously developing core and high-end technologies decades ago, the number of companies that have truly achieved this level is still very small.
Cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence are completely new incremental markets emerging in the IoT era, and these are the biggest opportunities for Chinese companies.
A large population and huge market consumption provide natural conditions for the development of cloud computing and big data.
China's current situation also provides a foundation for the growth of cloud computing, big data, and AI. First, from the existing industries, although China's manufacturing and consumer electronics industries have grown significantly, it is hard to say they are strong. However, in the emerging Internet and mobile Internet industries, China is not lagging behind. Companies represented by Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are well-known worldwide. According to a previous ranking of global Internet companies, China has become the second largest Internet country after the United States.
It is precisely because of China's considerable Internet strength, combined with its huge population base, that provides a natural soil for the development of cloud computing and big data.
Internet companies are the easiest to develop in the direction of cloud computing and big data. Google, Amazon, and Alibaba are all leaders in the global cloud computing field. It can be said that Internet companies have unique advantages in developing cloud computing.
Big data, as the name implies, requires data to be large enough for analysis to be meaningful. Therefore, a large population, large economic scale, and rich economic activities provide good opportunities for the development of cloud computing and big data.
Existing market represented by intelligent solution companies
If cloud computing and big data are the opportunities brought by IoT to Chinese companies in the incremental market, then using existing economic conditions for intelligent upgrading and transformation is the opportunity in the existing market. The biggest opportunity in the existing market lies in companies providing intelligent solutions.
Intelligent solution companies act as catalysts in the industry, accelerating the transformation of traditional industries into intelligent industries. They can fully utilize existing resources, including the chip industry, IaaS-layer technical resources provided by cloud computing giants, and the huge existing industrial and product market resources.
This is a very large market. For example, building smart cities and smart communities will largely involve renovating existing buildings.
Upgrading existing traditional industries, such as home appliances, enterprises, steel, energy, and other vertical industries, is also a huge potential market for intelligent solution companies.
Intelligent solution companies can use basic technologies like chips and cloud computing to design unique solutions for different vertical industries, different projects, or even different individual products, making the IoT world rich and colorful.
I believe that "IoT" is no longer a new term for many people, and the trend of IoT is becoming increasingly obvious. However, regarding how to ride this "east wind," both entrepreneurs and traditional companies seem somewhat blind. The incremental market and existing market mentioned in this article are only a general direction. As this huge change is about to occur, those with vision need to keep a clear mind.