Develop intelligent construction and cultivate a modernized building industry chain

This year’s Government Work Report proposes, “Develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, and build a modern industrial system,” and “Develop intelligent construction and cultivate modern construction industry supply chains.”

In the final analysis, new quality productive forces in the construction industry take shape as an advanced form of productive forces led by scientific and technological innovation, driven by data factors, supported by industrial coordination, and oriented toward green and low-carbon development. Intelligent construction is an important carrier and implementation pathway for the construction industry to form new quality productive forces. It can enhance supply quality through digital design, intelligent production, and lean construction; it can also reshape the way resources are allocated through platform coordination, online supervision, and smart operations and maintenance. It can both drive the shift of traditional labor-intensive industries toward technology-intensive and knowledge-intensive industries, and promote coordinated, linked upgrading of related industries such as construction materials, engineering equipment, industrial software, and smart terminals.

From this perspective, what intelligent construction needs to cultivate is not just the ability to “build houses,” but the ability to “construct in a way that follows the modern industrial system”; it is not just the ability to “complete projects,” but the ability to “strengthen the industrial chain, optimize the supply chain, and make the ecosystem thrive.” Whoever can achieve this transformation first will take the initiative in the next round of changes in the construction industry.

To advance intelligent construction in depth and with real results, efforts should focus on the following directions.

First, it is essential to make scenario applications the driving force. Intelligent construction must be embedded in practical scenarios such as “good housing” construction, urban renewal, infrastructure development, and green and low-carbon retrofitting, to validate technologies in real engineering, improve standards, iterate products, and cultivate models. Without large-scale application scenarios, it is difficult for technological innovation to be transformed into industrial innovation; without continuous feedback from engineering scenarios, platforms, equipment, software, and management systems also will be hard to mature and achieve stable, standardized forms.

Second, it is essential to make the standards system the foundation. For the modernization of the construction industry supply chain, the most fundamental thing is standardization. Without design standardization, it is difficult to achieve large-scale production of prefabricated parts and components; without data standardization, it is difficult to achieve platform interconnection and system coordination; without delivery standardization, it is difficult to achieve whole-process quality traceability and the continuity of operations and maintenance. In future competition in intelligent construction, what may appear on the surface is competition in technology, but in essence, to a large extent, it is competition in the standards system, integration capability, and organizational efficiency.

Third, it is essential to make upgrading the supply chain a key focus. Intelligent construction must not remain at the level of on-site construction intelligence; it should extend forward to R&D design, materials and equipment, and component production, and extend backward to operations and maintenance services and asset management. In particular, by accelerating the strengthening of weak links, extending the industrial chain, and reinforcing the chain in fields such as key software, core equipment, smart terminals, new building materials, and industrialized components, we should promote the formation of a modern construction industry supply chain that is independently controllable, coordinated and efficient, and more resilient.

Fourth, it is essential to make ecological cultivation the goal. Truly mature intelligent construction is not just a few companies pushing ahead on their own; it is symbiotic growth among chain-leading enterprises, platform enterprises, specialized and innovative SMEs, research institutions, and application scenarios. By leveraging institutional innovation, policy guidance, and market mechanisms, we should promote deep integration across industry, academia, research, and application; ensure precise alignment between talent cultivation and industry demand; promote the synchronized and comprehensive improvement of supporting systems such as finance, insurance, certification, and supervision; and form an industrial ecosystem in which multiple entities coordinate, all factors converge, and the entire chain is seamlessly connected.

The Government Work Report’s arrangements regarding developing intelligent construction and cultivating the modernization of the construction industry supply chain signal that China’s construction industry transformation and upgrading has entered a new stage that places even greater emphasis on system-wide reshaping, chain restructuring, and ecosystem reconstruction. Our understanding of intelligent construction cannot remain at the level of technological application; our efforts to advance modernization in the construction industry also cannot be limited to reforms within enterprises. We must grasp intelligent construction from the perspective of reshaping the industrial system, the supply-chain system, and the industry ecosystem itself—so that we can truly build intelligent construction into an important engine for cultivating new quality productive forces in the construction industry, and help China move quickly from a large country in construction to a strong country in construction. (Dean and Professor Wang Guangbin, Research Institute for Innovation and Development of Architectural Industries, Tongji University)