The achievements of the next industrial revolution should be shared by all mankind
In Shenyang, a city once defined by heavy industry, nearly three hundred voices from eleven nations gathered to ask how the digital transformation of manufacturing might be shared rather than hoarded. The 2025 Exchange Conference on Global Industrial Internet Integrated Development offered a quiet but significant signal: that the next industrial revolution is being negotiated not only in laboratories and boardrooms, but in the deliberate choices nations make about who gets to participate. China, positioning itself as both host and model, extended an invitation to the world through factory floors and formal frameworks alike.
- The urgency is real — developing nations risk being left behind as digital manufacturing reshapes global competitiveness, and the window for meaningful participation is narrowing.
- Voices from Brazil, Mexico, and Poland converged on a shared anxiety: that intelligent industry, if left ungoverned by collective wisdom, will deepen rather than close the gap between rich and poor economies.
- The Belt and Road Initiative is being actively reframed as a digital cooperation vehicle, giving developing countries a structured pathway into industrial internet projects they could not easily build alone.
- Shenyang's Tiexi District is being held up as living proof that legacy industrial zones can reinvent themselves through smart infrastructure, digital clusters, and international partnerships.
- China launched the 'Global Smart Tour' to move the conversation off the stage and onto the factory floor, betting that direct observation will accelerate trust and collaboration more than any presentation could.
On September 6th, Shenyang — a northeastern Chinese city with deep roots in heavy manufacturing — became the setting for a conversation about where industry is heading next. The 2025 Exchange Conference on Global Industrial Internet Integrated Development drew nearly three hundred government officials and business leaders from eleven countries under the theme 'Intelligent Industry for Global Connectivity,' serving as a key forum within the broader Global Industrial Internet Conference.
The discussions quickly moved past the technical. Brazil's Secretary of Telecommunications argued that the coming industrial revolution must be built with collective wisdom, not just advanced infrastructure, and that its benefits should extend to all nations — not only those that led the first wave of digitization. Mexico's business representative pointed to the Belt and Road Initiative as a practical vehicle for developing countries to deepen industrial internet cooperation and open new economic doors. A voice from Poland's Warsaw Chamber of Commerce reinforced the idea that digital industrial collaboration ultimately exists to lift the entire global manufacturing sector.
Shenyang itself offered a concrete example of what transformation looks like in practice. The city's Tiexi District has spent years upgrading its traditional industries through digital infrastructure, cultivating clusters of technology companies, and forging international partnerships — work that has attracted major enterprises and moved smart factory projects from blueprints into operation.
The conference also launched the 'Global Smart Tour,' an initiative by China Economic Information inviting international companies to visit China's most advanced smart manufacturing facilities. Beginning in Shenyang, the program is designed to replace presentations with direct experience, letting visitors see digital transformation at work on actual factory floors — and, organizers hope, turning observation into lasting collaboration.
In early September, the city of Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning Province hosted a gathering that brought together nearly three hundred government officials and business leaders from eleven countries and regions. The occasion was the 2025 Exchange Conference on Global Industrial Internet Integrated Development, held on September 6th under the banner "Intelligent Industry for Global Connectivity." The conference functioned as a main forum within the larger 2025 Global Industrial Internet Conference, drawing participants who came to discuss where industrial internet technology was heading and how nations might collaborate to strengthen their manufacturing economies.
The conversation at the conference moved beyond the purely technical. Hermano Tercius, Brazil's Secretary of Telecommunications, argued that true global connectivity demands more than just infrastructure and software—it requires the collective wisdom to build intelligent systems that serve all of humanity, not just the wealthy nations that pioneered them. He framed the next industrial revolution as something that ought to be shared across borders and development levels. Lucero Carreón, representing Mexico's business community, saw the Belt and Road Initiative as a concrete mechanism through which developing nations could deepen their cooperation in industrial internet projects and unlock new economic opportunities. Ben Sassi, speaking from Poland's Warsaw Chamber of Commerce, echoed the sentiment that digital collaboration in industry exists ultimately to benefit the entire sector and shape the future of manufacturing globally.
Shenyang itself became a case study in this transformation. Zhao Yongsheng, who leads the city's Tiexi District, described how the area has pursued the intelligent upgrading of its traditional industries through industrial internet construction and digital transformation. The district has invested in new infrastructure, cultivated clusters of digital companies, and pursued international partnerships. As a result, major domestic and foreign enterprises have established operations there, and multiple smart factory and green manufacturing demonstration projects have moved from planning into active implementation.
The conference also marked the official launch of an initiative called the "Global Smart Tour," created by China Economic Information, a division of Xinhua News Agency. The program invites international industrial and internet companies to visit China's most advanced smart manufacturing facilities. By starting in Shenyang and using the conference as a springboard, organizers hope to create opportunities for hands-on learning and deeper collaboration between Chinese enterprises and their international counterparts. The visits are designed to move beyond presentations and reports into direct observation of how digital transformation actually works on factory floors.
Citações Notáveis
Global connectivity requires both technology and the wisdom to construct global intelligence for digitalization, ensuring the next industrial revolution benefits all humanity— Hermano Tercius, Brazil's Secretary of Telecommunications
The Belt and Road Initiative will support developing countries to deepen cooperation and create opportunities in industrial internet— Lucero Carreón, vice chairperson of Mexico-China bilateral entrepreneurs branch
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a conference on industrial internet in a Chinese city matter to someone reading a newspaper thousands of miles away?
Because it signals how the world's manufacturing economy is reorganizing. When nearly three hundred leaders from eleven countries gather to discuss digital transformation, they're not just talking—they're building relationships and frameworks that will shape trade and investment for years.
But couldn't this just be China promoting itself as a technology leader?
It could be, and probably is partly that. But the interesting part is that officials from Brazil, Mexico, and Poland came and spoke seriously about what they need. They weren't forced to be there. They came because industrial internet matters to their own economies.
What's the Belt and Road Initiative got to do with factory robots and software?
It's the financing and political framework. If you're a developing country that wants to modernize your manufacturing but lacks capital, the Belt and Road offers loans and partnerships. Industrial internet is just the latest sector where that's playing out.
So Shenyang is becoming a model?
It's being positioned as one. The district there has actually built smart factories and attracted foreign companies. Whether it's replicable elsewhere is the real question, but they're inviting people to come see it themselves rather than just describing it.
What happens next?
Companies visit, they see what's possible, some invest, some partner, some go home and try to replicate it. The "Global Smart Tour" is essentially a sales and learning mechanism rolled into one.