A new scheme for the development of industrial internet is unveiled at a news conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Sept 4.[Photo/cinn.cn]

East China's Zhejiang province announced plans to speed up the development of industrial internet for the quality enhancement of its manufacturing sector.

Wu Junqing, deputy director of Zhejiang's economic and information commission introduced a new framework scheme for future development of industrial internet at a news conference on Sept 4.

The industrial internet refers to a network of combined, advanced machines with internet-connected sensors, which will collect and analyze data from consumers, suppliers and factories. It is a result of the integrated development of information and manufacturing and allows companies to customize products at speed and scale while boosting productivity and reducing costs.

Zhejiang, with a solid foundation in the manufacturing sector and a good momentum in its internet industry, is China's first information economy demonstration area and leads the country in combining information technologies with different industries.

By the end of 2017, there were more than 400,000 industrial enterprises in Zhejiang and the value it added in the industrial sector ranked fourth in the whole country. Meanwhile, the aggregate of digital economy in the province hit 2.06 trillion yuan ($301.28 billion) in 2017, ranking fourth among its national counterparts.

The new scheme puts forward that by 2020, Zhejiang will foster a basic industrial internet platform in line with international standards and over 10 country-leading platforms for specific manufacturing fields. Moreover, it aims to develop over 30,000 apps connected to 50 million machines in three years to serve 100,000 manufacturers.

The government will gather the strengths of Aliyun, the cloud computing brand of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, Zhejiang Lab and Supcon Group Co when implementing the plans.

The development of industrial internet is expected to boost Zhejiang's manufacturing sector. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]