Digital technology is becoming an indispensable part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Globalization 4.0 era by helping traditional industries improve efficiency and lower costs, said Chen Shengqiang, CEO of China’s JD Digits, ahead of the World Economic Forum 2019 in Davos, Switzerland.
Chen will present his views on the theme of this year’s gathering, “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a New Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, during a panel discussion alongside other industry leaders in Davos on Tuesday afternoon.
By applying its cutting-edge technologies in big data, AI, IoT and blockchain across a variety of sectors such as finance, agriculture, and urban design in both China and around the globe, JD Digits is helping to reshape traditional industries and enhance the lives of people all over the world.
“As we enter into the Globalization 4.0 era, digital technology is having a significant impact on corporate investment patterns all over the world, and international value creation is tied to the technological vision of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Chen. “The data-driven economy continues to transform global value chains and helps bring more players from different regions around the world into the globalization wave.”
“Represented by the advances in digital technology, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing companies’ internal operation models and generating a data-driven global economy,” Chen continued. “As the world continues to work together to build a common society, digital technology also helps to break self-centeredness and build a wider community based upon mutual reliance and shared values.”
Globalization is a crucial part of JD Digits’ strategy. The company works closely with local financial institutions and universities in Hong Kong, runs a joint venture in Thailand with the country’s leading retailer the Central Group, and provides key FinTech services to several other Southeast Asian countries. It also operates a world-leading AI lab in Silicon Valley.
As the world faces new challenges brought by the transition to Globalization 4.0, Chen said that JD Digits, as a global company which places technological innovation at its core, believes that the following steps should be taken to successfully overcome these issues:
Firstly, technology should be utilized to reduce the cost of industrial chains, improve productivity and create greater added-value to boost industry development. Secondly, remaining open and connected will enable the continued expansion of industrial digitalization and deepen the development of the digital economy. Thirdly, focusing on building global partnerships based on achieving mutual benefits and common values and establishing a new business value chain that sets the goal of maximizing the value of the whole industry instead of just the company will bring greater rewards.
