Huawei Rotating CEO, Ken Hu: Cross-Domain Integration Essential to Industry 4.0
[Hong Kong, China, November 4, 2016] At the 15th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK 2016), Huawei Rotating CEO and Deputy Chairman of the Board Ken Hu spoke on the current state of Industry 4.0, urging his audience of global business, technology, and government leaders to work more closely together to identify and agree on the fundamental capabilities that will drive its development.
Huawei Rotating CEO Ken Hu talked about the industry 4.0 at APK 2016
This strategic initiative, also known as the fourth industrial revolution, originated in Germany and has since been adopted by major industrial powers around the world. At the moment, however, there are no unified standards around Industry 4.0. "Industry 4.0 will change industry landscapes, promote social development, and have a great impact on the competitiveness of each economy," said Ken Hu. "We believe that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is a core enabler of this exciting transformation. The Internet of Things (IoT), robust cloud infrastructure, and advanced software development in particular are the three fundamental capabilities that will make it happen."
- IoT – More connections, more data
Hu went on to explain that the IoT is the foundation of Industry 4.0 and an intelligent world. In order to fully unleash the potential of the fourth industrial revolution, industries need greater innovation around sensors, chipsets, and broadband networks.
- All Cloud
Huawei estimates that by the year 2025 more than 85% of enterprise operations will take place in the cloud. To meet demand for custom functionality, industry-specific clouds will begin to emerge. With special services for industries like finance, transportation, and manufacturing, these industry clouds will differentiate themselves and provide more targeted value than existing public and private cloud solutions designed for general use.
- Generating value from data
Industry 4.0 will also require advanced software and application development capabilities to generate value from the data in the cloud. "This will make the whole system an intelligent system," Hu said, "and big data analytics and artificial intelligence are a critical piece of that puzzle."
Hu went on to talk about the importance of integration, including the integration of Operational Technology (OT) and ICT, and greater integration within the ICT industry itself. As for the integration of OT and ICT, professional skills and source data are the core strengths of manufacturers, whereas ICT companies have strong networking, big data, and AI capabilities. On the ICT integration front, the convergence of telecommunications, software, and applications will help provide powerful one-stop cloud services that can be customized for enterprise use.
"In the Industry 4.0 era," Hu reminded his audience, "developing people is just as important as developing technology. In the Industry 3.0 era, machines did the things that people couldn't do. However, moving forward, machines will handle the tasks that people can do, and it's likely that they'll do them better. In this type of environment, it's important that we focus on developing our inherently human capabilities, keeping people inspired, and making sure they have a stronger sense of achievement in what they do."
Over 1,000 APK 2016 attendees gathered for this three-day event under the collective belief that German and Chinese enterprises have a number of complementary strengths, which presents great potential for lasting partnerships and joint innovation projects that will drive Industry 4.0 development. The Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business was first held in 1986, and has been held every two years since. It is co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) together with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) of Germany.
