Theory Weekly, Think Tank Headlines丨Create a highland for the artificial intelligence industry and shape new advantages for the development of the digital economy

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Artificial intelligence is an important driving force for a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and it is also an important starting point for shaping the new advantages of the development of the digital economy. The real economy is an important platform and carrier for the development of the artificial intelligence industry. Our province should focus on the integrity, advancement, and security development needs of the real economy, and focus on building a highland for the agglomeration of the artificial intelligence industry.

Xu Hualiang

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "build a digital industrial cluster with international competitiveness". The Central Economic Work Conference held a few days ago pointed out that "it is necessary to vigorously promote new industrialization, develop the digital economy, and accelerate the development of artificial intelligence". Accelerating the development of a new generation of artificial intelligence is an important part of building a digital industrial cluster, and it is necessary to build a highland for artificial intelligence industry agglomeration as an important support to strengthen and expand the digital economy and expand the new space for economic development.

In recent years, the scale of the artificial intelligence industry in our province has continued to grow, and the integration and application have deepened. It is estimated that in 2022, the output value of the province's artificial intelligence core industry will reach 15.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22%. According to the "Regional Competitiveness Evaluation Index 2023 of China's New Generation Artificial Intelligence Technology Industry" released by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Hunan ranks 10th, ranking in the first echelon. The Chinese artificial intelligence industry investment conference held a few days ago announced the 2023 national artificial intelligence industry agglomeration area TOP50 list, and only 1 in our province is on the list, far lower than the 13 in Guangdong and 7 in Jiangsu, and the artificial intelligence industry agglomeration effect is still not obvious. In view of this, our province should focus on building an artificial intelligence industry agglomeration highland and firmly consolidate the foundation for the development of the artificial intelligence industry.

The basic content and evolution logic of artificial intelligence industry agglomeration

Artificial intelligence industry agglomeration is supported by a new generation of information technology, promoting industrial activities to break through geographical space constraints, breaking the scope of traditional industrial clusters, and realizing a high degree of aggregation of elements related to the development of intelligent industries in physical or digital space. With the increasing integration of artificial intelligence into all aspects of economic and social development, the world is committed to building a "highland" for the artificial intelligence industry to gather and seize the "commanding heights" for development.

Looking at the global industrial agglomeration context, industrial clusters in the era of the first and second industrial revolutions are specialized production organization methods that integrate innovation and production, and are characterized by "cluster production" with symbiosis and complementarity. With the advent of the third industrial revolution, the modularization of R&D and design, and the global division of labor in manufacturing have brought about the separation of innovation and production, so that the production factors can be accelerated in a short period of time, so that the underdeveloped areas have an important starting point for "latecomers to catch up"; The fourth industrial revolution is based on the innovation and development of the cyberspace technology system, and the accompanying artificial intelligence industry agglomeration has a strong spillover driving effect. Accelerating the agglomeration of the artificial intelligence industry is conducive to the leapfrog development of science and technology, industrial optimization and upgrading, and the overall leap in productivity, and winning the initiative in global scientific and technological competition.

The agglomeration of artificial intelligence industry in mainland China has the distinctive characteristics of "digital and real integration".

In the field of artificial intelligence, China and the United States are tied for the first echelon in the world. Compared with the United States, which focuses on the research and development of artificial intelligence, the mainland pays more attention to the "integration of data and reality" and applies it to actual production and life. In recent years, relying on the two paths of "industrial intelligence" and "intelligent industrialization", the mainland has created a number of intelligent industrial agglomeration areas that are "oriented to the world's frontier of science and technology, the main battlefield of the economy, the major needs of the country, and the life and health of the people".

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) wrote "artificial intelligence" into the report for the first time, proposing to promote the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and the real economy; The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to promote the development of integrated clusters of strategic emerging industries and build a number of new growth engines such as artificial intelligence. After the development of the artificial intelligence industry has become a national strategy, relevant plans have been introduced across the country, and the direction and measures of industrial development have gradually become clear, and more attention has been paid to the linkage between artificial intelligence and industrial agglomeration.

The artificial intelligence agglomeration with distinctive characteristics of "digital-real integration" can not only reduce transaction costs and improve industrial relevance by breaking spatial barriers, but also realize the optimal allocation of resources and the improvement of production efficiency, which is conducive to breaking industrial boundaries and promoting industrial integration, and has become an important support for high-quality economic development and an important influencing factor for the construction of a modern industrial system.

Relying on the strategic fulcrum of "digital and real integration", we will build a highland for the agglomeration of Hunan's artificial intelligence industry

At present, our province should rely on the strategic fulcrum of "digital and real integration", strive to build a highland for the artificial intelligence industry, and shape new advantages in the development of the digital economy.

Optimize the spatial layout of artificial intelligence industry clusters, and form a development pattern of "one core, two corridors, and multi-point support". We should give full play to the comparative advantages of various regions in our province, further strengthen the guidance of industrial differentiation layout, supporting division of labor and cooperation, and innovation cooperation, so as to form an artificial intelligence industry agglomeration area of "source + corridor + collaborative network". The first is to strengthen Changsha's "one core" to lead innovation and drive the overall improvement of energy level. Taking the opportunity of promoting the construction of Changsha National Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Application Pilot Zone and National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Development Pilot Zone, we will focus on building Xiangjiang Science City, Changsha Area of the Free Trade Zone, Malanshan Base, Jinxia Base of the University of Science and Technology, Dazehu Base and other frontiers of artificial intelligence innovation, explore new formats, new models and new kinetic energy for the development of artificial intelligence, and form a source of innovation in the artificial intelligence industry with prominent core, strong support and wide radiation. The second is to strengthen the organic synergy of the "two belts" of Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, and highlight the complementarity and diversification of functions. Zhuzhou should rely on China Mobile (Zhuzhou) Data Center and Hunan Huayun Data Lake to form an intelligent data "storage" corridor based in Hunan and radiating across the country; Xiangtan should adhere to the development orientation of "Intelligent Manufacturing Valley", further optimize the business environment, aim at the application of professional and characteristic industries, accelerate the construction of artificial intelligence and digital economy application clusters, and create the best "perch" corridor for industrial software and the "application" corridor for intelligent demonstration scenarios in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Zhuzhou-Zhuzhou. The third is to link the "multi-node" aggregation of Dongting Lake, southern Hunan and western Hunan into an ecosystem to enhance the resilience of the innovation network. Relying on cities, counties and industrial parks with relatively good conditions for artificial intelligence innovation resources, a number of specialized, special and new characteristic industrial clusters will be built in Dongting Lake, southern Xiangnan, western Hunan and other regions, forming a synergistic linkage area with complementary advantages and value co-creation with the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Zhuzhou-Tan region.

Strengthen the guarantee of the elements of the artificial intelligence industry agglomeration area, and form a new quality productivity of "integrity, advancement, and safety". The continuous and efficient factor guarantee is the basic condition for the high rationalization of the structure of the agglomeration area. At present, efforts should be made to break through the bottleneck of technology and talent in the agglomeration and development of the artificial intelligence industry in our province. On the one hand, strengthen the ability of artificial intelligence technology innovation. Focusing on the new generation of artificial intelligence technology, we will carry out cutting-edge basic research such as brain-like intelligence, embodied intelligence, and multimodal intelligence, and strive to promote key technologies such as large model infrastructure, human-computer interaction, and artificial neural networks. Promote computing power, algorithms, computing data, and computing networks to work in the same direction, lay out and develop high-performance intelligent chips and sensing devices, and strive to promote breakthroughs in ultra-large model intelligent computing technology; Strengthen the research and development of industry application algorithm models, and promote their industrialization in the fields of intelligent manufacturing, new materials, metaverse, health, cultural creativity, and network security. On the other hand, we will intensify the cultivation and introduction of talents. Encourage enterprises, universities, and industry service institutions to set up engineering ability training platforms in the field of artificial intelligence to cultivate high-skilled talents and compound talents; Establish a "one-matter-one-discussion" introduction channel for top AI talents, and provide comprehensive living guarantees for the introduced talents; Establish a trust-based talent use mechanism, encourage leading talents to "take the lead", and build a revenue distribution mechanism that fully reflects the value of knowledge, technology and other innovative elements.

Implement the cultivation action of characteristic intelligent industry agglomeration areas to form a gradient system of "world + country + industry". The implementation of the cultivation of characteristic agglomeration areas is the key to seize the new track of the development of the artificial intelligence industry, and it should be based on the differences in resource endowments and industrial bases in various parts of the province, and accelerate the cultivation of a number of distinctive industrial agglomeration areas with active innovation elements and obvious industrial advantages. The first is to accelerate the construction of a world-class information and innovation industry cluster, and strive to cultivate 10 industry leaders and 2 unicorn enterprises by 2025, and promote the scale of the digital economy to enter the top 10 in the country; The second is to accelerate the construction of a leading audio and video industry cluster in the country, and strive to exceed 500 billion yuan in industrial scale by 2027, becoming an important audio and video industry agglomeration area and demonstration leading area in the country; The third is to accelerate the construction of the industry-leading Beidou large-scale application industry cluster, expand the "Beidou +" and "+ Beidou" business formats, build professional characteristic parks, and strive to build a national Beidou technology innovation leading area, Beidou large-scale application demonstration area, and Beidou industry high-quality development agglomeration area, and strive to make the Beidou large-scale application industry scale reach 100 billion yuan in about three years.

Create an integrated highland for artificial intelligence industry clusters, and form an ecosystem of "chain master + platform + application". Industrial integration is an intrinsic requirement for giving full play to the knowledge externalities and technological space spillover effects in agglomeration areas, and is the basic requirement for realizing the modernization of industrial chain and supply chain. It is necessary to promote the collaborative innovation of upstream and downstream enterprises in the agglomeration area with "chain" thinking, and promote the transformation of the agglomeration area into an ecosystem and improve the quality. The first is to build a number of world-class leading enterprises and "chain master" enterprises. Encourage the world's leading artificial intelligence companies to set up R&D centers in Changsha, and use their talents, technologies and other resources to carry out leading product research and development and industry empowerment; Accelerate the cultivation of "chain-based" enterprises, through market-oriented mergers and acquisitions, and unite domestic and foreign colleges and universities and scientific research institutes to create "benchmark" enterprises in the field of artificial intelligence segmentation. The second is to give full play to the leading role of the artificial intelligence platform carrier. Give full play to the role of a number of strategic scientific and technological forces such as Xiangjiang Laboratory and the National Supercomputing Center in Changsha, actively carry out the introduction and layout of high-end innovation resources, and guide more small, medium and micro enterprises and industry developers to innovate and start businesses. The third is to accelerate the application of technological innovation scenarios. Strengthen the in-depth integration of artificial intelligence with agriculture, industry, medical care, transportation, education, cultural tourism and other industries, and create typical application scenarios with strong demonstration, wide driving force and high display.

[The author is a special researcher at the Hunan Provincial Center for Contemporary Chinese Marxism Research Center and the Provincial Academy of Social Sciences (Provincial Government Development Research Center). This paper is the phased achievement of the Philosophy and Social Science Innovation Project of the Hunan Academy of Social Sciences (Development Research Center of Hunan Provincial People's Government) "Research on the Breakthrough of Low-end Lock-in Path of Traditional Manufacturing Industry in Hunan Province from the Perspective of Digitalization" (23ZYB35)