Senior WEF director witnesses China's leadership in tech-driven manufacturing

A senior World Economic Forum (WEF) director has hailed China's rapid adoption of advanced technologies in manufacturing as well as the country's prudent investments in various emerging industries.

Gim Huay Neo, the WEF's Chair of Greater China, has visited several cutting-edge enterprises in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province this year. The experience has left her with a profound impression that China setting a model example in how new technologies can be applied to high-end production.

"Many of us took pictures of the robotic technologies that we saw. I met the innovators; I saw how technology and AI was being deployed into manufacturing processes. So there's a lot that we can learn from China in how technology, advanced practices, can be deployed to enhance productivity," said Neo, who is also Managing Director of the WEF's Centre for Nature and Climate.

Her comments underscored the WEF's ongoing research focus on how innovation is integrated into advanced manufacturing to boost productivity.

The Global Lighthouse Network (GLN), launched by the WEF in 2018, now comprises more than 200 factories around the globe. In September, 12 factories were incorporated into the network, with Chinese facilities accounting for half.

The GLN was formed when the WEF teamed up with McKinsey and Company in 2018 to identify the most innovative leaders in manufacturing. The WEF introduces the GLN as a globally recognized community transforming factory and value chain operations with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, with each member indisputably a leader in its respective industry.

"Forty percent of the best lighthouses, we call them 'dengta', lighthouses around the world are actually in China. We have close to 50 percent of the best ways to deploy AI for people and planet being based in China as well. So yes, China is at the forefront of many of these areas. This country is now reaping the dividends of the investments into technology and people over the last decade and we're now seeing the dividends and the results of how this is made China very competitive across many industries," she said.

Senior WEF director witnesses China's leadership in tech-driven manufacturing

The original poin of the deadly fire in the housing complex Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has been preliminarily identified, but the cause of the blaze is still under further investigation, Andy Yeung Yan-kin, director of Fire Services of the HKSAR government said on Saturday.

The blaze, the deadliest Hong Kong had witnessed for decades, broke out at around 14:50 on Nov 26 at eight-towered residential estate Wang Fuk Court, which was under renovation, in the Tai Po district. The fire quickly engulfed seven of the towers, leaving at least 159 dead, 79 injured and thousands of families homeless.

Firefighters have completed rescue operations in Wang Fuk Court residential complex, and authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze and its heavy casualties, according to Yeung.

"The fire rescue operation on site has been completed. The next focus will be the investigation into the cause of the fire. We've set up a task force with multiple government departments to determine how the fire started and why it caused so many casualties. So far, we've roughly identified the original point of the fire. Next, we will use computer simulations to study how the fire spread, and we'll build a model to recreate the scene for fire simulation and cause analysis," he said.

Under the coordination of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the neighboring Guangdong Province swiftly mobilized a series of rescue equipment, medical supplies and consumables at the request of the HKSAR government, providing advanced equipment, such as illuminating drones, reconnaissance drones, robotic exoskeletons and fire protective boots.

"I'd like to thank the central government, the National Fire and Rescue Administration, and the Guangdong Fire Brigade for supporting the Hong Kong Fire Services in this operation. They provided drones equipped with thermal imaging which greatly improved the efficiency of our firefighting efforts. In particular, the thermal imaging devices allowed us to monitor the scene and identify the units that were burning most severely," Yeung said.

Original source of fire preliminarily identified: HK fire services