On October 29, the Second Digital Economy Standards Innovation Forum was held in Hangzhou. At the forum, the China Electronics Standardization Institute, Zhejiang Lab and the Government of Deqing signed a three-party cooperation agreement to jointly promote the standardization of city-wide self-driving cars and intelligent transportation in Deqing.  

Zheng Yuhua, Vice President of Zhejiang Lab, said in his speech that while the lab attaches great importance to tech innovation, it also values the significance of standardization. With a group of leading institutions for innovative regional or association standards joining Zhejiang Lab, such as the Zhejiang Artificial Intelligence Standardization Technical Committee, the Zhejiang Promotion Association for Intelligent Technology Standards Innovation, and the Zhejiang Digital Economy Standards Innovation Alliance, standardization has given new impetus  to the lab's interaction and mutual growth with outside organizations.

Starting Zhejiang Lab's Standardization Projects with the Internet of Vehicles

Sun Wenlong, Vice President of the China Electronics Standardization Institute, said that by signing the agreement, the institute will work with Zhejiang Lab and the Government of Deqing to fully leverage regional advantages and the strength of a novel research institution. Focusing on the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), the three sides will implement standardization projects together, firmly promote the application of standardization achievements, add new capabilities to standardization platforms, and create a replicable and generalizable standardization model for self-driving cars and intelligent transportation.

In order to simultaneously facilitate Zhejiang Lab's research activities and standardization projects, the lab has appointed Ji Zhengkun (former Director of the Standardization Administration of China) and Chen Shanzhi (Vice President of China Information Communication Technologies Group Corporation) as advisory experts for the lab's standardization strategies. At the forum, they gave brilliant keynote speeches on China's plan to become a manufacturing power and on the integrated development of 5G and IoV.

Ji explained the details of China's master plan to become a manufacturing power. He pointed out that although the manufacturing industry in China has a well-established industrial system and a strong network of industries, it also encounters bottlenecks such as insufficient parts and components for core technologies and weak foundations for advanced basic industries and key industrial technologies. To become a manufacturing power, China needs both high-tech innovation and upgrading of traditional industries. In particular, a well-established national laboratory system is critical to high-tech innovation. Zhejiang Lab will be able to play an important role in this aspect.

To build a manufacturing power, the development of 5G is a key link. Focusing on 4G/5G and C-V2X IoV technologies and standards, Chen shared the practice of using 5G technology to enhance IoV systems. He pointed out that enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine communication, and ultra-reliable low-latency communication are three typical application scenarios of 5G. As the integration of 5G and other technologies such as AI, big data, and cloud computing is creating many new industries and business models, IoV will become the largest vertical industry for 5G application.

Building a "Three-in-One" Advanced Innovation Platform for Standardization

In addition to Ji Zhengkun and Chen Shanzhi, twenty-one other experts were appointed as the first group of members of the Expert Committee of the Zhejiang Promotion Association for Intelligent Technology Standards Innovation. The Association is a licensed and professional non-profit organization, with Zhejiang Lab as the initiator.

According to Pan Yang, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the association and Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Lab Standardization Research Center, the Association, the Zhejiang Artificial Intelligence Standardization Technical Committee (in development), and the Zhejiang Digital Economy Standards Innovation Alliance (in development) will work together as an advanced innovation platform for standardization. The Association will be mainly committed to top-level design of the platform. The Alliance will be largely responsible for implementing application and pilot projects, while the Committee is responsible for building ties with national, regional (such as the Yangtze River Delta), and international standardization organizations. Through this “three-in-one” mechanism, the platform will leverage the advantages of Zhejiang Lab and focus on innovative technologies to connect with leading companies in different industries, hidden champions in sub-divided industries, outstanding social groups, and new industrial clusters, facilitating innovation organizations to make early plans for standardization in their research processes.

Currently, this advanced innovation platform for standardization has taken its fundamental shape and achieved preliminary outcomes, including a number of high-quality standards such as data testing specifications for Industrial Internet platforms and white papers on the standardization of intelligent elderly care and intelligent manufacturing. In the future, Zhejiang Lab will focus on building an advanced innovation platform for standardization with the Promotion Association as the principal part. The platform will become a standardization brand created by Zhejiang Lab, aiming to rapidly transform the lab's innovation outcomes into high-quality association and regional standards, bridge the gap between national and international standards, and give new impetus to the circular development of the digital economy and intelligent technology.

At the forum, experts from the China Electronics Standardization Institute, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the Research Institute of Highway of the Ministry of Transport, the Instrumentation Technology and Economy Institute, and the New-Generation Standardization Institute of the Shandong Academy of Sciences shared their experience in standardization in fields such as AI, intelligent manufacturing, smart cities.

The forum was organized by Zhejiang Lab and hosted by the Promotion Association. More than 150 representatives attended the forum. The representatives came from different organizations in various sectors, including: national agencies such as the Talent Exchange Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Electronics Standardization Institute, and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology; industry management authorities such as the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Administration, and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security; and universities and top companies such as Zhejiang University and Hikvision.