深度对话 | 中国物联网的现在与未来
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology frontier that connects the physical realm with the digital. A multitude of sensors collect and transmit real-time data, which allows for unprecedented monitoring, control, and feedback in a system. IoT has transformed manufacturing lines, urban infrastructure, and is now vying for a place in the average household.
物联网（IoT）是将物理领域与数字领域联系起来的技术前沿。物联网使用大量传感器收集并传输实时数据，从而允许对系统进行前所未有的监视，控制和反馈。物联网已经改变了生产线，城市基础设施，现在正在往日常生活的各个方面发展。
The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) estimated that by 2025, there will be 14 billion IoT connections worldwide, with a third coming from China. As its society embraces digital transformation, China has seen its IoT market size nearly double in just the past three years - from $56 billion to $100 billion.
全球移动通信系统协会（GSMA）预估截止2025年，全球将有140亿个IoT连接，其中三分之一来自中国。随着社会接受数字化转型，中国在过去三年中看到其物联网市场规模几乎翻了一番，从560亿美元增至1000亿美元。
How has China achieved such rapid growth in its IoT industry, and what’s on the horizon? We interviewed industry veteran Dan Qiao to get an insider glance into the mix of industrial, government, and consumer forces behind China’s IoT boom.
中国是如何在物联网行业实现如此快速增长的？并且物联网的前景如何？我们采访了行业资深人士乔丹（Dan Qiao），以深入了解中国物联网繁荣背后的工业，政府和消费者力量。
▎Interview with an Industry Expert
采访嘉宾
乔丹
即联即用中国副总裁
领导IoT加速器
Dan Qiao is a VP at Plug and Play China and leads the IoT Accelerator. He has been active in tech incubation, open innovation and early-stage investment in China since 2013. Previously, he worked at Huawei for seven years, playing a key role in their overseas expansion sales operations. His experience has given him both hands-on experience and a bird’s eye view around China’s IoT industry.
自2013年以来，乔丹一直致力于中国市场的技术孵化，开放式创新和早期投资。此前，他在华为工作了7年，在其海外扩张销售业务中发挥了关键作用。他的经验使他既亲身实践又对中国的物联网行业有宏观理解。
How do you define IoT?
您如何定义物联网？
IoT is not a very new concept. In short, the idea is to connect everything. On a basic level, we build small, localized networks involving physical objects. Then, upon this foundation, we can collect data, perform optimization, and apply machine learning/AI. IoT has already found many applications among various industries and consumers, and with additional policy incentives, I think high connectivity can be attained within three to five years.
物联网不是一个新概念。简而言之是万物互联。在基本层面上，我们构建涉及实体的小型本地化网络。在此基础上，我们可以收集数据，执行优化并应用机器学习/ AI增强运算效率。物联网已经在各行各业和消费者中发现了许多应用。在政策激励措施下，我认为可以在三到五年内实现高连接性。
What does the IoT market in China look like today?
今天的中国物联网市场现状是什么样的？
Many tech innovations start in business-driven applications then trickle down to consumer adoption. For IoT in China, the three major sectors of activity are industry (IIoT), smart city, and smart home.
许多技术创新始于业务驱动的应用程序，然后逐渐渗透到消费者的采用。对于中国的物联网，活动的三个主要领域是工业物联网（IIoT），智慧城市物联网，和智慧家庭物联网。
- Industry & manufacturing:
IoT has been embraced in manufacturing and agriculture, as increased monitoring and feedback capability help companies boost productivity, cut costs, and increase efficiency. This has also driven the development and scale-up of specialized sensors that can then benefit other non-industrial IoT applications.
- 工业和制造业：
物联网已在制造业和农业被应用，因为强化后的监视和反馈功能可帮助公司提高生产率，降低成本并提高效率。这也推动了专用传感器的开发和规模扩大，从而可以使其他非工业物联网应用受益。
- Smart cities:
Many governments are looking to incorporate IoT in their transportation systems in the form of traffic cameras, EV chargers, and even manhole covers. Another major application is utilities management. In most large cities in China, water and electricity meter readings are automated through IoT, which has helped cut costs in the long-term, despite higher upfront investment.
- 智慧城市：
许多政府正在寻求以交通摄像头，电动汽车充电器甚至下水道井盖的形式将物联网纳入城市交通系统中。另一个主要应用是在公用事业管理中。在中国大多数大城市水电表读数会通过物联网实现自动化，短期的成本投入会巨大，但是这有助于政府长期降低治理成本。
- Smart homes / consumer goods:
This is the newest frontier of IoT development, including Internet-connected household appliances and wearables such as smart watches. We also see intersections with healthcare needs, with products that can perform health monitoring. The two groups of players racing to develop consumer-facing IoT today are 1) tech giants like Xiaomi and Huawei and 2) traditional home appliance companies like Haier and Midea.
- 智能家居/消费品：
这是物联网开发的最新领域，包括物联网控制下的家用电器和智能手表等可穿戴设备。我们还看到可以执行健康监控以及满足健康需求的产品。如今，争夺发展面向消费者的物联网的两组参与者是：1）小米和华为等科技巨头，以及2）海尔和美的等传统家电公司。
Which of the three areas is the innovation focused on now?
物联网的创新目前集中哪些领域？
At Plug and Play, we are currently more focused on 2B applications, such as IoT in manufacturing, agriculture, and smart cities. In these cases, if you can solve the technical problem, there will be a market and business. In contrast, consumer-facing applications are riskier because their business model requires “killer apps”, mature technology, and proper timing. That being said, companies like Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, JD, and Meituan are all investing in their own consumer IoT projects.
在Plug and Play，我们目前更专注于企业应用（toB application），例如制造业，农业和智慧城市中的IoT。在这些情况下，如果服务商能够解决技术问题，他们就会有市场和业务。相反，面向消费者的应用程序则更具风险，因为其业务模型需要“杀手级应用程序”，成熟的技术和适当的时机。巨头公司更具优势，例如百度，阿里巴巴，腾讯，京东和美团等公司都在投资自己的消费物联网项目。
What do you think has contributed towards the rapid growth of IoT in China?
您如何看待中国物联网的快速发展？
To be market ready, a technology needs to demonstrate not only performance, but also cost competitiveness. For IoT in China, the policy environment around network infrastructure has really lowered the cost.
为了做好市场准备，一项技术不仅需要展示其技术性能，而且还需要展示其成本竞争力。对于中国的物联网而言，围绕网络基础架构的利好政策环境确实降低了成本。
For example, take the cost of data bandwidth. A few years ago, there was no distinction between data use by users versus by objects. Without this distinction, even connecting something as basic as an electricity meter was prohibitively expensive. Now, with infrastructure advances, and platforms designed by the three largest network providers specifically for IoT, costs have lowered significantly.
例如，以数据带宽举例。几年前，用户数据与物理数据之间没有区别。如果没有这种区别，即使连接像电表这样的基本设备也非常昂贵。现在，随着基础设施的发展以及由三大网络提供商专门为物联网设计的平台，物联网实施的成本已大大降低。
In fact, since 2015, Chinese government has been backing the support towards integrating the country’s mobile internet, cloud computing and big data initiatives through its ‘Internet Plus’ strategy. I believe the growth of IoT in China will continue as long as Chinese government keeps providing positive support. China has just committed to the ‘Made in China 2025’ program to upgrade the nation’s manufacturing capacity, which is promising to the whole IoT industry but especially IIoT.
实际上，自2015年以来，中国政府就一直在支持通过“互联网+”战略整合中国的移动互联网，云计算和大数据。我相信只要中国政府继续提供积极的支持，中国的物联网将继续增长。中国刚刚承诺实施“中国制造2025”计划，以提升其制造能力，这对整个物联网行业，特别是IIoT来说都是有希望的。
How is the IoT landscape in China compared to that in the United States, or other parts of the world?
与美国或世界其他地区相比，中国的物联网市场前景如何？
From the demand side, the products that consumers want are probably more similar than not. The differences lie in the cost of and the ecosystem around IoT. For example, a key factor of lowering cost in China is the government push to invest in IoT and enabling technologies. Sharing an ecosystem with Huawei, who can provide advanced and affordable 5G networks, is a clear advantage.In other countries, industry growth is mostly driven by private sector players and market forces, which focus more on short-term returns on investment. This can hinder the development of infrastructure on which IoT depends. Policy and culture can play roles too. For example, more skeptical attitudes towards data privacy have posed major challenges for IoT companies in other parts of the world.
从需求方面看，消费者想要的产品趋同性较强。但是市场差异在于物联网的成本和围绕其形成的生态系统。例如，中国降低成本的关键因素是政府大力投资于物联网和支持技术。政府与华为共享生态系统是显而易见的优势，后者可以提供先进且价格合理的5G网络。在其他国家，行业增长主要由私营部门参与者和市场力量驱动，它们更多地关注短期投资回报。这可能会阻碍物联网所依赖的基础架构的发展。另外，政策和文化也可以发挥作用。例如对数据隐私的疑态度对世界其他地区的物联网公司构成了重大挑战。
What is the role of 5G in driving forward IoT?
5G在推动物联网发展中扮演什么角色？
The power of IoT lies in the number of devices connected. As the Internet infrastructure continues to mature with the spread of 4G/5G, IoT will only continue to grow. However, infrastructure is only the first step - real market takeoff will require killer apps to convince people to buy in. Most consumer-facing projects harnessing 5G capabilities are still in their experimental phase, but I expect some key benefits to be realized as soon as next year.
物联网的能力在于所连接设备的数量。随着4G / 5G的普及，互联网基础设施逐渐成熟，物联网将持续增长。但是，基础架构只是第一步。真正的市场飞速发展需要杀手级的应用程序才能说服消费者购买。大多数面向消费者的5G功能项目仍处于试验阶段，但是我希望一些关键的优势在明年能够尽快实现。
One example is a digital mall piloted by Wanda and Huawei. By providing 5G/IoT capability, they are exploring how to better serve shops and customers through guided purchasing and more bespoke shopping experiences. For example, by combining location data and a customer’s purchase history, they can make recommendations, and make it easier to buy what you want to buy.
例如由万达和华为牵头的数字商城。通过提供5G / IoT功能，他们正在探索如何通过指导性购买和更多定制性的购物体验更好地为商店和客户服务。数字商城通过结合位置数据和客户的购买历史记录提出建议，并使消费者购买商品变得更加容易。
▎In Summary
结语
Supported by government policy and network providers, Chinese IoT products have found a multitude of applications in industry and urban infrastructure. Now, the industry has set its gaze on extending into people’s everyday lives in the form of wearables, smart home appliances, and next generation mall experiences. Active support through investment and policy, combined with the dawn of 5G network capability, continues to propel China towards IoT’s promise of connecting everything.
在政府政策和网络提供商的支持下，中国物联网产品在工业和城市基础设施中得到了广泛的应用。现在，物联网行业也将目光聚焦于面向广大消费者的可穿戴设备，智能家电和下一代购物中心体验的形式。物联网也将扩展到人们的日常生活中。投资和政策的积极支持，5G网络功能的兴起会共同推动中国朝着IoT万物互联的未来前进。
关于China Tech Blog（CTB）
China Tech Blog成立于2017年，一个由清华苏世民书院，复旦大学以及伦敦商学院的学生及校友组成的国际科技社区。CTB提供有关中国创新的现状和未来方向的独到见解，为非中文国家的读者了解中国的科技发展，打破国家的边界，加强国际创新交流。如果您对中国的技术创新感兴趣，可以扫描以下二维码，在LinkedIn上关注CTB，获取更多前沿及深度观点。
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Plug and Play 前身始于 1998 年的硅谷斯坦福大学路 165 号，先后成功早期投资和孵化包括 Google、PayPal、Dropbox 在内的多家互联网行业科技巨头公司。
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