ABSTRACT

In contrast to conventional industries, new industries refer to new industrial departments emerging from the application of new technologies. The connotations of new and conventional industries are changing. 1 The new industries encompass industries that are formed with the industrialisation of new technologies and conventional ones upgraded by new technologies. An article in the Economist published in April 2012 pointed out that the first industrial revolution enabled machines to replace workshops of manual labour; the second industrial revolution initiated the era of scaled production; and the current third revolution is pivoted on digital manufacturing, which will make the personalised and decentralised output a universal trend. At the heart of this industrial revolution is the rapid progress of information technology, with the drivers from innovative development in the fields of smart manufacturing, new materials, new energy and biotechnology. 2