The Industrial Internet Convergence Platform for Centrally Administered State-owned Enterprises was launched at the 2019 International Conference on Industrial Internet in Chengdu of Sichuan province, on Saturday.

The platform, initiated by the State-owned defense giant China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp and jointly built by 28 State-owned enterprises, is tasked with concentrating and optimizing online resources of SOEs directly managed by the central government and is expected to support the SOEs' resource sharing and industry-chain establishment, according to a statement published by CASIC after the conference.

CASIC also opened the upgraded versions of its CASICloud services for industry clients.

More than 800 government officials, experts, company representatives from home and abroad are attending the event that will conclude on Sunday. It is hosted by the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Sichuan Provincial People's Government.

The term "industrial internet" was introduced by the United States' industrial magnate General Electric in 2012. It refers to a new type of manufacturing automation that combines advanced machines with internet-connected sensors and big data analytics. It is designed to boost the intelligent manufacturing, which is characterized by a high level of productivity, efficiency and reliability of industrial production, experts said.

CASIC is the world's second operator of an industrial internet platform following General Electric, which opened its Predix platform in 2014. Germany's Siemens opened its MindSphere in 2016, becoming the third member of the elite club.