2025 Global Digital Trade Expo Xihu Forum Releases Heavyweight Achievements in Digital-Intelligent Industry, with Automation Technology as Core Driver
2025-09-30
On September 26th, the 2025 Global Digital Trade Expo - Xihu Forum · Digital Security Conference was grandly launched in Hangzhou. This industry event focusing on the digital field has injected strong momentum into the future development of the automation industry. At the event site, Professor Zhang Xianghong from Beijing Jiaotong University released the National Digital-Intelligent Industry Development Research Report (2024-2025) (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") and simultaneously launched China's first dynamic intelligent map of the digital-intelligent industry and the National Top 10 Digital-Intelligent Enterprises List. This high-value research achievement not only provides key references and clear guidance for the high-quality development of the digital-intelligent industry, but also reveals the irreplaceable core position of automation technology in the digital-intelligent wave from the perspectives of the industry's underlying logic and development trends, demonstrating the broad development prospects of the automation industry.
1. Digital-Intelligent Industry: The "Training Ground" and "Test Field" for Automation Technology
"The digital-intelligent industry is a new industrial format that integrates the data industry oriented to AI applications and the AI industry centered on high-quality datasets. These two industries move towards each other, interact, and integrate deeply, eventually forming an industrial format with data as the key element and AI as the core technology." Professor Zhang Xianghong's definition of the digital-intelligent industry accurately points out its in-depth connection with automation technology. In the operation system of the digital-intelligent industry, automation is the core support for realizing efficient data flow and precise technology implementation - from automated equipment for data collection, to automated algorithms for data processing, and then to automated processes for product delivery, automation technology runs through the entire chain of the digital-intelligent industry and serves as a key engine driving the industry's transformation from "manual-driven" to "intelligent-driven".
Professor Zhang Xianghong emphasized that the digital-intelligent industry is an inevitable product under the dual trends of "data intellectualization" and "AI dataization", and the implementation of these two trends is inseparable from the strong empowerment of automation technology. On one hand, the trend of "data intellectualization" is accelerating, and AI technology has widely penetrated all links of the entire life cycle of data "collection, storage, calculation, management, and application", while automation is the basic carrier for realizing this application. Whether it is the automatic collection of production data by sensors in industrial scenarios or the automatic completion of data cleaning and analysis by intelligent algorithms in the financial field, automation technology has achieved an exponential improvement in data processing efficiency, removing efficiency obstacles for AI technology to tap data value. On the other hand, the characteristic of "AI dataization" has become increasingly prominent, and the data industry chain oriented to innovative AI applications is accelerating its formation. Automation has become a "bridge" connecting all links of the industry chain. From automated tools for data annotation to automated platforms for model training, and then to automated systems for application deployment, automation technology enables seamless connection of all links in the AI industry chain, promotes the large-scale and standardized development of the industry, and also provides rich application scenarios and practical opportunities for the iteration and upgrading of automation technology.
2. Multi-Dimensional Interpretation: Automation Embedded in the Core Composition of the Digital-Intelligent Industry
The Report further interprets the connotation of the digital-intelligent industry from two dimensions, and in these two dimensions, automation technology exists everywhere, becoming the "invisible pillar" for the development of the digital-intelligent industry.
From the dimension of industrial constituent elements, the digital-intelligent industry is composed of elements such as resources, technology, products, enterprises, and ecology, and the development of each element is closely related to automation: the efficient utilization of data resources relies on automated collection and storage technologies; the implementation of digital-intelligent technologies requires automated systems to provide operational support; the R&D and production of digital-intelligent products depend on automated production lines to ensure quality and efficiency; the daily operation of digital-intelligent enterprises uses automated management tools to improve the accuracy of decision-making; the coordinated development of the digital-intelligent ecology realizes resource sharing and efficient linkage through automated collaboration platforms. It can be said that automation technology is like "capillaries", penetrating every corner of the constituent elements of the digital-intelligent industry and providing a continuous driving force for industrial development.
From the dimension of the entire data life cycle, the digital-intelligent industry is an emerging industry formed by using data technologies (especially AI technologies) to develop products or services from data resources and promote their circulation and application. In each stage of the entire data life cycle, automation technology plays the role of an "accelerator": in the data collection stage, automated equipment realizes 24-hour non-stop collection to ensure the real-time performance and integrity of data; in the data storage stage, automated storage systems intelligently allocate resources to ensure data security and efficient calling; in the data calculation stage, automated computing power scheduling technology realizes optimal resource allocation to improve computing efficiency; in the data management stage, automated management tools realize intelligent data classification, retrieval, and maintenance; in the data application stage, automated deployment technology enables data products to quickly land in various industries and accelerate value transformation. The in-depth participation of automation technology makes the operation of the entire data life cycle more efficient and stable, laying a solid foundation for the digital-intelligent industry to create greater value.
3. Enterprise Classification: Automation Enterprises Become the "Main Force" of the Digital-Intelligent Industry
The Report clearly states that the digital-intelligent industry is composed of five core elements: data resources, digital-intelligent technologies, digital-intelligent products, digital-intelligent enterprises, and digital-intelligent ecology. Among them, digital-intelligent enterprises are the core entities and are divided into seven types. Among these seven types of enterprises, the core businesses of enterprises in multiple fields are highly consistent with automation technology, making them the "main force" promoting the development of the digital-intelligent industry, which also indicates that automation enterprises have huge development space in the digital-intelligent wave.
Specifically: Data resource enterprises need to obtain massive amounts of data through automated collection equipment and ensure data security through automated storage systems, so automation technology is the core support for their business operations; the data analysis and processing technologies developed by data technology enterprises often need to rely on automated algorithms to achieve implementation and application, and the iteration of automation technology directly promotes the upgrading of data technology; data service enterprises provide customers with data processing, analysis, and other services, and the application of automated tools can greatly improve service efficiency and quality, enhancing the core competitiveness of enterprises; the data centers, cloud computing platforms, and other facilities built by data infrastructure enterprises require automated operation and maintenance technologies to ensure stable operation and reduce operating costs; the AI models developed by AI enterprises need to improve training efficiency through automated training platforms and achieve rapid deployment through automated deployment technologies. The development needs of these types of enterprises provide broad application scenarios for automation technology and also bring unprecedented opportunities for the development of automation enterprises.
On September 26th, the 2025 Global Digital Trade Expo - Xihu Forum · Digital Security Conference was grandly launched in Hangzhou. This industry event focusing on the digital field has injected strong momentum into the future development of the automation industry. At the event site, Professor Zhang Xianghong from Beijing Jiaotong University released the National Digital-Intelligent Industry Development Research Report (2024-2025) (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") and simultaneously launched China's first dynamic intelligent map of the digital-intelligent industry and the National Top 10 Digital-Intelligent Enterprises List. This high-value research achievement not only provides key references and clear guidance for the high-quality development of the digital-intelligent industry, but also reveals the irreplaceable core position of automation technology in the digital-intelligent wave from the perspectives of the industry's underlying logic and development trends, demonstrating the broad development prospects of the automation industry.
