Platform Industry 4.0 Workshop Series On Chinas Role In Technology & Development

Strategies and practices in (green) technology and innovation

China is playing an increasingly significant role in the global green transformation. As the world’s largest producer and exporter of solar modules, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, and with the largest domestic market for many of these technologies, the country is a key player in developing sustainable industrial processes. A targeted strategic approach has helped solidify China’s technological leadership in renewable energy and climate-friendly innovations.

Workshop: China’s path to green technology leadership

Summary: China has become a global leader in green technology through a strategic, three-phase approach that includes localization, commercialization, and international competition, driven by comprehensive political measures and infrastructure investments. This strategy, initiated in the 1990s to address resource scarcity and environmental degradation, has solidified China’s role as the largest producer and exporter of renewable energy technologies, offering valuable insights for other countries seeking sustainable industrial transformations. The challenge remains for democratic societies to achieve similar long-term commitments to sustainable strategies, which will be further discussed in upcoming events.

Workshop: Chinese Data Infrastructures and the Digital Silk Road

Summary: Chinas industrial strategy has had deep impacts on its relationships with partners and other countries. The Chinese digital policy instruments have also impacted infrastructure and standardization.

Next Steps: Further examination and analysis of the geopolitical conditions, including knowledge transfer about China for the development and derivation of appropriate measures and instruments for the regional strategy is planned.

Workshop: Chinas Standardization Strategy and Digital Future Technologies

Summary: China’s standardization policy is emerging as a geopolitical instrument with far-reaching implications for Europe’s economy, politics, and research. In the concluding discussion, the imbalance between China’s growing influence in international standardization bodies (e.g., ISO, IEC, ITU) and the comparatively low engagement of European actors was a major topic.

Doris Vogl plädierte für einen langfristigen und gezielten Einsatz europäischer Experten in diesen Gremien. Sie forderte außerdem eine stärkere Zusammenarbeit zwischen etablierten Unternehmen und innovativen Start-ups und argumentierte, dass europäische politische Institutionen wahrscheinlich nicht so direkt intervenieren werden wie chinesische Staatsbehörden, die dies routinemäßig tun – und wahrscheinlich auch weiterhin tun werden.

Workshop: 10 Years Made in China 2025

Summary: Made in China 2025 has been a highly influential and quite successful strategy of the Chinese government that has been thoroughly implemented. However in some areas, like semiconductors, it has not achieved its goals.

Highlights

China’s success in green technologies is based on a structured, three-phase approach:

Localization and Scaling in the 2000s
Commercialization in the 2010s
State Retreat from Green Markets and International Competition

China has pursued the long-term goal of not only achieving technological leadership but also setting global standards itself.

Among priorities are the Internet of Things, Smart Cities, AI-based mobility solutions, virtual reality, quantum technology, and the so-called low-altitude economy.

Conclusion

China’s approach shows that successful transformation is not based on a single measure but on a coordinated and long-term plan that is consistently implemented. Even though China, with a 29% share of global emissions in 2022, is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the high energy consumption of industry and China’s role as the “world’s factory” drive these figures, its example offers valuable insights for the transformation of our industry: A clear strategic roadmap at the highest political level and targeted promotion measures can help successfully integrate sustainable innovations into the market and make the industry future-proof.

The insights gained in this series will be taken into account in the development of the innovation strategy, as they not only provide illustrative examples of successfully implemented strategies but can also offer companies guidance in a changing geopolitical environment. A sound innovation strategy must reference these evolving framework conditions.