Innovative technologies are driving the transformation of China’s manufacturing sector, said Jia Shaoqian, chairman of China’s electrical appliance giant Hisense and a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress.

While answering a reporter’s question at a group interview before the closing meeting of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress on Thursday in Beijing, Jia stressed the importance of innovation in manufacturing transformation.

"I joined Hisense Group in 1997, starting from a grassroots position. I have witnessed China's manufacturing sector make a historic leap from long-term catching up with others, to running neck and neck, and now to leading in certain fields. Having worked in manufacturing for so many years, my understanding is each step of growth hinges on innovation," Jia said.

Hisense has already spent 26 years to explore the chip technology in the display field and has made breakthroughs in recent years, Jia said.

"Hisense was the first in the world to launch the AI light-color synchronous control chip and the backlight control chip. These two chips in the display field enabled Hisense to pioneer the 3D color control display technology globally, solving the industry's long-standing challenge of synchronizing light and color control. This enabled our products to gain the lead in achieving mass production over a year ahead of foreign competitors. It is the increasing number of such 'world's firsts' that has elevated Chinese manufacturing to a new height and allowed us to taste the benefits of climbing up the value ladder," Jia said.

The application of AI technologies has brought historical opportunities for the transformation of manufacturing industry, he told the reporters.

"In this January, Hisense was recognized as the World's First Customer Centricity Lighthouse Factory in the TV Industry. The factory can produce a customized large-screen TV every 20 seconds. AI doesn't just speed up production. The key is its ability to accurately reflect market changes and meet user demands, essentially writing customer needs into the production line. This exemplifies the limitless possibilities brought by the new transformation from 'made in China' to 'intelligent manufacturing in China'," said Jia.

As the government has clearly encouraged enterprises to strengthen the deep integration of industry, academia and research, Jia said, Hisense is seizing the opportunities to collaborate with diverse research institutes across the country.

"Hisense has established deep cooperative relations with over 70 renowned domestic universities and set up joint labs with more than 50 suppliers. In the future, Hisense will actively leverage its role as the main driver of technological innovation, bridge the last mile from the lab to the production line, and turn more promising lab results and golden ideas into quality products on the assembly line, making them accessible to ordinary households to meet people's ever-upgrading new demands," Jia said.