On September 15, Prof. Xue Lan, Senior Professor of Humanities and Dean of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, received an online group interview during the Smart China Expo Online 2020 (SCE OL 2020). Ma Ranxi, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department, hosted the interview. Prof. Xue considered the key to developing the intelligence industry lay in the manufacturing industry. Chongqing, as an industrial powerhouse of China, enjoys great potential in this regard.

SCE OL 2020 features a new organization

What is the impact of the SCE OL 2020 on the intelligence industry development? Prof. Xue said the integration of online and offline activities created good results. For example, attendees and guests were more than the previous two editions. Many scholars, including Nobel Prize laureates, delivered speeches online, which attracted more viewers. "I think in this way, SCE OL can not only show its rich activities and progress to the world but also pool new technologies to improve its promotion in the future," said Prof. Xue.

Chongqing features great potential in the manufacturing industry

How can the Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle, as the fourth largest one of its kind in China, realize differentiated collaborative innovation in scientific and technological development with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta city clusters, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area? According to Prof. Xue, they have distinctive advantages. For instance, it's hard for other cities across the world to compete with the core of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster, Beijing, in the number of universities and research institutes. "Similarly, the Chengdu-Chongqing region has its own competitiveness. Chongqing is a historically industrial city. The manufacturing industry is the reason for the great progress in the internet economy of China. Chongqing, as a powerhouse of industry, boasts great potential." He believed the most essential work of SCE was to integrate the digital economy with traditional industries, so as to give full play to the role of the city.

China: in the first echelon of the fourth industrial revolution

In Prof. Xue's view, the fourth industrial revolution is based on artificial intelligence (AI), life sciences and technology, and other emerging technologies and led by studies on physical space, bio-space, and network. "China has made great progress in mobile internet and life sciences and technology, which allowing us to enter the first echelon."

Prof. Xue pointed out that core technologies of the fourth industrial revolution as a new challenge and also an opportunity for China. "China attaches great importance to this issue. For example, the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, released in 2017, mentioned that it was important to highly-value AI, and we are implementing relevant policies", he said.