GE goes big on digital

US conglomerate General Electric Co (GE) has rolled out three strategic priorities to materialize its digital industrial transformation in China, a key market that is pivotal to the company's bid to hit $15 billion in digital revenue by 2020, said a senior GE executive.

"GE's three strategic priorities are building local capabilities, successfully operating over 10 pilot projects in key industrial sectors including aviation, power, healthcare, and cultivating an industrial internet ecosystem in China," said Kate Johnson, vice-president of GE and chief commercial officer of GE Digital.

In July 2016, GE launched a "digital foundry" in Shanghai. The facility, the first of its kind in Asia, is designed to incubate startups, improve collaboration and drive ecosystem growth. Johnson said that the digital foundry allows the company to partner closely with local stakeholders to speed up the adoption of Predix, GE's software platform that collects and analyzes data, as well as contribute to China's Internet Plus and Made in China 2025 efforts.

The digital foundry in Shanghai will enable GE to fast track over 10 digital industrial pilot programs and 40 big data analytics applications the company is currently operating in China. These pilot projects cover GE's key vertical sectors including aviation, healthcare, power and intelligent environment and will serve as test beds for full-scale industrial solutions for Chinese customers.

The company said that GE digital will play a pivotal role in progressing the company's transformation in China and worldwide. In 2016, GE's digital software orders reached $4 billion, up 22 percent year-on-year. Digital software orders are also expected to grow between 20 and 30 percent to more than $5 billion in 2017.

According to Johnson, industrial internet will be the next big thing in China, seeing how the government has invested $600 billion into the internet of things through 2020. "Today, industrial internet is profoundly transforming the global industry and how an industrial company operates. At GE, we are leading the way in creating a digital industrial future by connecting machines, software and data analytics to unlock productivity in our industry," said Johnson.